PAST INSPIRATION
JUST LIKE HER ANCESTORS, PENNY ASHBY HAS FOUND HER CALLING WORKING WITH FINE MERINO WOOL. WORDS SKYE MANSON PHOTOGRAPHY BRIGID ARNOTT AND RACHAEL LENEHAN
Woolgrower Penny Ashby has created a stylish range of Merino wool knitwear named after her grandmother.
ON OCCASION, PENNY ASHBY RISES EARLY, stealing half an hour to take a stroll down her black soil driveway in north-west New South Wales. Often, as she walks, a dormant seed of inspiration flourishes to form the basis for her next design.
She allows the bud to sit with her for a while – she might do a sketch in her workbook or commit a vision to memory and gradually a fresh collection of fine wool knitwear comes to life seemingly before her eyes.
“The design morphs over time,” says Penny. “I might decide on the collar while I am pushing the pram, then add the cable knit while driving into town.”
Working with wool has been a lifetime calling for the 37-year-old, who established her business, Lady Kate, in 2014, long after the vocation was laid before her as a child. “The idea of Lady Kate was born decades before I actually started the label,” says Penny, whose great-grandfather is Sir Walter Merriman, a name synonymous with fine wool production in Australia.
The business name is inspired by her great-grandmother, Lady Kate Merriman, as a little nod to the women of the Australian wool industry.
“Lady Kate supported her husband while he forged his mark on the wool industry, and she raised the next generation of woolgrowers and their children, who have all gone on to contribute to the industry too. None of the men in my family would have been able to build their careers without the support of the women behind them and I’d say this is the case in most industries,” says Penny.
Sir Walter Merriman was knighted in 1954 for his service to the wool industry. His stud, Merryville, near
Boorowa, is now run by Penny’s father, Wal, and uncle George. “As a woolgrower you’re so fanatical about producing the softest, whitest, most stylish wool,” she says. “You go to shows and sales all over the countryside talking to other woolgrowers and then you find that none of the knitwear in the high street stores is made from your beautiful quality wool.”
Determined to change this, Penny started her own label with the aim of creating stylish garments that weren’t too expensive and felt beautiful. “I thought that if women could buy a jumper based on the style, when they felt it they would fall in love with our fibre and spread the word,” says Penny.
Using her ideas and drawings as a basis, Penny works with manufacturers who use 100 per cent Australian fine wool yarn on a huge knitting machine to make jumpers, scarves and socks. Utilising unique acumen from years of handling and inspecting sheep fleeces, Penny has a knack for choosing yarns that are perfectly soft to touch but also durable and comfortable, which she then road-tests by wearing around her home each day.
Penny creates her collections in the farmhouse where she lives with her husband Angus, 40, and their two boys, Ed, nearly four, and Charlie, two and a half. Angus works in nearby Narrabri, where he co-owns an aerial spraying business, Exact Aviation, with his brother. His family, the Ashbys, mostly live in South Australia and, like the Merrimans, are a big wool-growing family. That’s why it’s almost serendipitous the pair came to meet each other in the cotton production heartland of Moree in 2011. “When we met, we realised that our parents and grandparents all knew each other,” says Penny. >
“The design morphs over time. I might decide on the collar while I am pushing the pram, then add the cable knit while driving into town.”
Living in an area better known for its cotton production doesn’t seem to bother the Ashbys and they’ve felt welcomed from the minute they arrived in Narrabri in October 2014. “In December we had strangers inviting us to Christmas parties because they heard we were new in town and might like to meet a few people.” For now, most of the locals are pleased to have swapped dust and drought for a much greener outlook. In the first two months of 2020 the area had more rain than in all of 2019.
Although she’s happy never to see another dust storm, Penny admits she will recall this time with a degree of positivity. They spent more time together as a family and Lady Kate was thrust into the spotlight through the Buy From The Bush Instagram campaign supported by over 200,000 Australians.
“It gave me the shot of confidence I needed to continue on with my – now viable – business. The number of personal, heartfelt messages from strangers saying they loved my products and wanted to support bush businesses kept me going as much as the cash injection from sales,” says Penny.
This exposure unites perfectly with Penny’s lifelong dream of educating more women about the beauty of wool. “That’s what I want – for Australian women to become champions of Australian Merino wool,” says Penny.
For more information, visit ladykate.com.au or @ladykateknitwear on Instagram.
“I thought that if women could buy a jumper based on the style, when they felt it they would fall in love with our fibre and spread the word.”