Episode 4 - Northern Yarn
It's one of the rare times, no the only time, when Facebook has done me a solid good turn. It's been confused by my preferences and search history over the years and had been putting the most inappropriate suggestions in front of me. Until it suggested maybe Northern Yarn might interest me. 'Aw.. Go on then' I thought. Yarn = Tick. Northern = Tick. Let's do this. And what a winner. So I followed Kate of Northern Yarn via Facebook for a while, and then found I was quite enjoying her blog posts and her stories of yarning-do in Lancaster - a city where I miss-spent a lot of my youth. So I signed up for her newsletter and Instagram feed and became a bit of a fan girl.
Watch Episode 4 here or scroll down to read more!
Northern Yarn is not like the others I've show-cased. She's not (yet..) an independent dyer of yarn, but she started off curating and supplying online yarn that was produced, spun and dyed in the North of England (and a little bit of Scotland). Her local yarn shop had closed, and she'd found that a lot of yarn that was 'British' was either spun and processed elsewhere or wasn't actually that British at all. Yet when she looks out across the beautiful fields of Lancashire there are sheep everywhere. She felt she had to do something about it. And just over a year later, Kate is opening her own real-life, bricks and mortar Yarn Shop alongside her online shop AND producing her own yarn from local sheep farmers she's met at the school gate and through local connections. Honest wool, no airmiles, no plastics, and from sheep she can see from her window. It's hard not to love it.
It wasn't until Woolfest 2017, in a very cold and breezey auction mart outside Cockermouth, that I got to meet the lovely Kate in person. I was being so well-behaved - I was on my first scout of the stalls and had not purchased anything... just diligently marked 'stalls of interest' for my second sweep. Kate's stall broke me. There were clouds of creamy, natural Aran from Lancashire Farm Wools and it just so happened I was after a sweater's quantity of Aran... What really caught my eye was a buttery skein which I couldnt resist squishing. 'Ah' said Kate, 'That's Lonk' I'd never heard of this breed before. Turns out this is an ancient breed local to Lancashire, that grazed in the grounds of Whalley Abbey and are so named for their long 'lanky' bodies. And, so it happens, they make for a very lovely yarn.. a long staple, and an unexpected softness. I left Kate's stall with a gorgeous bag of poofy Lancashire aran and excited to have learned something new about the area of country I spend so much time in.
So here is a quick review of some of the goodies you can find through Northern Yarn.
Northern Yarn - Kate Makin - owner of the shop and producer of the 'Northern Yarn' line
I've ended up being quite a prolific knitter of Kate's goodies. Her own Northern Yarn Poll Dorset and Blue Faced Leicester DK blend went into my 'Morning Pages' by Louise Tilbrook (I was a total copy cat of Kate's own Morning Pages Shawl!). Kate's own yarn is available natural/undyed and she also called on some clever dying friends - Thorndolly Yarns and Angela Gardener, to put together some special limited edition colourways for her yarns. The Poll Dorset is super squishy soft and this shawl is the perfect 'Working from home' accompaniment. Kate's got masses more in the pipeline for her own range of Northern Yarn, and given her rate of progresss so far, it wouldnt surprise me if by next year the majority of Lancashire's pure-breed fleeces aren't making their way through her hands in some way.
Click through the below to see the farm from where Northern Yarns started.. and the lovely Lyn who breeds and rears the Poll Dorsets, the sheep themselves and the piles of fleece!
Lancashire Farm Wool - Kate Schoffield - available from Northern Yarn.
The sweater's quantity of Lancashire Farm Wools purchased at Woolfest ended up (after a lot of internal debate) as a 'Port o'Leith' gansey designed by Kate Davies This has been an ideal project and has been super fast to knit up... (and has got me doing an awful lot of research into the traditions of ganseys and aran sweaters, on which more anon!) The yarn is North Country Cheviot and Blue Faced Leicester and is super soft after blocking and is super toasty. It's going to be a classic. Did I mention this is also super reasonable at £10/skein and I only used four and a half skeins? Winner.
Awkward posing in my Port o'Leith... BUT I LOVE IT
And I got my hands on some lonk.. Kate's last three skeins of the Lancashire Farm Wool Aran. I needed to do something special with these precious skeins so cast on the 'Classic Cowl' by Purl Soho. I think I accidentally did a brioche stitch - 'fluffy brioche' perhaps? Anyway.. the honeycomb texture was perfect for this buttery soft yarn and this is staying firmly with me..
Thorndolly Yarns - Carol Newman - Available through Northern Yarn and also guest dyer of Northern Yarn Poll Dorset DK
Thorndolly Yarns probably deserves her very own showcase.. (I shall keep her up my sleevie for the future!) but I'm going to mention her here because not only is she one of the talented guest dyers of Kate's own Northern Yarn Poll Dorset DK but I also picked myself up a dark moody grey, almost charcoal skein of her BFL sock yarn at the Northern Yarn stall at Woolfest. And surprise surprise I thought I'd be adventurous and make a Linus Shawl. (I'm aiming for consistency and 'compare and contrast' rather than 'lack of imagination' when it comes to pattern choices). It's a lovely Blue Faced Leicester and will be extremely wearable. Thorndolly does do a very nice grey..
Yarn Queen in the North
Kate goes above and beyond for her customers. There have been several times when something has popped up on her Instagram and I've had to have it. An email later and she's managed to ferret up a last skein of her Poll Dorset DK in a thundery grey, or she's recommended an alternative colourway that will work, she's sent me patterns that'll go with the yarn and has been generous and more than helpful at every turn. She's exactly the kind of local yarn shop owner you want.. And this September, Lucky Lancaster gets a yarn shop again. Not only will there be all the local northern yarn producers that Kate supplies: Lancashire Farm Wool, Thorndolly Yarns, West Yorkshire Spinners, but Kate's own Northern Yarn brand... and if you're lucky.. some Lancashire Lonk too. Kate has some special surprises to announce alongside the shop's opening.. so keep your eyes peeled and get to 74 Penny Street, Lancaster, to meet lovely Kate and her yarns.
DETAILS
Online Shop/Blog: www.northernyarn.co.uk
Bricks and Mortar Shop: 74 Penny Street, Lancaster
Instagram: @northern_yarn
Twitter/Facebook: NorthernYarn
Email: Kate@northernyarn.co.uk
Kate and Northern Yarn will also be attending Yarndale in Skipton 23rd-24th September: www.yarndale.co.uk
