SHEEP TALES

PART 5: R EACHING O UT T O K NITTERS Ellie Stokeld shares the story behind her very special flock of Border Leicesters

WHEN I first started producing my own yarn, I was faced with a dilemma: how was I going to sell this wonderful wool and grow our brand? Not many people have even heard of the Border Leicester breed, never mind sampled its yarn.

I realised we had to nd go out on the road, to wool festivals all over the country, and teach people about this amazing sheep and its yarn. We started with Woolfest, taking some sheep along with us. Visitors adored them, and listened to us talk about the yarn, and we encouraged them to squish the yarn to feel how good it was. My wonderful friends knitted up some accessories and garments for me, which enabled me to show off how amazing the stitch definition is. The following weekend we went to the York wool festival and sales were even better. I then set up a website dedicated to selling our yarn, and we opened a shop on Etsy, too.

That first year, we went to 14 wool shows - very tiring, very expensive, but very productive. We found that visitors to our stand loved our colours, but didn’t always have the confidence to combine them. So, one winter’s night, I sat on the floor in my living room, surrounded by all my 4ply colours, and tried to put together shades which went well. Geoff and I then made 20g skeins and put them in packs for people to try out. Our first ever mini pack, called Yorkshire Coast, is still a very big seller, both at shows and off the website. We now have seven different colour packs: Yorkshire Berries, Yorkshire Moorland, Yorkshire Woodland, Yorkshire Tea (naturally!), Yorkshire Christmas, Yorkshire Coast, Yorkshire Springtime, all in very different hues.

We then started to offer individual 20g and 25g mini skeins in both DK and 4ply, which have proved popular, and we also put together exclusive knitting kits.

Two years ago, I produced our first ever accessory pattern book, which went down a treat. We used models of all ages - my cousin who is in her 70s, my hairdresser, her daughter, and friends. We had a lot of feedback saying how nice it was to see real people and not models.

Last year I produced a second book in collaboration with Armley Mills, which is now a museum in Leeds. My designer and I worked closely on the patterns, and the book told the story of how wool came about in Yorkshire and the lives of the people who worked there. Both books are available from our website and Etsy shop.

We also have a group on Ravelry.com, called The Doulton Flock, which is full of good news, and gives the latest updates. Please join - we’d love to see you there!