February 9, 2021 The first few months of the year can be challenging living on an island in the middle of the North Sea; all the festivities of Christmas are over (although those were a bit different this year), it’s dark, it’s cold, there seems to be a pressure on us to make a new start with the beginning of…
November 27, 2020 I have been watching the weather forecast lately like a hawk. I have been looking for a weather window which could allow me to dye up a batch of yarn with indigo as I like to hang the dyed skeins outside on the fence between dips. The Shetland weather in winter isn’t generally suitable for me to…
September 15, 2020 It’s good to be able to show you the Peerie Leaves Jumper, my contribution to this year’s Shetland Wool Week Annual! Earlier this year the organisers of Shetland Wool Week, an event that takes place in Shetland every autumn to celebrate the wool, sheep, textiles, traditions and people of Shetland, made the difficult but correct decision to…
May 18, 2020 For the past year or so I have been thinking much more about using what I already have. This could refer to my clothes, materials or the land (for example I kept my old sitting room curtains a while back with he view of making a coat from them one day). I have always been interested in…
April 30, 2020 A couple of weeks ago I went for a walk along the west coast of the island of Burra and shared the photos on my stories on Instagram. I got so many responses and messages I thought it would share some of the pictures on here as well as some details about the history of the place…
February 23, 2020 At the beginning of this year, I decided that instead of making a New Year’s resolution I was going to tackle my “to-do” list rather than adding more to it. I tend to thrive on coming up with new ideas and researching new projects but often doing this means I don’t actually get anything done. Over these…
November 25, 2019 For the past three years I have been gathering together the fleeces from the Shetland sheep from our croft in Burra, Shetland as well as from several of our neighbours and from crofts in the surrounding area. Each year I have sorted them into their natural sheepy colours and have sent them away to the Natural Fibre…
September 23 2019 One of the things I love about Langsoond yarn is the natural shades. By spinning the coloured fleeces together and blending some of the coloured with the natural white fleece, the Natural Fibre Company creates a lovely naturally blended palate for me. However, last year there were more white Shetland fleeces in relation to coloured so I…
15 April 2019 It’s always good to get away but it’s always good to get home again. The older I get the more I appreciate being home and the islands that I live on. I spent a week in Edinburgh at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival teaching and selling yarn (many thanks to everyone that came to classes and purchased something…
02 January 2019 I love seeing what lovely things are being made with Langsoond yarn and I thought I would share a few of them with you. I have sent the yarn all over the world, and its amazing to think that the yarn from the fleece of the sheep on our little island has gone so far. The Meal Beach…