Wool is, in my humble opinion, magical. Its amazing stuff that just never fails to inspire me.
The main place I get my wool is our own flock. Both the people involved with the flock and the sheep who make up the flock were gathered up by my dear friend Emma who, after a long journey with breast cancer, passed away in 2017. The group of people Emma gathered up took over the care and ownership of the flock after her passing. The flock consist of Cotswolds, Lleynn , lincolns , English mules and a few cheeky Shetlands and crosses between these breeds.
I buy British when possible but sometimes the heart wants what the heart wants and I shop a little further from home. I do my best to ensure the places I buy from are ethical, responsible and somewhere I feel everyone involved, from animal to human, is treated with respect.
if its not wool I do my best to ensure the fibre I use has as low on impact as possible. Not all “eco” fibres are actually ecologically sound so I am unlikely to use things such as bamboo due to the extremely high impact the processing of these fibres has.
All textiles I use are as environmentally friendly as I can find and I will list the origin as best as I can. I often use vintage or second hand textiles or textiles purchased at carboots that are in fact brand new.
I started playing around with natural dyes some years ago, foolishly relying on some blog posts only to be sorely disappointed with the results. Beetroot is not a dye, nor are so many other kitchen ingredients. I invested in some books, learned the proper way to dye and now much prefer these for my fibres and textiles. Occasionally I still dip into man made dyes as the natural alternative would be far more detrimental or simply not available.
The Little Spiral 