PICTURES: Specialised new Dornoch wool brand launched at town's fibre fest
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
The 12th Dornoch Fibre Fest, held in the town last weekend, saw the launch of a homegrown new venture.
Dornoch Fine Shetland Wool broadcast its arrival on the scene by taking a stall at the fest for the first time, selling knitting wool sourced from two local flocks.
Behind the new business is well-known Dornoch resident Sally Wild and fellow Sutherland Shetland breeder Janet Charge, who have come together to add value to their product with fleece prices plummeting.
Mrs Wild has run her “Meadows” flock on her town centre smallholding for around 30 years, while Mrs Charge began rearing her own “Inverhouse” flock on moving to a croft at Culrain. She initially bought in stock from Mrs Wild.
“I have produced sheep for a long time and have about 21 at the moment, mostly all home-bred and pure Shetland,” said Mrs Wild.
“My breeding programme is to improve the quality of the wool. The meat is a bonus, but it is the wool quality that is my main aim. I have been trying to select a nice grey fleece, which is lovely because it dyes beautifully.”
In years past Mrs Wild sold her fleeces to the Wool Board, but prices have slumped recently. The pair have also been pleased to collaborate with Black Isle Yarns, which has bought their Shetland fleeces to blend with others locally sourced.
Mrs Wild said: “This year Janet and I thought it would be nice to do our own yarns – producers are disgusted with the prices offered by the Wool Board for fleeces.”
After some research, the two women decided to commission the Natural Fibre Company in Launceston, Cornwall, to turn their fleeces into wool.
“The Natural Fibre Company are happy to do small batches and you get back your own wool,” continued Mrs Wild.
“They card it, wash it and spin it into four ply and double knitting wool for hand knitters.
“It all comes back in 100g hanks. We then hand dye it, not with natural dyes because they are not particularly friendly to the environment, but with wool dyes imported from Australia.
“They do a lovely range of colours and we chose colours that reflect the local landscape of East Sutherland.”
The two business partners were delighted with the interest show in their product at the Fibre Fest. As well as wool, they sold knitting kits made up by Mrs Charge.
Going forward, Dornoch museum Historylinks will be stocking Dornoch Fine Shetland Wool and it will be promoted via social media.
“This is a small, very specialised product to be marketed locally,” said Mrs Wild.
The Fibre Fest made a welcome return after a year’s absence due to the coronavirus pandemic and Dornoch had a festive air over the weekend with some areas of the town being yarn bombed.
Folk travelled from far and wide to take part in learning techniques workshops, masterclasses and demonstrations held across three venues - Dornoch Hub, Dornoch Social Club and the West Church Hall.
Classes were held in plant printing, concertina bookmaking, needle felting, sock knitting and other skills.
Those who attended post about how much they had enjoyed the event with Mandy Boswell writing: “We had a great day.”
