My Yarn Story ...

At this time of year on the brink of Spring, we lurch back into activity after our storm bound island hibernation over winter. There is bird call in the air, our boat is being prepped to go back out lobster fishing and we have seaweed spread on our potato patch ready for planting ‘tatties’ in April. The days are stretching longer, though not as yet warmer, and the spring Equinox will be upon us in a weeks time on the 20th March turning us slowing towards summer.
I am, of course, also preparing for lambing which will start the first week in April. We lamb a little later this far North to avoid the worst of the weather and to allow a bit more grass to grow on the croft which is very much welcomed by nursing ewes. So I have Lamlac (powdered milk) ready in case there are any pet lambs, have prepared the nursing pens and will make sure we have plenty of sheep nuts and hay to keep everyone well fed.
However every year, in the midst of this busy time, my new yarn arrives from the mill. Often, I am too distracted and forget to tell you the full journey this yarn has been on to arrive as boxes and boxes of wonderful knitting potential.
So I decided to pause, recount and share this story with you in a brief (because I am actually quite busy!!) photo Blog…

To give you a little context, I am sharing here the beautiful drone footage that Tom Barr took while on holiday here on Berneray a couple of years ago with Kate Davies. The brown landscape is what we refer to as the machair, the sandy ground leading to the beach where the sheep spend the winter on the common grazing with all the other sheep from our crofting township. A croft is similar to a small holding and there are around 22 crofts in our township. Our sheep are there just now but in the next couple of weeks we will bring them waddling back to the croft for lambing.

My Hebridean ewes on the machair common grazing.

My sheep are Hebrideans, part of the North Atlantic sheep breed brought by the Vikings to the islands during the mid 9th Century. The Vikings made use of these hardy little sheep as a source of milk and meat. However, they also spun, wove and felted their wool to make the sails for their ‘knaars’ or long boats. It is for this reason that you now find different breeds of North Atlantic sheep in the voyage pathways of the Vikings scattered all across the North Atlantic.

While most of the other North Atlantic sheep breeds come in a variety of colours (white, browns, greys and spots) our Hebridean sheep are only dark brown and have also retained their horns unlike some of their cousins elsewhere.

Andrew shearing on our croft with Finbar standing by to pass the next sheep. Sometimes I forget to stop and take in the view that stretches out across the Minch to the Cuillin in Skye.

Shearing takes place in early July and we usually make a start with the ewes we have on the croft. Everyone in the family lends a hand as it takes a full team to gather sheep, stand by to pass equipment, roll fleece and administer cups of tea as required. However, while everyone in our house likes to get involved not everyone is helpful … Miko the cat does her best to put on a good performance though!!

Miko the cat being really helpful??

As part of our common grazing, Berneray has the use of islands in the Sound of Harris. We take sheep back and forth to these islands by boat, hence our ‘Seafaring Sheep’. We make use of the islands to wean lambs from their mothers in Autumn dropping them off on a particular island that has good grazing and shelter where they over winter either to fatten (if they are male) or mature (if they are female). These sheep also need shorn in the summer and this results in quite a family expedition. Large amounts of tea and sandwiches, midge repellent, running footwear to gather sheep and a sense of humour!! It is always a good feeling when you close the pen behind the sheep and shearing can commence.

Andrew shearing on an off shore island in the Sound of Harris with the boat at anchor in the background.

This is me rowing the fleece to the boat at the end of a shearing day with a very comfortable seat full of wool … please excuse the scruffy work trousers!!

This is one of our Hebridean fleeces just after it has been shorn. I will go around the outer edge taking off dirty and felted areas then do my best to remove vegetation etc.

As my business has grown over the years I have started to work with other local island crofters. In particular, I have started buying in Cheviot shearling fleeces from crofters along Newton Strand. These crofts are all within 10 miles of Berneray, I know these families well and that they take good care of their livestock. I pay them a decent rate for their fleece, well above that offered by the Wool Marketing Board, in order that they are recompensed for all their hard work and know that I appreciate their efforts. Their shearling fleece is the first shearing of lambs born the previous year and is therefore beautifully soft and is subsequently blended with my dark Hebridean fleece to produce our Haar and Storm Grey. These greys are then the base for all our Hebridean organically dyed colours.

Bog Cotton on the hills above Newton Strand where I source Cheviot fleece from local crofters.

So then the really hard work starts for me … 400kg of raw fleece. Each one needs to be checked cleaned of dirt, felt and vegetation then rolled and bagged to be sent to the mill.

Here I am processing Hebridean fleece …

It takes me around 2-3 weeks to process on my own. Strangely the entire family seem to find something really important to do … not quite sure what my boys get up to. If they are not lobster fishing they disappear off for most of the day and return home when they are hungry 🙂

Not sure what my boys get up to all day … they just come home when they are hungry!!

However, it is a very satisfying moment when the lorry comes to collect 3 palettes of bagged fleece and off it goes on its journey to the mill and the long wait begins. For the past few years, I have used the Natural Fibre Company to process my wool and spin my yarn. They have very high environmental standards and have provided me with an excellent service. I now have my yarn dyed by Paint Box Textiles in Yorkshire who use an organic dye process to over dye my blended greys to achieve my beautiful range of Hebridean colours.

Shillay featured with Moor and Seapink … I do like how these colours compliment each other.

So that is it … my Yarn Story. A labour of love but one from which I take a lot of pleasure and satisfaction. It connects me with the land and seascape of the Hebrides, takes me out in all weathers to tend sheep, gives my life a little sense of adventure and brings my customers much joy.

If you have any questions please do get in touch and a big thank you for supporting my small, croft based, island business.

Coming soon … Lambing on ‘Cnoc na Grèine’ Sunhill croft.