Knitters’ world

How a pair of university professors created their own wool

Have you ever dreamt of making your own brand of wool? Well, the University of Glasgow did exactly that – with fleece from sheep reared on their own farm. The idea was the brainchild of academics Professor Lynn Abrams and Dr Marina Moskowitz, both keen knitters and historians. We spoke to Professor Lynn Abrams to discover more about the project.

The idea for producing the wool came from a research project on the history of Scottish knitted textiles. “We were interested in how knitting as an economic, creative and cultural practice in the past has informed contemporary knitting,” Lynn says. “Hand knitting has had a prominent place in the Scottish economy since the 19th century. Its products, from the softest woollen socks to the finest Shetland shawls, from elaborate Fair Isle jumpers to the black and white Sanquhar gloves, have come to symbolise Scottish heritage and are highly valued in the modern marketplace.”

The project brought together a range of participants from across the knitted textile sector, including Scottish designers and makers such as Kate Davies and Karie Westermann, smalland medium-sized businesses such as Eribé and Di Gilpin, wool producers such as Jamieson & Smith of Shetland, heritage professionals from around Scotland and members of the knitting community. “We organised activities including workshops, public knitting events (we knitted all the Commonwealth flags to accompany the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014), a crowd-research project where we asked for volunteers to knit up samples of so-called Shetland lace patterns and we appointed a knitter in residence at the University of Glasgow,” Lynn explains.

The key themes of the research project were sustainability, creativity and authenticity and the idea to create wool arose from these. “The sheep farm, Cochno Farm, is part of the university’s veterinary school. We knew that sheep fleece as a by-product of farming had minimal value and that we could convert the fleece into knitting yarn, thereby contributing to the sustainability targets of the university and at the same time producing a product where the provenance is known,” says Lynn.

The sheep are Scotch Mule, a breed not famous for knitting wool – in fact, much of their wool is used to produce carpets. However, the university has produced a lovely DK, which is strong and silky and produces sharp stitch definition. Called Cochno Wool, the yarn comes in four colours: Natural and three others inspired by the university’s colour palette (University Blue, Slate Grey and Thistle Pink). It’s on sale in the university shop and is very popular.

So, after the success of this project, will the university continue their venture into the world of wool? “We have plans for a pattern book containing original designs by local designers. We also want to continue our research into the history of the Scottish knitted textile industry as we feel we need to understand the economics of knitting as well as celebrate its heritage.” Watch this space! Discover more at www.gla.ac.uk/schools/humanities/research/historyresearch/ researchprojects/knittingintheround and www.knithistory.academicblogs.co.uk

The University of Glasgow’s yarn was launched in November 2018 Lynn Abrams at Cochno Farm, where the university’s Scotch Mule sheep are reared Fair Isle, like this from Jamieson & Smith, is a Scottish tradition Cochno Wool is named after the university’s farm

Scottish designer Kate Davies took part in the project The blue shade is the university’s own brand of blue Jamieson & Smith of Shetland produce wool and designed this beautiful shawl The yarn comes in four shades: Natural, University Blue, Slate Grey and Thistle Pink

Lynn Abrams is a knitter and university history professor