toolkit at http://www.thewoolist.co.uk is accessible to anyone
interested in finding out more about the different breeds,”
says Zoe. “It’s an ever-evolving project – new pieces of
information and stories get added all the time. As part of
the digital toolkit I also worked with simulated knitting
yarn programs, creating a digital British breeds library
that allows industry access to simulated yarns to reduce
waste of ‘real’ precious resources in the design process.”The importance of heritage
Zoe found the stories behind each breed fascinating, too.
“We have such a rich heritage around the UK,” she says.
“It was amazing to find out about generations of farmers
who have continued to breed certain types of sheep
because of their adaptability to the local environment,
and the history and connection to the local environment- for example, the Herdwicks from the Lake District.
“The Lake District World Heritage bid attributed
‘indigenous breeds of sheep’ (LWH, 2017) as a key factor in
shaping its landscape; a landscape that is now deemed a
UNESCO world heritage site. The Lake District’s Herdwick
sheep have been a prominent feature within local
advertising campaigns, pushing the distinctive breed and
traditional farming practices in their World Heritage Site
bid. This focus upon the land and the ‘relationship
between farming and industry in shaping the land’ (LWH,
- is seen as a key attribute for environmental
preservation and enticing potential visitors.”
After all this research (and much swatch knitting),
does Zoe have a favourite British breed? “I always get
asked this, and I always feel I’m betraying all the others...
However, if you forced me to choose, I’d pick the
Derbyshire Gritstone, as it was my ‘first’ sheep. A farmer
keeps a flock behind my mum and dad’s house in Bolton,
so I was able to go up and visit, and he let me have a go at
shearing. So I got to see the whole process: taking the raw
fleece from the farm, getting it spun, and knitting it up
into some of my Master’s final collection!”
Despite spending so much time looking at wool under
a microscope, Zoe’s passion for yarn and knitting is
undiminished. “I always have too many projects on the go
at once, so have to go through phases of being strict with
myself to get them finished before starting more new
ones! I’ve got some beautiful dyed yarns from Shilasdair
that I picked up at Edinburgh Yarn Festival, along with
some amazing Castlemilk Moorit from Dodgson Wood
which I’m going to combine with some of my own
Bluefaced Leicester sample yarn for an autumn cardigan.
“And I always have one or two pairs of socks on the go:
I get a bit bored knitting the same thing twice, so I go back
and forth between patterns! Currently I’ve got some
different coloured West Yorkshire Spinners The Croft
Shetland Tweed Aran from Northern Yarn.”
If you’d like to find out more about Zoe’s work, she has
more events coming up later on in the year, where you
can catch her and other speakers talking about all things
British wool. “I’m also hard at work developing the
website and new resources, so keep a look out for updates
on Instagram (@thewoolist) and over on the website
(www.thewoolist.co.uk),” Zoe says.1 The Wool Research
Station at Edinburgh
Yarn Festival 2 Zoe
explored the heritage
of each breed, as well
as fibre characteristics
3 Zoe’s hand-drawn
breed illustrations
decorate her range
of notebooks, cards,
prints and tea towels,
available on Etsy
(www.etsy.com/uk/
shop/TheWoolist)1
2
3
Interview
The Knitter Issue 141 Subscribe now at TheYarnLoop.com