In part 2 of my visit to the Highland Wool Festival (part 1 can be found here) I have five more exhibitors to mention. They are Woven in the Bone, Natural Born Dyers, Shilasdair, Travelling Yarns and Skybluepink Designs.
Woven in the Bone
Sam Goates is the woman behind this artisan handcrafted woven cloth. Based at Buckie in Moray Sam explained to me how the name for her enterprise came from a book of Weaving Songs by Donald Murray. The unique designs of tweed and woollen cloth are woven on a restored Hattersley foot treadle loom. Her website is being developed but you can find her on Facebook as Woven in the Bone. I'm looking forward to following the develpment of her exciting new venture.
This independant yarn dying business was set up in 2010 to produce high quality yarns and and fibres with natural dyes. All their yarns are sourced from UK suppliers. You can find their website here.
Shilasdair
Based on the Isle of Skye Shilasdair is an independent yarn dying company specialising in natural dye materials.
Travelling Yarns
Catherine Sclater runs Travelling Yarns from her home in the Scottish Highlands near Inverness. She attends craft fairs around Scotland and runs courses for Fair Isle knitting.
Here's a lovely interview with Catherine where she explains the inspiration behind her yarn business, dying yarn with natural materials and demonstrates some spinning. Click on the image to view.
Skybluepink Designs
Jennie Howes of Skybluepink Designs spins and dyes yarn. She is based near the border between Scotland and England.
I didn't have chance to chat to Jennie in person due to the number of people
crowded into her stall space and requiring her attention. I did however manage to speak to Steve, 'her assistant'. One of the items he pointed out that caught my eye
was the felted scarf at the centre of the display. Jennie made this with over
120 colours of Jamieson's of Shetland yarn. The pattern is available on Ravelry called Fusion Scarf.
I'll mention a few more exhibitors in my next post.
