I recently got in touch with Knitter, Blogger, Podcaster and Shetlander Louise Scollay on Twitter. She also flies the flag for British Wool.  Having looked at her stash of yarn she realised just how much of it came from far flung corners of the world.  She admitted to being a little ashamed of the lack of British Wool and set out on a mission to knit with as much UK produced wool as possible.

After a year of Knitting British she has launched the KnitBritish podcast to continue to celebrate the wonders of British Wool.  The second episode is available online now and despite the blustery weather is an excellent listen.  There’s a round-up of Louise’s KIP (knits in progress), the Dos and Don’ts of British Knitting and a lovely shout out for Sylvan Tiger Yarn, (thank you!), amongst other things.

Louise is also hosting a giveaway of a skein of my sock wool, so head on over to KnitBritish, have a listen to the podcast and leave a comment to win:

Lavurple

And, whilst we’re on the subject of British Wool, the Rare Breed Survival Trust released it’s Annual Watchlist of endangered and at risk breeds yesterday.  According to the British Wool Marketing Board there are over 60 breeds of sheep in the UK.  There are 22 breeds of sheep in the 5 most endangered categories on the RBST’s Watchlist.  Boreray being the most critically endangered with less than 300 breeding females.

Whilst I only have yarn from Bluefaced Leicester sheep at the moment, I hope to branch out in the future to explore the wonderful variety of British Wool and support the UK wool producing and processing industry.