Best of British Wool 1
Want to knit with British yarn but not sure where to start? Here’s the first part of my handy guide to some favourite woolly wonders from across the UK.
West Yorkshire Spinners - https://wyspinners.com/collections/yarns
Based in Keighley, West Yorkshire, WYS are one of my favourite yarn producers for three reasons: durability, washability, and cost. Not only can you get a skein or ball of any of their yarns for around £10, but you can generally pop garments made from their yarns into a washing machine on a 30-degree wool wash with no harm done. They are my go-to yarn choice for socks and baby knits, and I have kids’ knits made from their yarns that have been worn for years by multiple children, and still look as good as the day I made them:
John Arbon Textiles - https://www.jarbon.com/collections/all-yarns
I love the colour palette and soft handle of John Arbon yarns, and in 2024 went on a Christmas knitting kick using their worsted-weight Harvest Hues yarns, held double to make 8 chunky folded brim hats:
Erica Knight - https://www.erikaknight.com/
I love the unusual range of fibre blends Erika offers - her nettle-wool ‘Wild Wool’ is soft and characterful, and her ‘British Blue’ is extremely smooth and durable - perfect for baby dungarees:
Blacker Yarns - https://www.blackeryarns.co.uk/
Blacker Yarns have a wonderful variety of breed-specific yarns, spun at their small mill in Cornwall. I chose a mixture of their DK yarns for my ‘hurrah I’ve finished writing a book about wool’ celebration jumper (pattern adapted from ‘Vellum’ by Karie Westermann):
Laxtons - https://www.bylaxtons.co.uk/
Spun in Yorkshire, Laxtons offer a great range of fully traceable worsted-spun yarns at very reasonable prices - I used 4 skeins of their 100g Sheepsoft DK yarn for the main navy blue base of my self-designed jumper:
Iona Wool - https://www.ionawool.com/our-yarn
Inspired by my time living on the Isle of Muck, my Compass Cross hat was specifically designed for the texture and weight of Iona Wool yarn, which shows up texture wonderfully :
Di Gilpin - https://digilpin.com/collections/yarn
This is possibly my most ‘local’ yarn as it is designed in Fife and spun in Scotland. I used 8 skeins of Di’s gorgeous red ‘Lalland’ yarn for my 2023 Christmas jumper (pattern is Field Cardigan by Camilla Vad):
