Novice Shepherd learns on the Boreray Boys

So 19 September dawned and it was time to address the results of the droppings samples I'd taken to the vet.

The Boys had roundworm, which we were advised to treat with 'clear' wormer.  Bob had said that they'd had 2 courses of Heptavac, but that if they were looking 'off' a 3rd one wouldn't come amiss, so we were armed with the bottle of that as well and syringes.  I also wanted to dag Boris and any other sheep that had been scouring a bit, partly so I could better assess if the worming treatment was successful, and I thought it would be a good opportunity just to check their feet. 

The Boys were unaware of the excitement ahead of them.  Oh, I should add that the yet-to-be-named one does now have a name - Broder.  A modern version of the old Norse name for brother.  Very apt since he and Brookes-Wright are the only pair of brothers in the group and they do like to do things together.  Broder is the last one in this photo, taken as we gently walked behind them, encouraging them to go up the length of the paddock towards the pens we'd made using borrowed sheep hurdles.

It was actually easier than I'd anticipated to get them into the pens, but I realised the long, narrow shape of the paddock was perfect for calm herding into the pens at the end.

Then it was time to get hands on - and here I must confess to taking time to appreciate the quality of the fleece in the sheep I was holding.  Can't wait for next year when I get their fleeces off them!

 Here feeling around their feet and between their toes to check for anything that shouldn't be there.  A minor bit of foot trimming was done where the outer edge of horn had grown down and bent over the sole - easily removed leaving a nice rim of horn lower than the sole and no toe trimming needed.

Giving the wormer and getting it down the back over the tongue turned out to be much easier than I'd feared, and I sensibly got 'assistant shepherd' to stick the needle in them, which he did with no problem and very quickly so it was over before they knew.

Only Boris, Bertie and Bilbo needed any dagging, and Boris got a good wash round his rear end as well.  Interestingly the two brothers, Brookes and Broder were completely clean.  I'm quite sure that 'proper' shepherds don't go round their sheep's mucky rear ends with cloths and warm water (making sure not to rub and felt the fleece of course) but it did leave Boris really clean, and hopefully more comfortable.

So that's Bilbo and Bertie both done and just the 3 larger Boys to do.  Having carefully read in my Sheep Book for Smallholders the correct way to turn sheep into sitting positions to work on them, we realised that with sheep this small there were alternative options.  For any other beginners out there, it goes without saying not to just copy what we did, but to consult knowledgeable sources about the correct way to lift and turn sheep of all sizes.

While I'm sure the sheep didn't enjoy this, we did manage to keep them calm throughout.  When they were all done, we gave them a couple of minutes at the 'treats' bucket (beet nuts) while pondering the big decision - was this the time to let them into the big field?

Deciding that the benefits to them of being on 'clean' ground while their wormer worked outweighed the difficulty of catching them again once outside the paddock, the gate was opened.

Then the fun really started.  They went around closely examining the fencing round the field.

Now, I'd not put extra chicken wire on the bottom gate because the gap below the bottom rung was far too small for a sheep to get through..........

Yes, that's Brookes-Wright enjoying identical grass on the other side of the gate - and he's one of the larger sheep!  I actually witnessed him going under the gate - does he have no respect for his belly fleece dragging himself across the ground like that?

Then of course Brookes realised he didn't like being separate from the rest of the Boys so stepped back and took a running leap at the fencing - this is full height shire wire with 2 strands of barbed wire on 5'6" stabs....... he didn't make it.  As I charged down the hill I could see that his head was trapped between the 2 strands of barbed wire with his horns hooked over the top strand and his back feet trying to get support on the shire wire.  I managed to get to him and take all his weight but couldn't get the wire off his horns while holding him up.  Fortunately my 'assistant shepherd' wasn't far behind me and he managed to do the unhooking.  At this point Brookes' safety took priority over photographs.   It was a miracle that Brookes appeared completely unharmed in any way, but very close inspection revealed that he didn't even have a scratch on him. 

So then I spent the rest of the day putting chicken wire on that gate as well (it was already on the paddock gates and the all-important gate to the driveway and road) and putting more fencing bits where the burn goes under the fence.  There may be vertiginous sides to the burn there, but I was leaving nothing to chance with these Boys.  Bertie and Bilbo had already shown great interest in the plants growing in that area.

Finally, exhausted, and with great respect for all the shepherds and farmers who grow our wool and number their flocks in the hundreds, all the jobs were done and I could enjoy the evening.  Yes, it was a full moon - and I do wonder if that led to Brookes trying his most stupid jump.

 There have been no jumping attempts from any sheep since then, and they are now very happily settled in the big field with it's huge selection of meadow plants to eat as well as the good grass.  They seem to spend about half of their time grazing on non-grass plants.

Broadband Reality of Rural Life

A lot of businesses involved with British wool are located in the countryside and rely on the internet for running the business.  Many more 'growers' of British wool, our sheep farmers, are rural and need good internet for the daily business of running a farm.  Yes, I've realised how much paperwork is involved and how much of this is able to be done on line IF you have good enough broadband.

There are still areas of the country of course that don't have any broadband - they rely on dial up connections.  The Government is planning to address this, but it seems there are issues.  This is an article from Rural Mole on the subject.

This is my bit of rural - the valley in Orkney where I live and farm now.  More fields and moorland than houses.  When I lived in central Newcastle upon Tyne we had cable broadband and got 20Mb/s, which was pretty reliable.  When it did go pear-shaped because the provider had sold more capacity in the area than was available the community complained en-masse and more capacity was provided.  Power in numbers!

Now we have a BT broadband connection with our contract specifying 'up to' 10Mb/s.  No doubt our valley is on the list of rural areas that have great, fast broadband of 'up to' 10Mb/s.  The key there is the 'up to'.  The reality is that the greatest speed we have ever received is LESS than 2Mb/s.  The usual maximum is 1.6Mb/s.

So, with the advantage that I can recall life with reliable, 24 hour, 20Mb/s, how does life compare with 1.6Mb/s?
Well, I can't read The Orcadian on-line  easily.  I can get a page to come up quickly, but enlarging it enough to read means sitting at the laptop waiting, or going away to do something else for 2-3 minutes.  That's for every single page turn.

Ravelry.com means waiting for images to load - a tedious waste of time.

Uploading information to the blog or website is also a hugely slower process than it used to be - some people with businesses need to regularly upload lots of images to their websites and for them, time is money.

But the situation is actually much worse than this.  During most evenings and weekends, and sometimes during the day the speed drops off to less than 0.7Mb/s, sometimes down to this (yesterday evening)

What does less than 0.7Mb/s mean?
Well I can't do internet banking, emails won't load, most websites time out, and even speedtest times out so our speed record excludes everything below that speed.

In other words we're cut off from the basic necessities of 21st century life - but don't forget, our area will be listed as a BT success of a rural area getting 'up to' 10Mb/s.

So, in all the discussions about bringing broadband to those areas that don't yet have it - and that MUST be a priority for the Government - remember that even BT's claimed successes are not all they're made out to be.

All these households here below receive a BT service that is far from what it's claimed to be and far from what we're paying for.

 So what is the Government going to do about that, and for how long will BT be allowed the advantageous monopoly it has but does not deserve based on current achievements?

I've also, with such recent experience of living in an urban community, asked myself, "who most needs reliable, consistent, usable broadband - those in cities or those in the countryside?"
 I no longer have easy access to banks, libraries, cinemas, shopping centres, Council offices and all the other places I took for granted I could visit cheaply and quickly.  In the 21st century a lot of these services can be accessed on-line.  An essential lifeline for those who live many miles from any of these.  Yet these are the people who have the worst broadband, if any, of our entire population here in UK.  That cannot be right, and I think it's the duty of our Government to properly address this issue and make themselves fully aware of the reality of the situation behind all the charts and maps they'll have been provided with.

ps - in answer to the inevitable question, when we can face the horrors of the BT call centre, yes our wireless is working properly and all the 'inside the house' techie side of things is working to give the best possible broadband service.  Sorry BT - it's all down to your side of things!

Books about Sheep and Wool

Today is a proper murky day, stuck in a cloud with lots of rain, so I'm inside sorting through my books.

The ducks are enjoying the rain on the lawn, the sheep are getting on with grazing despite it.

I've put all my books about breeds of sheep and using wool from different breeds together on one shelf.  I thought it might be helpful for anyone new to the joy of knitting, spinning and crafting with wool from different breeds if I had a quick run through of my 'breeds library'.

I'll start with the books that I took around the country for Woolsack stuffing events, where we also had a display about British sheep and their wool.

I've written before about the Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook by Deb Robson and Carol Ekarius - there are now lots of reviews of it, some of which are here.

British Sheep & Wool is a British Wool Marketing Board publication (ISBN 9780904969108).  The National Sheep Association describes it here (scroll down).  I can't find any reviews so I'll do a brief description here.  It's a book of over 70 of the breeds of sheep farmed in the UK with some great photographs of the sheep and a lock of fleece from each breed.  It's divided into sections according to the classification of the fleece and/or the sheep.  So sections include 'Fine', 'Mountain', 'Naturally Coloured' and a useful section titled 'Cross' that has some of the common mules farmed in the UK.  The essential alphabetical index of breeds is on p178 at the back.

It's a great book to have on a display table because of the size and quality of the photographs and the small amount of written information for each breed.

 For certain information, such as when the breed and the breed society were established it's the easiest place to quickly get the dates, and it's very good on the cross breeds or mules as they're usually called.  If you're sheep spotting out in the British countryside then you're more likely to see mules and crosses than pure breeds, so this book will help you with breed-spotting.

Next a little pair of books by Jack Byard: Know Your Sheep and Know More Sheep.  Postcard sized and with a photograph and brief description of over 80 breeds of sheep found on British farms between them.  I've managed to track down some reviews of the books here:  Know Your Sheep and Know More Sheep.  The information is mostly about the sheep with brief mention of the fleece.

Next two books that include patterns for knitters and one full of inspiration for knitters, spinners & weavers.    The Knitter's Book of Wool has been comprehensively reviewed since it's publication in 2009 - here are details of the book and reviews.                    A more recent publication by a British author with vast experience of working with wool from British breeds of sheep is Pure Wool by Sue Blacker.  There is a really detailed review of the book here.  I must confess that now Pure Wool has been published, I tend to refer to that when choosing which breed's wool to use for a specific project.  I've learnt a lot about how to swap breeds for particular patterns from this book, which I can highly recommend.

The third book may need to be ordered from America, but it's a wonderful read and very inspiring.  Handspun Treasures from Rare Wools, ISBN 1883010845.  This is a description of the Save The Sheep Project which lies behind the book.  The description of the book says:  "Bringing together the art of spinning and wools from rare breeds of sheep, Handspun Treasures from Rare Wools catalogs the 29 touring pieces from the Save the Sheep Exhibit.  It also includes photos and information on endangered breeds, plus photos of several dozen other pieces that illustrate points about the rare-breed fibers and what makes them indispensable for contemporary handspinning.

I've just spotted while googling that there is an e-book of Selections from Handspun Treasures.

In Sheep's Clothing, below, is information about spinning with wool from different breeds of sheep. and reviews of the book can be read here.  (ISBN 9781931499385)

I'm also including two books that I've really enjoyed reading, Ryder's Sheep and Man and Alan Butler's Sheep.  The latter being the much more approachable way to learn about the influence of sheep on the development of civilisation over 1000s of years.  And no, I've not read every page of Ryder and I'm hoping it comes out an an e-version one day so I can read it away from home and when travelling.  It's heavy!

Next a book and a little treasure of a booklet.

 Real Shetland Yarns is about Shetland and its sheep - it is what it says on the cover:  a collection of woolly tales and memories.  There is a review of the book by Kate Davies here.

If you're curious about the seaweed eating sheep living on North Ronaldsay, then the booklet by Liz Lovick is a must-have read.  Liz has thoroughly researched the island and its sheep and combined this with her knowledge and love of working with North Ronaldsay wool.  The result is a delightful and fascinating read that will leave you wanting to visit the island yourself as you share Liz's enthusiasm for these little sheep and their wool.  The booklet can be purchased as a booklet or pdf download from the Northern Lace website.

Next a look at some European sheep - most of which cannot be found in the UK, but through the Blacker & Beyond with FFSB group on Ravelry, my interest in sheep breeds doesn't stop with British sheep.

Schafrassen der Alpen, or Sheep Breeds of the Alps, is in English and German and can be ordered here. It is just as it describes - detailed information with photographs about breeds of sheep found in the Alps.  The discussion about it on Ravelry is here.

Wools of Europe is the multilingual catalogue of a travelling exhibition in 2010 that highlighted one hundred European sheep breeds.  For each breed there is a photo of the sheep, part of a fleece and an article made from its wool.  It can be ordered here

There is a discussion about how to get hold of it from around the world here

Finally, the newest addition to my library - The Field Guide to Fleece by Deb Robson and Carol Ekarius.

As you can see, rather easier to carry around than the Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook (FFSB).

A great little pocket book at a price that makes it a definite as-well-as rather than instead-of the FFSB.  The photographs of the sheep and a lock of their fleece are superb and the information is just what you need if planning a project with fleece, fibre or yarn from a breed, when out fleece buying at a fibre-fest or even when deciding what breed(s) of sheep to keep with a consideration of their fleece in mind.

I would also like to draw people's attention to the entry for Brecknock Hill Cheviot.  That was the one British breed that Deb didn't have a sample of.  It is entirely due to the chain of farmers who passed around my request for a sample of fleece last winter, long after all the Brecknock's wool had gone to BWMB, that a few locks were found in time.  I was thrilled when an envelope containing the locks arrived for me to wash and send on to Deb in time for the photography.

The Morning After The Storm

I was up and out of the house this morning as soon as it was just light enough to see - we had a storm last night.  Well, it's been going since Sunday with another couple of days to run according to the forecast, but last night had the Met Office wind warnings.

Our neighbours had advised about what to tie down and the best place to position the trailer before tying that down.  We'd also gone round the garden and fields picking up all the stuff that might blow around.  I wasn't worried about the ducks or the hens, but my Boreray Boys....... they look so small and are a little more limited for sheltering options in the paddock than in the big field where they'll be spending the winter.  So I gave in to my 'just bought the new baby home' feelings and put a bale of straw where it would create a cosy sheltered corner from the direction of the wind.  Firmly tied to a strainer of course!  For those who know as little about fencing terminology as I used to, strainers are the big posts like telegraph poles that are gate posts and at the corners of fencing.

First to see the ducks, which as usual were pottering about the lawn looking as if they'd been doing that all night.  They do everything in a close gang and their main objective in life seems to be to keep as far away from people as possible.  More about them another time.

 Then a quick look at the burn and pond - normally a lovely quiet place with a gentle trickling of water and a nice stone walkway across it, well above the height of the water.  I could hear from the other side of the lawn that the trickle was now a roar.  Only one of the stones is still above water.  It seems the stone seat has survived the storm though.

 Then further along the drive to the entrance to the paddock.  It was the Boreray Boys I was really concerned about.  We're still at the stage of creeping up on them since I've not been able to get closer than about 10ft so far without them shooting off at high speed.  Anyone thinking of staging spectacular sheep racing should use Borerays.  Or North Ronaldsays, which are equally fleet on their absurdly dainty legs.

A heart stopping moment - there was a motionless white shape lying on the ground by the gate and the wrong side of the bale of straw.  I could see the other 4 sheep comfortably cuddled up in the sheltered corner, which was easily big enough for 5 sheep.  Had my smallest sheep, Bertie, succumbed?  I had to get close enough to check.  Of course they heard me and all, including the previously motionless white shape, shot off down the paddock.  It was Boris the ram who had been sleeping unprotected from the wind.

Relief that they'd all survived the stormy night was slightly hampered by guilt at having woken them.  I must learn to be more trusting of the toughness and intelligence of these Boreray sheep.  Of course I'm a little anxious by the fact that their droppings are now marginally less firm than they should be.  No mucky bums that I can see (some of them have dark fleece on their tails) and a little tummy upset is normal I guess after the huge change in their lives, but I shall be watching them closely till things look at peak health again.

So having shot down the paddock they settled down for a good graze.

 I must say I was not amused though to see a patch of mud on Bilbo's right shoulder.  As soon as I've got these boys tame and listening to my every word we'll sit down together for the 'fleece management' lecture.

Finally the hens, and this seemed to be the only casualty of the storm.  Their metal water container, which I'd made sure was full and heavy to lift, had blown over.  Fortunately that was easy to refill and move nearer to the windbreak on the west side of the hen house that had protected their feeder.  The girls had wisely decided to stay inside but of course came out to see me when I was spotted.

You'll realise that some of the boys have names now.  Well all but one, and I really mustn't leave the one unnamed for any longer. 
From left to right they are Brookes-Wright, Bertie, Bilbo, Boris and yet-to-be-named.

Boris was named even before I met him and as you can see he's the largest of the Boys.  He was a singleton.  The others were all twins.  He has a red mark on his rump, a black nose and what looks like eyeliner round his eyes.  He also has a nice pair of fleecy testicles for future work as the tup.









 Then there is Bertie, the smallest.  He has a green mark on his rump and a similar coloured face to yet-to-be-named but his horns are lighter.  He is a very sweet lamb and is the first to have taken a step towards me.

 

Next there is Bilbo, who has been named for his possible escapology tendencies.  He's been all round the paddock closely examining the gates and fences and can often be seen gazing at the fields beyond.  He's got a white face with black nose and eyes and a blue mark on his rump.









Yet-to-be-named looks quite similar to Bertie but he's larger and has a distinctive black streak at the base of his horns.  I feel very bad that he's not got a name, but to be honest I'm confident none of the others realise they have names yet so I suspect he's not feeling left out at all.  He has an orange mark on his rump.

Finally there is Brookes-Wright.  He's possibly the easiest to recognise from afar because he's got a dark brown face and his horns show up very well against it.  He's also got patches of dark fleece.  He too has an orange mark.

Those of you who know your horned sheep will already have spotted something - he's got horns as big as Boris the ram........ yes, he was either born a rig and just had the one testicle removed, or one of them escaped out of the scrotum and into his abdomen just after banding.  So he has testosterone and is growing ram horns.  The errant testicle is now clearly felt just under his skin, so he'll possibly be seeing the vet for a minor procedure in the future.

Anyway, with all this complication in his life I decided he needed a name to match.  Several of my ancestors in the 17th and 18th centuries were called Brookes Wright.  Most were Yeomen and land owning farmers.  Some were publicans and one organised boxing matches.

From a 1743 newspaper:
'This is to acquaint all Gentlemen Wrestlers, that at Brooks Wright's, at the Black Swan in Great Brington, near Northampton, will be wrestled for, on Whtison Monday, a HAT OF ONE GUINEA PRICE,  a Free Gift: no less that twelve men to wrestle, and all to wrestle in Pumps, or shoes without nails: to put in by Twelve of the Clock the same Day, and to wrestle at One.  Brooks Wright being a Gamester, is excluded from wrestling himself.'
and

In 1747, a Statute Sessions was held at the Black Swan in Great Brington:
'for hiring Men and Maid Servants; and for the Diversion of all Gentlemen, Ladies and others, on the Statute Day will be the famous Blakesley Morrice at the same Place, where everyone may depend on good Entertainment, and good and Civil Usage, from their humble servant, BROOKS WRIGHT.'

One of the earliest Wrights had this in his will:

"to William Chambers, my old jacket and petticoat (an undergarment for men): to Richard Masters, another of my old petticoats: to Pettifer, my old hose: to Peter Turlington, a new petticoat: to Richard Kenning, a fustian doublet: to Thomas Hatton, a russet coat: wo William Wright, my best violet coat or my best russet coat, whichever one of them he will choose: to thomas Russell, a russet jacket and a green jerkin: to John Hatton, my oldest green jerkin: and I bequeath to Thomas Sampson, my older violet coat that I wear every day.

So I'm sure you'll understand why I felt it was most appropriate to name my gorgeous coloured-fleece rig, Brookes-Wright.

Here are all the boys relaxing together - before the storm!

From left to right, Yet-to-be-named, Boris, Bilbo, Bertie, Brookes-Wright

The Boreray Boys

Friday 13 September 2013 was a momentous day in my life.  I became the proud owner of 5 male Boreray lambs.

Now it's possible that someone reading this may not be aware that there have been some very BIG changes in my life over the past few months.  So first thing to state is that I'm not trying to keep 5 Boreray sheep in my Newcastle back yard.  Instead they are happily grazing in the little paddock area, just below my lounge window that overlooks half of the fields on my Orkney farm.

Anyone who knows anything about sheep is of course going to be thinking, "What is she thinking starting off with a breed like Boreray?"  Yes, there is definitely some sense in thinking that.  I know the list of breeds that are good for first time sheep-keepers with an interest in fleece.  The problem was that I'd handled too much Boreray fleece not to be totally entranced with its variety and properties.  As a spinner I wanted to have lots of Boreray to play with.

That's not the whole story though - I mean, if anyone knows where to purchase Boreray fleeces .......

The real reason is that I'd fallen in love with these feisty, stubborn, independent and intelligent sheep.  My fate was sealed the day I walked into a field with Christine at Gaerllwyd and the 4 rams there had started coming towards Christine and the all-important bucket of feed, then seen me and rushed to the far end of the field.  They didn't like the look of me as a stranger and their desire for the food treat was irrelevant to them.  I however really liked them.

Now I'll tell the 'how we ended up in Orkney' story in another post because it won't be of interest to everyone.  Brief description of the farm is that it's on West Mainland and is up an east facing valley so we have more shelter than many parts of Orkney and even have some trees growing round the house.  We have fields on 3 sides of the house plus some moorland over the road for future expansion of sheep grazing.  This is the view down the valley to the sea from the moorland.

The reason I've got all males is that friends who know about sheep and fleece advised that wethers would be much easier to start off with and I knew that they would give the best quality fleeces throughout their lives.  I'd also learnt enough to know that getting sheep from a farm with similar conditions to my own would maximise the chance of the sheep doing well in the windy conditions up here.  So it was a quick phone call to Bob in Assynt earlier in the year to ask if I could buy any male lambs he had.  This is Bob's website with photos of a few of his sheep.

Time for a gratuitous lamb photo - here are some of my Boys in May

 After a couple of month's growing, here they are in early July, together with a photo of Boris, the lamb below with the black nose. Yes, Boris is a very silly name for a castrated wether!  Well, Boris is half of my future flock because he turned out to be far too good a potential tup to be banded.  Once I knew I was getting a tup the name for him was obvious.

So yes, I've got a challenging breed for a beginner and I'm starting off with a ram...... Let the fun begin.



So there began all the preparations at the farm to
get ready for the boys - the paperwork! I'll say no more about that side of things, except that the staff at the local Government office for this sort of thing were very helpful.

At the beginning of September the lambs were spained - separated from the ewes and weaned - and finally a date was sorted when we could get a ferry and drive down to collect them.

 This gave me a lovely opportunity to see Bob's ewes and rams in person - well as close as they'd let me get.

 You can see the ewe lambs on the little hillock still with their mums.

If I've remembered correctly the boy's father is the ram on the left of the photo.

Then the exciting bit as the lambs were put into our trailer and we started the journey home.

They travelled remarkably well, and it looked as if they'd slept during the ferry crossing.  By the time we landed it was dark and proved impossible to see enough to back the trailer round the bendy bit into the paddock area so we introduced more hay and topped up the water and left them to sleep in the trailer for the night.
At dawn today we were up and out to check on the Boys - they'd had a very comfortable night and probably slept better than me since I did wake a couple of times wondering how they were doing.

Well as you can see they'd resisted the opportunity to have a wild party in the trailer overnight and were looking very calm and collected.  Soon they were exploring the paddock and settling down to a good graze.  I should mention at this point that dear husband did a splendid job of reversing the trailer down the bendy slope without bashing either trailer or strainer, nor upsetting the Boys.  And all this before his morning coffee, having been woken at some unearthly hour.

Followed by a nice calm ruminating - the sheep that is, not the reverser of trailers.

I work on the theory that sheep won't lie down and relax if they're nervous, so this was a rather lovely sight.

ALL the boys on the farm have done very well indeed!

The Boreray Project part 5 - NOT the Final Chapter!

So the story continues from September 2011 when the Boreray fleeces went to Natural Fibre Company for processing and spinning.  By February 2012 I'd heard the exciting news that it had been processed in the mill and had spun into a very nice aran weight, a natural oatmeal colour as the majority white fleeces had been coloured by the few coloured fleeces.  It was a 'robust' yarn that you might not want to wear next to your skin, but looked as if it would knit well for cables and texture.  Here it is!

The hat is the special pattern that went with the packs of yarn for the people who purchased some of the 360 balls of yarn. There was great publicity for the yarn and for Boreray sheep and the price included a donation. This, together with additional donations linked to the aran yarn meant cheques for £316 were sent to each of RBST and the Soay & Boreray Society to support the genetics research into Boreray sheep.
I took a long time to decide what to knit with my precious 4 balls, and then to find the right pattern.  Knitting has now finally started and my project is here.  Other Boreray yarn projects can be found on Ravelry.  One of my favourites is this wonderful knitted and felted Boreray IPhone Hoodie

Those of you who have read the previous chapters in this story will remember our excitement at the Pooh Party when we discovered the fine undercoat fibres and how we separated them out after advice from Sue Blacker that their absence wouldn't affect the quality of the Boreray aran yarn.

Initially, being spinners, we had fond thoughts of handspinning it ourselves - yes, I can hear other spinners drooling at the thought.  Sue Blacker though was very supportive of a tentative suggestion I made.  Yes, if I could give NFC the fine fibres already dehaired and if together we could find enough very fine Soay so that together it made the minimum 20kg, then NFC would explore spinning it into a laceweight yarn.  I'm very grateful that at that point I wasn't lynched by my spinning friends, although they were very happy for me to tackle the mammoth dehairing task on my own.

Time for a quick look at double coated fleece.  This subject is covered much better in a book that rarely leaves my side.  The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook by Deb Robson & Carol Ekarius  The Boreray information starts on page 154.

This is some of the fleece that we separated out.  At first glance it doesn't look any different, but there is no kemp in it and at the base of the locks are the fine fibres.  Kemp can be removed manually from fleece but it can involve tweezers and rather more patience that I'd even want to have.

Here is the process starting with the complete lock on the left.  You then grasp the base of the lock in one hand, the tips of the long hairs in the other and gently ease the hairs from the lock.  The photo on the right shows the 2 types of fibre separated.

 With the Boreray fleece this wasn't that difficult to do, it's just that there were two sacks of selected fleece to work through.

Note the two green net bags next to the sacks.  This was my ultimate sacrifice.  In them was the fine fibre from the very first box of Boreray that I'd bought for myself at the beginning of 2011, together with the very finest of the Light Phase (golden) Soay that I'd also separated out for myself.  We're talking handspinning paradise in those two bags.  Without them though there wasn't enough fibre for NFC to spin the laceweight.

Read on though and you'll find out why I'm no longer weeping about this loss.

So the system I had was to sit in a comfortable chair with a sack in front of me, apron on lap, 'hair' box to one side and 'fluff' box to the other.  I'd take a lock of fleece, remove the hair and any other unwanted bits, drop the hair in one box (on the right) and let the fluff float down into the other (on the left).  For a few weeks whole evenings passed in this way.

This though was the result, and this photo does actually manage to show this magical 'fluff' that had got us all so excited.  The 'fat' looking dark fibres are actually very fine and soft, this is just a very magnified photo.  Sadly my achievement at getting this in focus wasn't matched by my remembering to include a scale in the photo.

Then, just before Wonderwool Wales in April 2012 I received some exceedingly exciting news from Sue Blacker.  Without me knowing there had been some experimenting going on at the Natural Fibre Company and they had found a way to separate the hair from the fine fibre in the mill.  By now I'd done around two thirds of the fleece, may have been slightly losing the will to live, and at the same time was being very busy with the Woolsack 2012 cushions project, so this was more exciting news than you might think.  Wine was hastily put in the fridge for the evening and the fibre boxes and bags were closed.

The fibre and fleece was handed over to Sue at Wonderwool and then, late in the evening of 29th October 2012 I got an email titled 'good things come to those who wait'.  The Natural Fibre Company had done it!  Sue had a ball of the laceweight yarn in her hand.

 There wasn't enough Boreray on its own so it was an obvious choice to blend some very fine Soay fibre, Soays being the other sheep breed still found on the St Kilda Islands.  The name for the yarn had to be 'St Kilda'.  I don't know how much of the process of producing this amazing laceweight yarn is 'trade secrets', but it might be worth following Sue Blacker's blog, since her experience with the wool from the Boreray sheep would be a fascinating read.

As you can see, the white and coloured Boreray, the 'golden' Soay and some very fine dark Soay that Sue was able to source came together to give this fabulous colour.  Sue rushed a ball up to me and I took it to show my spinning friends at our spinning group on 1 December.

Yes, we had missed out on spinning the fibre ourselves, but as you can see we were all delighted with the spun yarn.



This isn't all though.  I thought that it would be even more special if there could be a special pattern designed for this unique, one-off yarn.  It had to have a link to St Kilda of course, despite any difficulties caused by the islands having been evacuated in 1930.  There are some very special images though of the people of St Kilda which can be viewed as stills and film on the National Library of Scotland Scottish Screen Archive  On one page you can view the whole of the film, St Kilda - Britain's Loneliest Isle

I've just received permission from National Library of Scotland to post here a still photo from the St Kilda section of The Island Tapes DVD  If you look at the film on the website you'll see most of the women are wearing these woven shawls, some in a plaid design.

One thing immediately becomes apparent when viewing these images.  They didn't wear knitted shawls outside, so there are no patterns to reference or try to copy from photographs.  I did though know someone who has a wealth of knowledge about knitting and textiles in the Scottish Isles, and is also an experienced designer.  If anyone could create a special design that reflected and was inspired by the people and textiles of St Kilda from nearly a century ago, then it was Elizabeth Lovick.  I was so pleased when she agreed to take on this special challenge.  The story behind the design will be much better told by Liz, so keep an eye on her blog - Fibre Life In Orkney

ETA You can read about Liz's research into St Kilda and see some wonderful photos in her latest blog post here and the pattern can be purchased here, or as a download version here.

I will give a little hint though - this is part of the scarf pattern, before blocking.  As I have already discovered, not only is St Kilda a wonderful yarn to knit with, but it blocks beautifully.

So, this should be the end of the story.  How a group of Boreray enthusiasts, some spinning friends, Sue Blacker and the staff of the Natural Fibre Company and the designer, Elizabeth Lovick came together and produced two new and unique yarns to raise the profile of our rarest breed of sheep while giving non-spinners the opportunity to experience the wool in two very different yarns.

The pattern should be appearing on the Blacker Yarns website within a few days, even though virtually every ball of St Kilda has already been sold.  I believe there are a very few left and the sole stockist is Kathy's Knits in Edinburgh.  If you want to have one of the last few balls, then just contact them

This is not the end though!  Natural Fibre Company has been able to work with those who have Boreray sheep and are now getting fleece from them each year, enough to produce a small batch of St Kilda on a regular basis.  Limited quantities of fleece means a little very fine Shetland has to be added, but having seen this first of many annual batches at Unravel last weekend, I'm delighted to report that it still has the special St Kilda feel and look about it.  Even more excitingly, the colour will be different each year since it depends entirely on the colours of the fleeces they can source.  So this first of many batches has come out a beautiful soft, lighter colour than the original.  The two work together beautifully though and I'll be knitting my own St Kilda shawl using both yarns.  The new St Kilda is already available through Blacker Yarns

Here are the two yarns together.

When I started this whole 'Boreray project' I didn't really have any hopes other than to enable my non-spinning friends from the Blacker & Beyond with FFSB Group on Ravelry to experience yarn from  Britain's rarest breed of sheep.  I also hoped it might raise awareness of the breed.


I didn't dream that it would lead to two very different, rather special, yarns and create a new, ongoing, market for Boreray fleeces, some of which had previously been discarded.  So now I am going to dare to dream that one day the Boreray sheep will no longer be critically endangered.

Chat on Twitter leads to hunt for antidote to cold, snowy Britain

So this morning on twitter I follow a link and find that Artesano now does British wool - YAY!  And it's a chunky weight in gorgeous dyed colours.

Now I don't know about you, but today I've had to crank up the heating and can't get out to Tynedale Spinning Guild because of the snow.  So it's one of those cold, miserable days that makes me want to wrap myself up in layers of wool - and this time in something really bright to lift my mood.

Fortunately I have a good selection of woollies to choose from, but I thought it would be fun to have a quick whiz through the Woolsack stockists lists to specifically look for chunky/bulky weight British wool yarns dyed in bright colours.

With this thick yarn, even a slow knitter like me can make a hat, scarf, mini-shawl, cowl, or other small warming item in just a day.  That's what a lot of us need to cheer us up at the moment.

So here it goes - and if you knit something from anything on this list please let me know :-)

Artesano British Superwash Wool

Bedfordshire Wool Co White-faced Woodland

Herdy

Jamieson and Smith Shetland Chunky

Jamiesons Shetland Marl

Jillybean Yarns

June Onigbanjo

Natural Born Dyers

New Lanark Mill

Texere Yarns Chunky Wool 

ETA - Just found A Stash Addict's Chunky Bluefaced Leicester


Of course as I was going through the list I found some undyed chunky yarns in natural colours that 'ping' off the page - so here they are ;-)

Black Sheep Wools

Blacker Yarns

Garthenor Organic Pure Wool (scroll down to chunky)

Rowan Yarns

Toft Alpaca Shop

Woolcake

ETA - The Knitting Gift shop now have Chunky undyed Jacob 

Finally, if you don't know what to knit with around 100g of Chunky wool, that's 100m or thereabouts for most chunky, but do check first, here is a link to over 800 patterns on Ravelry.  Many of these can be purchased and downloaded through the website, and many are free to download.
If you're a quick knitter and wanting a bigger project, these are the search results for thosands of patterns using up to 200m of chunky wool, that's around 200g, but check the wool you're thinking of buying.

If you're not a member of Ravelry.com then it's free, quick and easy to join and has very high privacy levels.  Note that because it's a website hosted in America they use the American term 'bulky' to refer to what we call 'chunky' wool.

This has been a very quick look through the list and I've found a few links that no longer work and I know that I don't have every stockist of British wool listed yet.  So if you know of any stockists of chunky wool let me know so I can add to this blog page.  Or of any stockists missing from the Woolsack page for me to add there.  I'll be having a session with the website checking, updating and adding links

EDIT 20 January
Over the weekend I used the green yarn photographed above to knit myself a nice warm pair of wrist warmers - a quick and effective warming knit indeed!
Ravelry project for my Cold Weather Quickie Wrist Warmers
with enough of the wool left over to knit a mug cosy :-)