baa ram ewe Blog

My mum owned a wool shop when I was a teenager and she taught me to knit. My first projects were firmly rooted in 1980's fashion. Brightly coloured mohair batwing jumpers and huge chunky cardigans. I used to help out in the shop at weekends so coming to work at baa ram ewe was reassuringly familiar even though 25 years had passed. 

I’m your resident geek/nerd Joelle. I’m going to show you the geeky/nerdy side of crafting. Don’t worry, we’re lovely. But before we dive into the many and varied waters of fandom I thought we’d start with a little organization.

So Christmas is lurking around the corner and this is a confusing time where I start to organise and wrap my presents that I have been making through the year and start making plans for 2018! I enjoy making gifts for others and this is a great time to revisit projects. I probably had the most fun making my Festive Fowl (they aren’t a gift, but something I wanted to make for my home). I used the Fancy Hen pattern and the lovely Dovestone DK in Wesley Bob and Yorkstone. I love this pattern!

There's no doubt that I'm a visual person, and I'm lucky enough to live somewhere with natural beauty all around me. When choosing colour combinations for a knitting project, I always think the best starting point is to see what nature does. Very often it comes up with ideas you'd never think of! This week I'd like to share this picture of the wonderful St Aidan's Nature Reserve, where I go birdwatching every week. The crisp blue sky against greens and browns of the earth led me to think of our Kilcarra Tweed range by Knoll and how great these four shades work together, just like they do when I look out at it from the bird hide.

Interested in Birdwatching too? Book on one of Linda Jenkinson's wonderful Start Birding walks.

What do a mule, a Masham and a sproodle all have in common?

If you guessed that they are all crossbreeds, you’d be correct. We also have all of them here at baa ram ewe (for at least some of the time!). Some of you may have met Chewy, Verity’s new adorable bundle of chaos (a Springer Spaniel/Poodle cross). 

Crossbreed sheep make up about 50% of all the sheep in the UK. Mule sheep are bred from a hill or mountain breed ewe and a Bluefaced Leicester ram - here in Yorkshire the most common ewe that is used is a Swaledale, producing a North Country mule, but in other parts of the UK different local breed ewes are used, such as Welsh Mountain ewes in Wales and Scottish Blackface ewes in Scotland.

The hill breed ewes are hardy and good at looking after their lambs, and the Bluefaced Leicester genes bring up the percentage of twins and triplets, meaning that mule sheep (with all of these attributes) are commercially very useful to farmers. Usually the resulting mule ewes are then bred with a ram with extra muscle to produce lambs for the meat market.

The Masham (pictured) is another local Yorkshire crossbreed, from a hardy Swaledale or Dalesbred ewe crossed with a Teeswater or Wensleydale ram. Wool from mule and Masham sheep does vary, because sometimes the fleece is more like the mother’s and sometimes more like the father’s (the same thing happens with sproodles, labradoodles and similar doggy crosses). Hill and mountain breed wool is typically medium to coarse in thickness and medium length, with Bluefaced Leicester (BFL), Wensleydale or Teeswater wool being fine, long and lustrous. The crossbreed fleece is a combination of the two, with more woolly bounciness than sleek longwool BFL or Wensleydale, but much softer and more lustrous than Swaledale or Dalesbred wool.

Since there are many more crossbreed sheep than purebred BFL and Wensleydale sheep, there is much more mule and Masham wool. By knitting with this wool, we’re helping farmers find a market for even more of their fleeces, and as a bonus, the high availability of crossbreed wool makes it cost effective with much less fluctuation in price and availability than purebreed wool. Image © British Wool Marketing Board

If you want to try knitting with crossbreed wool, our very own baa ram ewe Dovestone DK, Dovestone Natural Aran and Dovestone Natural Chunky all include Masham wool. We use both light and dark Masham wool to add springiness and loft to the lustrous longwool BFL and Wensleydale in the blend. The Knitting Goddess One Farm Yarn is a very special yarn using a blend of BFL and North Country Mule from just one Yorkshire farm. 

Christmas is almost upon us so I've been crocheting like crazy to get projects finished. My most recent project is from the amazing Edward's Crochet Doll Emporium by Kerry Lord. The subtitle for the book is Flip the Mix-and-Match Crochet Patterns to Make and Dress Your Favourite People. You can make absoultely any person you like including a mini version of yourself. Here is my mini me!

We’re totally in love with our new British Wool Socks, spun here in Yorkshire. Made in 6 of our signature shades- Bramley Baths, Viking, Coal, Chevin, Brass Band and Dalby- each pair have a super cute contrast cuff too. Even better news is they’re easy to care for- just pop them in the washing machine when they need to freshen up.

1. West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 ply Country Bird range.
   

We never get tired of knitting a simple plain pair of socks from West Yorkshire Spinner’s Country Birds sock yarn. The colourways are fabulous- our favourites include Blue Tit, Wood Pigeon and Bullfinch with a total of nine shade to choose from . What’s more, the yarn is made from 35% Bluefaced Leiciester Wool making really lovely to knit with. They also have ready made socks in this range too.

Never tried wool socks? Wondering what all the fuss is about. When the temperature drops and autumn creeps in those cotton socks in your drawer are going to do nothing to keep your toes toasty. When cotton gets wet, it loses all its insulating properties, so you might as well not bother with socks at all, like one of those trendy brogue-wearing hipsters. You might not have leaky boots or go jumping in muddy puddles, but your own perspiration will still mean you’ll end up with damp, cold feet.

We were absolutely bowled over by your enthusiasm for our last batch of Titus Goddess, our limited edition monthly Titus shade that's overdyed by The Knitting Goddess. The celebratory colours she dyed our White Rose shade sold out in less than 24 hours, but don't worry - we are about to release our new batch!

 This month, Joy has taken our Dalby shade - named after the large forest in North Yorkshire - and added even more depth to its foresty feel. The variety of shades pick out the shades of young leaves, moss-covered logs, ancient trees and the darkness of the woods at their deepest points.