From sheep to shop, buying British wool yarn is a brilliant way to support our farmers, wool manufacturers, and independent retailers, people like us! British wool yarn deserves ALL the praise and should be renowned for its excellent properties and beautiful touch.
We want to shout about natural fibre yarn from the rooftops!
Why buy British wool yarn?
As we become aware of the importance of shopping and supporting small businesses, we recognise just how much of a positive impact mindful purchasing has on society, economics, and the environment. Small but mighty!
British wool is sourced from the fleece of sheep farmed in Britain. It is then cleaned and spun into the wool that reaches our knitting needles, providing jobs for local communities and allowing heritage skills (and heritage breeds) to stay alive.
In the 1950s, British wool was considered a key national resource, but since then, fleece values have significantly declined. In 2020, wool itself accounted for just 1% of world fibre production, which has been swamped by synthetic fibres. By choosing to buy natural wool yarns, we are supporting a dying industry, one which has the natural resources, but not the support, to flourish.
Never leaving our shores, British wool has a small carbon footprint, which in turn has a far lesser environmental impact than synthetic wool, or wool manufactured abroad.
Wool is also a brilliant renewable product, as sheep are shorn for their fleeces, which then grow back. Sheep are shorn as a necessity, and it is not harmful for the animal at all.
As a 100% natural fibre, wool is biodegradable and at the end of its life can be returned to the earth. The same can’t be said for synthetic fibres, such as acrylic wool, which are derived from coal-based and petroleum chemicals. These end up in landfill and contaminate our waters. In the ‘wool vs acrylic yarn’ debate, it’s a no-brainer for us! Wool yarn comes out on top each and every time.
When choosing to buy British wool yarn, you are often supporting a transparent chain of independent businesses, from farmer to shop. Your pennies are going towards the people in your community, in particular the farmers who toil away in a wool industry that has inflicted blow after blow in recent years, with farmers being paid poorly for their wool.
The financial contribution of small businesses is anything but small, with a whopping £2.4 trillion turnover in 2023 for small and medium sized businesses. Shopping with small businesses isn’t just great for the hard workers who run them, it contributes to the health of the UK economy.
Buying British wool yarn encourages the knitter to have a greater relationship with their wool, which comes from understanding its provenance and the culmination of efforts from farmers and innovators committed to excellence in British wool. This connection helps us care for our garments, we mend them, hand wash them, and they live a long and happy life with us. The very opposite to fast fashion!
Yarns by Breed
The UK’s wet and mild climate provides ideal conditions for many breeds of sheep, and the land they graze on. Wool yarn is a natural fit for production in the UK, so why aren’t we doing more of it!?
There are many different sheep breeds, but the most popular are:
Cheviot Wool
– A durable wool, ideal for hard-wearing tweeds.
Bluefaced Leicester Wool – a soft and silky fibre, perfect for finer knitwear and high-end pieces.
Shetland Wool
– Soft and warm, Shetland wool is a wonderful choice for your hand knitting yarns.
Jacob Wool
– Select from a variety of lovely colours and use Jacob wool for hand knitting.
Merino Wool – A luxury yarn, merino wool is soft and warm and often used in lighter-weight knitwear.
Wensleydale Wool
– One of our favourites! These long and luxurious fibres are a joy to knit with. Read on to see why our supplier, the Raw Wool Company, champions Wensleydale wool.
Wensleydale Sheep and Wensleydale Longwool Yarn
Why we pride ourselves on stocking natural fibres and British wool
Ethical
By stocking natural British wool we are supporting a transparent and legislated supply chain, which ensures ethical treatment of workers. We also love that we’re supporting farmers, and small businesses, allowing them to grow and offer an alternative to mass-produced, poorly made yarn.
Environmental Impact
Sourced and spun in the UK, British wool has very few travel miles. It has a low carbon footprint, which is rare these days for fibres, as many are produced synthetically or overseas where production is cheaper (but at what cost…).
As a natural fibre, wool will biodegrade, meaning it’ll return to the earth in a cyclical system, helping the grass to grow that future flocks graze on.
Supporting small independent dyers
Many British wool manufacturers are committed to a sustainable approach in every aspect, even dyeing. Many use small, independent dyers, who are working with natural dyes.
Commercial dyeing on a large scale releases a huge amount of chemicals and toxins into our waters, which affects our wildlife and agriculture.
Celebrating British Wool with The Raw Wool Company
We are delighted to chat to Anton, the founder of the Raw Wool Company, a natural wool yarn brand that we are thrilled to stock in Stitches & Cream.
Hi Anton, thanks so much for joining us! Please could you tell us a little about the origins and ethos of the Raw Wool Company History?
Hi, a pleasure to join you!
The Raw Wool Company began in 2020, but before that my mother and I kept rare breed Wensleydale Sheep, with the intention of increasing the population of the breed. We hoped that one day we’d spin the lustrous long wool their breed is so sought after for.
Sadly, my mother passed away a few years ago, and so I wanted to carry on the dream of turning this fibre into naturally coloured yarn or, as we like to say, "yarn in the colours the sheep intended." We don’t use any dyes, even natural dyes, as we are proud of the fantastic natural colours of the wool.
It was important to me that we structured our practices to abide by a circular model. This means creating little to zero waste that can’t be returned to the biosphere and being fully responsible for all the practices it takes to create the gorgeous skeins that people love so much.
We are based in the beautiful county of Cornwall, and by having our fibre spun just up the road at the Natural Fibre Company, we take our raw fibre to finished results without accruing lots of carbon due to transportation.
Supporting other young local farmers was a natural progression and a way to increase our undyed colour palette. So far, we have worked with four other fibre producers within Cornwall, including Steve (aka the salty shepherd) and Sarah (aka the kernow shepherdress).
We believe in paying fair prices and celebrating incredible people doing brilliant work in the sheep and fibre world while giving the full and transparent story to our crafters and knitters.
What makes The Raw Wool Company special?
From sheep to shop. We spend a lot of time on and give a lot of love to the projects and garments we make.
Personally, I like to know what I am knitting with has come from a place of known origin and provenance. Knowledge of what processes it has undergone before it reaches my hands, with assurance of quality and sustainability, and that once I no longer use or want it, it can be reused, recycled, or returned safely to the biosphere.
Each batch is unique; the natural colours of the fibre bring a beautiful variation of colours; it doesn’t fight its natural properties wool is so renowned for and is just “proper wool.”
Could you elaborate on the variety of yarns produced by The Raw Wool Company, particularly those categorised by breed?
Different breeds boast different qualities, and their uses for different projects are so interesting.
Lustrous long wool such as our Wensleydale is silky soft with a low micron count. It drapes beautifully and is glossy and tactile to the touch with a gentle halo.
Dorset Sheep, which makes our “Soft As Sea Mist” Yarn, is bouncy and squishy.
Not only do we celebrate 100% pure breed wool, but we also bring together these fantastic properties and create blends such as our new “Mevagissey Mizzle,” which combines Romney (from a farm overlooking Mevagissey on the north coast), our Wensleydale, and local BFL from Launceston.
These blends take the soft and bouncy texture whilst incorporating the added strength and shine from the long wool, celebrating the characteristics and variety of the breeds we have here in the UK.
How does The Raw Wool Company ensure ethical practices in its wool sourcing and production?
We base our production on a circular structure, which the renewable and 100% natural process allows. Our “waste,” which comes in the form of daggings and skirted fleece (the parts of the fleece we can’t use for spinning), goes to local allotments and gardens to be used for garden bedding, natural pest repellent, and mulching.
By keeping our production chain within the country we live in, we reduce our footprint due to transport emissions, and the practices of our mill align with our ethical standards, keeping everything natural.
We only source our wool from farmers and people we believe in. They care for their animals, uphold ethical practices, and believe in what we do and want to make a difference.
But why do we do this? We care about the beautiful environment we live in; we have this fantastic resource right here in the UK that is high quality and a pleasure to work with and wear. Why wouldn’t we want to know the whole story?
Thanks for sharing the insights from sheep to shop, Anton! Ready to have a little look at the fantastic natural wool yarns made by the Raw Wool Company?
The best knit to make with the Raw Wool Company
We asked Anton what his favourite knit to make with the Raw Wool Company yarn is, and he recommends the Gansey as a firm favourite!
‘Being from Cornwall, I love the idea of our yarn being knitted into patterns that pay homage to the Cornish knitting heritage. Garments such as Ganseys; the pullover jumpers fisher-folk of the past and present wear to protect them from the sea winds and spray while working out at sea. Last year, we released our first Gansey Patterns with accessories and Shawls all inspired by traditional Cornish knitwear.’
Our Favourite Raw Wool Company Yarn
It’s impossible to choose a favourite yarn from the Raw Wool Company, as they are all so gorgeous to knit with! Force my hand, though, and I’ll recommend the Wensleydale DK. This natural yarn is soft and lustrous and a joy to knit with. It comes in a small range of rustic colours, beautiful rich browns, and greys. My favourite is the Shepherds Silver, which has gorgeous depth in contrasting light and dark fibres.
We hope you’ve been tempted to knit with British wool yarn; it has so many wonderful properties, and purchasing British wool positively impacts a fragile but important supply chain from sheep to shop.
As knitters, we can make a very real difference and support those farmers and spinners dedicated to celebrating and continuing this heritage tradition, which once thrived in Britain. Let’s help it flourish again!
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