Shetland wool blog

                           Shetland Halo Cabled Socks. Almost perfect cables..... I have this obsession with socks. Hand knit socks. Hand knit socks saved my feet. I'm going to tell you something personal about me. 'I used to have really stinky feet'  It was very embarrassing for me. They were so bad that if i removed my shoes & walked across the floor you could see little damp foot prints ! Once i started to knit hand made socks containing a high percentage of sheep wool the problem went away within a few short weeks. I now wear hand knit socks everyday & my feet are always dry & comfortable. Even in summer they are dry & never overly hot.                                As a result of the damp foot problem my library contains quite a few sock knitting books. I just finished reading ''In the foot steps of shee...

                              The Fetlar Cabled Hat Happy New Year, a Happy Knitty New Year for 2016 REAL WOOL is So soft & squishy & has a massive amount of stretch to it.  I like to wear the cable design to the side. knit this sample hat from 100% Organic Shetland wool but the giveaway for this month with be a similar grey to this one but in our Shetland Tundra blend with 15% musk ox/qiviut-no pictures of the yarn as yet because its not even spun.....it's waiting for its turn on the machines. but i will update with picture's once I get the yarns plied. The pattern is circular knit on 4.5mm's. Knit with 2 strands of wool held together to make a sort of Aran weight knitting that i love. Not only is Aran knitting faster but it's so much warmer than a dk weight & so much more squishier when your knitting with REAL WOOL ! When i say REAL wool I am referring to the fact that Real wool ha...

Cables & Wool......with Qiviut. Today is a cheeky day off work day, a 'last of the summer wine day.. ...watching summer wine DVD's all day while knitting cables. This show really relaxes me & I find i knit much faster with the old guy's playing away in the back ground getting up to their tricks. The Yorkshire Dales is a beautiful setting too & that has a lot to do with me watching the show, rolling hills, sheep grazing...lambs bleating. I know November is cable month but to me they can be knit any month of the year. 2016 I plan on knitting only Yummy Cables with my Shetland wool; big & Chunky cabled hats, cabled neck warmers, cabled sweaters, cabled leg warmers & possibly a shawl or two. And here's a random picture of my cat Napoleon......he's huge, weights in at 19LB's   The ''Bressay'' headband above is knit wider than most cabled head bands. Measures 6.5'' inches wide so its a good size & will...

I LOVE MY WARM BOOT SOCKS...... It's that time of year again, socks are coming out of the sock draw faster than i can knit them ! Can't complain, had a wonderful summer, my grand daughter Ruby is a joy & my sheep all had healthy happy lambs with beautiful fleece.....life is Good ! Back to the socks...I just love how Shetland wool socks are kind to your feet. The only drawback is they are not very durable unless they contain 25% Nylon. I can not bare the thought of adding this awful disgusting man made fibre to my yarns so i came up with the idea of adding kid mohair/silk yarn to the sock for durability. Kid mohair is tough. Its soft & tough. The silk too is very strong & adds some sheen & Luster to your knitting.              This past summer i introduced a new qiviut sock that contains kid mohair/silk & customers tell me they are very durable compared to qiviut alone so why not try the same with the Shetland wool socks. S...

Thank you for reading my blog.  I have to take a break from the blogs for a while due to my workload in the mill & Studio. I will return within a couple of months with more giveaway's. If you want to see what I'm upto, go join my Ravelry group. I update the Ravelry group regularly & hold giveaways there too. Here is a link to the Ravelry group page: www.ravelry.com/groups/cottage-craft-angora-mill Bye for now ♥

This month its about colour.....beautiful Burnt Orange mixed with some natural Shetland wool yarn for contrast. To enter you need to vote for your favourite colour combination from the two choices here; Shetland Halo yarn in Burnt Orange, with Burnt orange Angora/Qiviut yarn & Natural Moorit.  The second choice is this: Yarns as above with a contrast yarn of Natural Black Shetland wool. I opted for the Moorit combination to knit my cowl. The Angora/qiviut yarn & Shetland wool were dyed in the same pot, see the difference in shade how grey qiviut & Grey Angora rabbit fibre produce a much darker shade than the natural grey shetland wool ! To enlarge any picture to see detail click on it ! If you are allergic to Angora rabbit fibre then you better give this months giveaway a mis.  The Qiviut blend yarn is 50% Qiviut & 50% Angora rabbit.....makes wonderful soft knitwear with a distinctive halo, softer than Cashmere & warmer than Cashmere ...

The Two winners drawn at Random are:  Doville who loved the Grey smokering & Stephanie Berkman who loved the Fawn colour. congratualtions to you both & please contact me so i can get these beautiful smokerings mailed off to you ! cottageqiviut(at)outlookdotcom Next giveaway is yarn to knit a cowl with some special Angora/Qiviut blend yarn added to the mix !