KITCHEN TABLE TALENT Celebrating home-grown entrepreneurs who have turned their hobby into a thriving business. This month: knitting shepherdess Katie Allen
THIS MONTH: THE KNITTING SHEPHERDESS
We celebrate the home-grown entrepreneurs who have turned their hobby into a thriving business
Standing in the middle of a muddy field, feeding a flock of sheep with her Border collie Bob waiting patiently at her feet, it’s easy to assume that Katie Allen is following in the footsteps of a generationsold farming family. But in fact, just over ten years ago, she was sat behind a desk in Stratford-uponavon, working as a graphic designer. “If you’d said to me then that I would go on to rear sheep, I would have laughed,” says Katie, who now cares for more than 80. Seeing them trotting towards her across the frosty Cotswolds landscape, it’s clear she’s in her element, though. As Katie says, stroking the soft fleece of one of her ewes, “These are happy sheep.” It was the particularly luxurious nature of this fleece (her flock is made up of Portlands and Castlemilk Moorits – primitive rare breeds known for their quality wool) that led to the launch of her business Loopy Ewes in 2016, for which she crafts cushions, scarves and throws with fresh, contemporary designs.
Having grown fruit and vegetables and kept hens in the garden of her home in Worcestershire, Katie had always been fascinated by farming life – “an innate part of me has always craved this lifestyle” – but it wasn’t long before her interest escalated. Rather than returning to graphic design following the birth of her first daughter, Isabella, she enrolled on a smallholding course at Moreton Morrell Agricultural College in Warwick, in the hope of developing her hobby into a livelihood. After graduating, she was contemplating her next step when she came across a beautiful 20-acre plot on the market in Bude, Cornwall, an area she’d always dreamed of living in. Taking a deep breath, she decided to take the plunge and in 2010 – along with her husband and Isabella, then two – made the move.
Combining a love of agriculture with her creative background, Katie was determined to keep her own flock of sheep and use their wool to make beautiful products with real provenance: “Sadly, nowadays, the cost of shearing often eclipses the price of the fleece. I wanted to create something that champions and supports British wool.” Learning of Portlands’ and Castlemilk Moorits’ superior wool, she started small with a flock of just 13. “I’ve always loved sheep, and I particularly wanted to support rare breeds with their unique characteristics,” she says.
Over the next three years, Katie collected the wool after each shearing until she had enough to process a first batch. Many large-scale, modern mills won’t accept smaller loads, but careful research revealed The Natural Fibre Company in nearby Launceston. Not only did this work at the right scale, producing high-quality yarns from rare breeds but it also employed a natural dying process Katie loved. Here, her wool is scoured and carded before being spun into a chunky knitting yarn. “It’s made to my exact specifications,” she says. “The off-white yarn is the natural colour of my Portland sheep, while the chocolate brown comes from the Castlemilk Moorits. Others are coloured with organic dyes, but if you look closely you can still see the flecks of cream and tan.”
Katie invested savings in a hand-powered knitting machine and converted a room in her home into a studio, where she started experimenting with contemporary designs that celebrated the wool from her heritage flock. Then, in 2016, once she felt confident of her products, she launched Loopy Ewes – a homeware business with an ethos of ‘from flock to shop’ at its heart. Juggling work
with caring for Isabella and second daughter Poppy meant on-the-job learning was key in the development of her abilities. “I had very little experience of creating products from scratch, so I took an A-level in design, which taught me really useful skills. I still feel like it’s very much a continual learning process, though,” Katie says.
With little knowledge of keeping animals – “a pet hamster as a child doesn’t really count” – it was the hands-on element of caring for livestock that proved the steeper learning curve. “My first lambing was terrifying. Due to complications, one of my lambs had to be put down. I stood with the vet, tears streaming down my face,” Katie says. “I learnt a lot, though, and last year all of them survived. It was wonderful to see them tearing around like toddlers.” These days she’s able to administer vaccinations and oversee the other essential aspects of animal husbandry.
In 2014 Katie separated from her husband and, along with her daughters and sheep, moved to the Cotswolds, choosing the area not just because of its beauty but because it was where she’d grown up. Here, she also found an innovative solution to the need for grazing pasture. “As you can imagine, farms in this area are incredibly expensive,” she says. “Although it can be difficult not having our own, we make it work by grazing for local estate owners during the winter and renting land closer to home in the summer.” As well as ensuring her sheep can graze on rich grasses and wild flowers for free for most of the year, this also means they can take on the role of conservation grazers – a low-intensity method practised to promote biodiversity in different landscapes: “My sheep are great grazers because, as primitive breeds, they’re hardy so can tolerate lower temperatures in the winter and eat a wider variety of forage.”
Katie now manages 100 acres, along with her new partner James, an IT consultant and old friend who shares her passion for livestock (he tends to a herd of his own British White cattle). This is no mean feat with four children collectively and another on the way. “The kids are always really excited to help out,” she says. “When we had the ewes scanned last year, Isabella was there with her clipboard and pen, noting down whether each one was having single or twin lambs.”
It’s a busy way of life but one that is obviously working for Katie – last year, Loopy Ewes was nominated for both a Blue Patch Sustainable Business Prize and a prestigious Rural Business Award. “I love the contrast between the two parts of my job,” she says. “Looking after the sheep fulfils a different need to designing and crafting in the workshop; it’s such an unbelievably humbling experience to have these animals completely trust you. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.”
Visit loopyewes.co.uk. Katie would like to invite Country Living readers to enter a prize draw to win one of her signature Zig Zag ‘Hotties’. Email shop@loopyewes.co.uk to take part. *If, like Katie, you’d like to sell your products at the Country Living Pop-up Market, see page 67 for details.