Wondering about wool

Back in 2012 we took a car load of Zwartble fleeces to the Border Mill in Coldstream to have it cleaned, sorted and spun into useable fibres.  Farmer had a vision of happy people (himself very much included) wearing wonderfully home spun handknits and scarves made from Treshnish wools.

The first box of wool to arrive was so small I thought it was a sample, I didnt realise we would get so little knitting wool from so much fleece.  It still seems too precious to use, so sits in its box until we are brave enough to commit it to a creative project.  

In researching all this, it seemed we were entering a mysterious world of warps and yarns, weights and spins, ply and weave.  Different mills weave different weights/thicknesses/ply and we were not quite sure what we would end up with and which key would unlock the door to which weaving shed. 

But finally 18 months later, we have 3 boxes of yarn which the Border Mill had spun, with their own alpaca wool to make it softer, into 4 different blends.  They are beautiful, but now, what to do with it, what to make, who to make it..

First stop had to be Ardalanish Weavers, based on the Ross of Mull, to see what they could do for us.  We met the new owners (who have been there for 2 or 3 years now) which was really nice, and they showed us their beautiful tweeds and what they might be able to weave for us.   At this point in time though, we aren't sure that we have enough wool to fit their minimum requirement, and it may not be the right weight for their looms! Nothing is ever simple.  We left a box of yarn with them so that they can discuss it with their weaver, and we keep our fingers crossed. It would be good to have the weaving done on the island!

We did come away with some tweed samples, which we plan to use for making into throws for the cottages once we have chosen.

We couldn't go all the way to Ardalanish without walking on the Uisken sands. 

We had our first picnic of the year too.

And on the way home Loch Scridain was still still, with cloud lingering on the slopes of Ben More.

New arrivals and projects

Spring in northern England a little more lush than western Mull.

Daughter went on a school trip to Hexham last week and we took the opportunity to deliver the Zwartble fleeces to a mill at Coldstream, en route to collect her. It was fascinating getting a look at how fleece is transformed into yarn, on a small scale. A husband and wife team working from 2 small industrial units near the English border. They will let us know next week what it will cost to do a couple of different options, and we can then decide what exactly we want to do. It is a bit like the chicken and the egg. Difficult to say until the work has been done exactly how much yarn can be produced from the bundles of fleece, and then difficult to price what a throw or a blanket would cost. Hopefully in a week or so we will know what we are doing. The millers were very helpful and explained the whole process very thoroughly.

But of course, I have forgotten what all these different machines do. Most of the wool they process usually is from Alpacas which is very very soft.

Our trip into England was brief. We spent a night at Battlesteads Hotel, another GTBS Goldstar 2011 winner, at Wark, near Hexham. A drive in the falling light over the moor, bleak and wild, to get there. And the novelty of waking up in an English village - pigeons and sparrows. All green and leafy - and lots of bunting! (This was a bit of a surprise as the Jubilee had not really reached our part of Mull and we have been so heads down in Treshnish life, the preparations had passed us by somewhat.)

Early start so we didn't have much time to enjoy what Battlesteads had to offer, but it was good to stay somewhere with a good environmental ethos. We picked up Daughter at 8am and drove to visit cousins for a late breakfast. Got lost a few times on the way. Took a walk to stretch the legs through very different scenery to our usual. It was lovely to see all the blossom and the grass so advanced compared to home.

Huge lambs compared to ours - born earlier in the year than ours.

Someone with an interest in rare breeds, keeping Soays. When I was about 14 my mother bought some Soays from a farm in Fife. She misguidedly decided that we would collect them in the car. A carpeted Citroen. I can well remember the smell and driving through Dundee with the windows down to get some fresh air. The Soays were really good at getting out of fields my father wanted to keep them in. I remember also they liked to eat cake. The interior of the car never recovered.

One of the lanes we walked. Lovely to see the cow parsley which wasn't out when we left Treshnish, but was when we got back - flowering in our garden.

Alston. Where better for an ice cream stop.

The Crown at Alston Town Hall. It has a pretty cobbled in places town centre, with an Award winning pie shop.

After a brief stop in Alston, we headed across to Gilston and stayed at Willowford Farm, which was right on Hadrian's Wall. Neither Farmer nor myself had ever seen the wall before, but we had a lovely stroll along this bit, in the field next to our B&B. (GTBS Gold Award and well worth a stay). We had simple but stylish rooms in a converted Byre, with welcoming homemade shortbread and even homemade (on the farm) natural soaps in the bathroom. We had supper here and enjoyed organic lamb from the farm, and it was delicious! It was a really good example of how you can get it right - comfortable welcoming accommodation with a low carbon footprint, and a genuineness that you don't come across that often. It was lovely and quiet, and very restful.

Thence to Dumfries and Galloway for a bit of Spring Fling. We went to a concert - One Day in June - at Dalswinton Church. We visited Trevor Leat's studio, Anthea Sommers's studio, and this which was the star of the show for me. When I first saw it my feeling was of slight disappointment, that it would have been great to have happened upon it, without knowing it was there. But it was great anyway, and looked fantastic.

As many of you will know we lost Tig two months ago, and Farmer was adamant that we shouldn't get another dog for a good while, especially as we have Cap and Jan. But it became more and more obvious that whilst they are both lovely dogs with friendly kind natures, they are Farmer's dogs, and they have questionable domestic habits. So the arrival of Coco, a small labradoodle, is nothing to do with Farmer, and he is going to have nothing to do with her. (So that is why I couldn't resist posting this photograph of Farmer on the ferry yesterday with Coco on his knee, all tucked up in her dog bed with her special red blanket). We collected her on Monday, and she is running the household already.

And bang on the Jubilee - a Treshnish golden sunset. As I type Farmer is hard at sheep work and I will let you know what has been happening in our real world (here on the farm) soon.

Leaves are blowing, calves are sold, wool cheque arrives

Autumn winds are blowing the last leaves from the waving branches of the sycamore trees around the farmhouse, scattering them across the grass and in gathering mounds round sheltered corners. The brood of young chicks are growing up fast and following their mother around the yard. The new brown ewe lambs are happily ensconsed in the field beside Shian and Duill.

Yesterday Farmer sold 10 of this years calves at the annual Mull Cattle Sale. Instead of taking the calves over to Oban market to be sold, the market comes to Mull. Caledonian Marts bring a team of staff over to handle this 'market on the move'.

First they went to Knock Farm, the buyers and the sales team, where they sold a large number of calves, using the farm cattle facilities, after which they drove out to Gribun to the farm there to do the same. Once those two large assignments were dealt with, the team and the buyers came down to Craignure. When we arrived there were quite a few calves already in the pens.

Farmer in the pen, selling 3 Aberdeen Angus calves.

The paint used to put the buyers mark on the calves - each one with a different colour and/or place on the back.

There were only 5 buyers, and sadly for us, it seemed that our lovely black (+ one dun, seen above) Angus calves were not what they had crossed the Sound of Mull for, as we didn't get as good a price as we had hoped for them. Driving home, we struggled to console ourselves with the thought that there is more to being successful than getting a good sale price..but it didn't work. Still on reflection, we have learned something from it - we know that perhaps next year we will do a direct farm to farm sale again, where we agree a price before the calves leave the farm.

There is a joke every year about the size of the wool cheque. Our cheque arrived this week, and this year it is no exception. The fleeces are rolled and bagged, and once the bags are ready, sewn up and labelled, Ewen Stewart come in with their lorry to collect the bags. They take them to the WMB in the south of Scotland somewhere. The amount we are paid for our wool by the Wool Marketing Board barely covers the cost of the shearers, the gatherers and the lunch. Shearing becomes more of a humane treatment for the animals comfort, rather than for the collection of a valued resource. Perhaps someone should start up a wool insulation processing place on the island.

To cheer ourselves up, the homebred heifers look in really good condition, and are so much more mature now. When they were younger, they were inclined to rush about in a gang, but now they are more sedately cow-like. This one will have her first calf in the spring.

The turbine is nearly a year old. It was commissioned on the 13th of October 2009. Today the total generation meter reads 11,371 so it has exceeded its target and we are edging up to the hopeful 12,000 mark. 11 days to go! We have had quotes in for a 3.2kW turbine, and are now waiting for planning permission so that we can install that early next year.