As it celebrates its 10th birthday, this much-loved
Yorkshire brand is setting out on a new adventure
baa ram ewe
BAA RAM EWE has
had a huge influence
on the British knitting
scene since it was
founded ten years ago.
Its mission has always
been to support and promote
Yorkshire’s wool industry and rich
spinning heritage, and through its
shop and its yarns, it has transformed
the way many of us view British wool.
Titus is baa ram ewe’s most popular
and well known yarn, and everyone
who has tried it will agree how great
it is to knit with. It’s a blend of
Wensleydale and Bluefaced Leicester
wool and British alpaca, named after
the 19th century philanthropist and
Yorkshire mill owner Titus Salt. The
yarn comes in colours inspired by the
company’s Yorkshire surroundings- from its rivers, hills and moors,
to the county’s food and culture.
Many of baa ram ewe’s yarns are
spun by Laxtons, the Yorkshire mill
that has been run by the same family
for four generations. It was important
for the company to support the
county’s wool industry, as founder
Verity Britton explains: “We’ve
always focused on Yorkshire yarns.
Our masterplan is to make Yorkshire
famous for wool production across
the world once more - reconnecting
to its rich woolly heritage. We’ve
put ourselves at the centre of this
renaissance commanding worldwide
appeal for our luxurious and
authentic wools.”Local heroes
baa ram ewe started out as a wool
shop in Leeds, which was opened by
Verity in the summer of 2009, after
she left her career in radio. At first,
the shop sold yarns from other
brands, but seven years ago Verity
was offered the opportunity to make
a very small batch of Titus yarn.
“This was loved by customers so
much it sold out super quickly, so we
made another small batch,” Verity
recalls. “The fantastic Clara Parkes
of Knitter’s Review wrote a lovely
review of our Titus, which kick-
started a global following of knitters
who love our yarns. We are all
knitters ourselves, and know the joy
of knitting with a beautiful yarn.”
Today, the yarn range includes Pip
Colourwork, and the Masham-BFL
blend Winterburn, which is a great
sweater yarn that comes in DK and
aran weights. All the fibres used
for baa ram ewe’s yarns are British
and sourced through the British Wool
Marketing Board, and are spun and
dyed in Yorkshire.
Pip Colourwork is the newest
arrival to the range, and, like baa ramewe’s other yarns, was created with
Yorkshire’s history in mind. “The
rich tradition of stranded knitting in
Shetland has always been admired
and in recent years has grown in
popularity, but perhaps less well
known is the history of Yorkshire
colourwork, in particular that of the
Hand Knitters of the Dales,” explains
Verity. “Designers and Yorkshire
knitting historians such as Penelope
Hemingway, Ann Kingstone and
Angharad Thomas celebrate this
tradition in much of their work, and
we thought it was about time we
created our own dedicated Yorkshire
colourwork yarn.”
Pip Colourwork is a 4ply yarn
that comes in 25g balls, so is ideal
for stranded colourwork patterns.
The yarn already comes in a fantastic
range of colours, but Verity tells us:
“We have plans to continue
expanding the Pip Colourwork
palette, with new shades being
launched in the coming months.”
Like its yarns, baa ram ewe’s
pattern photography also celebrates
its Yorkshire surroundings. “We like
to showcase Yorkshire, going to
places like Staithes and Scarborough
Spa for our photoshoots,” says Verity.
“We also make the most of unusual
local places, like a fab series of
multi-coloured garage doors just
around the corner from our shop in
North Leeds. The whole team all get
stuck in with photoshoots, and we
often rope in our customers to be
models, too!”Future ambitions
The baa ram ewe team has been
operating out of its shop in North
Leeds but, as the company marks its
tenth anniversary, Verity has made
the difficult decision to close the‘Smithies
Cowl’ is a
new design
by Alison
MoretonThe story of
Ya rn stori es
The Knitter Issue 143