The Woolist
Knitwear Research &
Designers Toolkit
I have a background in knitwear design and academic research focusing on knit experimentation using natural fibres. After completing a PhD focusing on British sheep breed fleece characteristics for knitwear design, including creating a comparable database for designers to use to utilise more breed-specific and traceable British wool, I wanted to highlight the positive potential connecting regenerative farmers trusted and traceable fibre chains could have within a mindful fashion chain. Designing for breed enables a more conscious and functional way of working with a distinguishable material to suit complex end needs.
What is so amazing about working with British wool? There are over 72 pure breeds of British sheep across the British Isles and hundreds of cross-breeds, all bred over generations to thrive in their specific localised landscapes. These breeds all hold such material potential with their diverse fibre characteristics, yet are not fully utilised to their full potential. By educating and understanding how different breeds can satisfy different end product uses we can start to champion this diverse, natural, renewable and fully traceable material with such a close relationship to community and place, that has never been replicated by synthetic plastic compounds.
If any/ what have been your challenges with working with British wool and a local way of working?
British wool doesn’t fit within our common globablised supply chain that wants uniformity, scale and cheapest price denominators – what it does thrive on is its multi-purpose usage across multiple sectors of end uses from fashion to fabrications and it’s strong connection to people and place, from the hands that shear and grade the fleece to the specialist processors that transform it into finished yarns. Making designers, brands and wearers aware of the different ways (and timescales) you have to work with British wool is the first challenge to overcome.
What gauge of Knitwear do you sell? i.e fine gauge 10-12gg or more chunky knits such as 7-5gg
I work with a variety of weights from commercially spun yarns of 2/8’s through to hand spun and chunkier gauge. We have recently invested in a commercial knitting machine on the farm with The Wool Library and this allows us to experiment with a range of yarns on a multigauge 2.5-5gg breadth.
Do you find a lot of push back in the industry in terms of working with British wool?
“Conventional” design practices don’t do British wool justice in it’s quality, varied characteristics or ability to tell such fantastic stories from soil to sale – re-educating and understanding that it’s nuances are it’s biggest strength still need to be appreciated by some in the Industry.
Do you find that customers are becoming more interested in British wool? Absolutely, in a world where you can have anything you want whenever you want it’s very easy to become dissatisfied and cotton on to rubbish marketing to just shift more stuff without a real need – British wool challenges this and gives the user a sense of responsibility, with truthful and honest narratives from farm to fibre stories that fit the different landscapes where different breeds with different qualities thrive.