A big part of our ethos is to use sustainable materials, so we try and source yarns that have as little impact on the planet as possible. We decided on 100% sheep wool as our first type of yarn. In future we’d love to get our hands on all types of yarns to make our knitwear super fun and exciting!
New Lanark Spinning Co
We both have a strong connection to Scotland having Scottish grandparents and New Lanark has a special place in our hearts. We visited the town, including the spinnery and wool shop, many years ago on our first trip away together so we know first-hand where our yarn has come from. 🏴 (We found some old photos but sadly they’re too bad to share!)
We decided to source our yarn from New Lanark Spinning Co in Scotland. They support the small town of New Lanark by re-investing their income into protecting this World Heritage site. Their British wool is spun on historical 19th century machinery which is powered by locally-generated hydroelectricity. Any broken ends of fleece lost during the spinning process are collected and recycled into new yarn. This and the renewable energy used to power the mill makes for a more sustainable practice. To learn more about the history and process of New Lanark Spinning Co, check out their website: https://www.newlanarkspinning.com/
Properties of Wool
We made sure to do our research, reading all about the properties of wool on the Campaign for Wool’s informative website. We found that wool has many amazing and sustainable properties that help a garment last a lifetime! Some of the properties include:
- Natural
- Renewable
- Biodegradable
- Natural Insulator
- Breathable
- Trans-Seasonal
- Odour Resistant
- Easy Care
The Sheep 🐑
New Lanark use the fleece from a variety of different sheep breeds: Kent Lambswool, Manx Loughton, Hebridean, Shetland and Jacob are just some of them. The sheep are from Britain, Australia and New Zealand.
The quality of these fleeces is quite rustic (especially in comparison to Merino) so our garments are naturally more suited to be outerwear pieces. This doesn’t mean you can’t wear them alone, they will soften up nicely after a wash! One HUGE advantage to using a more rustic wool is that your garment is less likely to pill and won’t wear down as quickly.
The Yarn 🧶
We ordered two weights of hand-knitting wool from a number of their collections. If you’d like to see the colours in more detail then head over to our Instagram @ellisandlow and click on the saved story – ‘Yarn Swatches’.
Having a high quality, luxury yarn is super important to us and New Lanark’s wool is just that! If you want to keep up to date with our knitting journey then feel free to follow us here and over on our Instagram @ellisandlow.
Em and Jess 💙
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