Black Isle Yarns
Yarn Supplier and Knitwear Advice
Black Isle Yarns was begun initially to produce yarn with provenance for my own interest in natural dyeing. At this stage there was very little traceable yarn available and certainly none from the Scottish Highlands. The initial experiment of a small batch of yarn built into a business which sources wool from a core group of local farms and small holdings (mostly within 10 miles of BIY’s base and generally within 40 miles). All fleeces are hand selected for their quality and the specific properties required for the yarn they are intended for. The resulting mill-spun yarn is naturally dyed at my base in Fortrose. I use locally gathered traditional plants for dyeing but, to create a wider range of colours, additional natural dyes (usually dried plant material rather than extracts) are also bought in.
I believe in providing as much transparency and traceability for my yarns as possible. Yarn labels list the farm(s) where the wool was sourced, the year the wool was clipped and also the natural dye(s) used to produce the colour. Further details about each of the source farms and which mill used to spin each of the yarns can be found on the BIY website. Hand selecting fleeces ensures the quality of the yarns and reduces wool waste. Skirted wool is used in compost and in the vegetable garden and almost all waste dye plant material is also composted. Dye practice is carefully managed to limit water and heat use and to re-use dye baths as many times as possible.
What is so amazing about working with British wool? British wool is an incredibly versatile product with a huge range of properties and qualities, suited to a wide variety of end uses. BIY tends to use finer fleeces from a relatively small range of breeds of sheep. The core breeds who produce BIY’s wool are all classically British – North Country Cheviot, Shetland and Bluefaced Leicester. Each has their own characteristics and is special their own right.
I particularly enjoy the relationships I build with the farmers and smallholders I work with. While I pay a good rate for their fleeces, each is interested in seeing their livestock’s fleeces given added value and a productive end use. Being able to produce a valued product from local-to-me wool and later meet customers wearing beautiful items made from these yarns is what makes working with wool so special.
If any/ what have been your challenges with working with British wool and a local way of working? The main challenge of working with British wool has been finding and working with mills. The only real limit, I find, to a local way of working is that fleece production is seasonal and therefore it isn’t possible to access wool between summer clipping seasons – careful planning ahead, and attempting to take account of likely spin times, is required to aim to ensure a steady supply of each of the yarns. As with my decision to buy some natural dyes I also use some mills which are further afield (currently two in Scotland and two in England) in order to produce the best quality yarns with the fleeces I buy, rather than less effective yarns for the sake of reduced transport miles. As with anything it is a balance of objectives but producing the highest quality yarns is a priority.
On a scale of 1- 10 (1 being the lowest and 10 excellent) how much do you think your business has improved in the below areas as a result of good working practices and environmental standards?
Waste Production - 9 (off-cuts, production)
Plastic Pollution - 9 (packaging)
Water Waste - 7 (dyeing and finishing)
Energy Consumption - 7 (shipping, machinery etc)
Do you have any hero farmers or people in your supply chain you would like to highlight? It’s hard to choose out of an amazing selection but I really want to highlight the incredible journey from farm to yarn and how important this is in building relationships.