News

Do you have a Woolly bag that needs a wee repair or some loving care? Perhaps the handle or fabric caught on something? Or your yarn has jammed in the zip? Get it to WEND its way back to us via your postal service and we will MEND it!  Woolly Originals has been making and selling project bags, tool cases and purses since 2015. Hopefully, they are all earning their keep and working hard. It's only inevitable that over this time accidents and injuries may have happened. However, we and our Woolly bags are here for the long term and would like to help. A...

At last, I have completed setting up my own dye studio. I previously worked either outside in my garden or at my friend, Fu's farm. But, both locations were weather dependent: if it rained I couldn't dye outside; and if it was too hot or too cold, Fu's polytunnel made for a challenging work environment! When I decided to start plant dyeing the yarns to make my Woolly bags, I realised that I needed something more reliable. So, I tidied and turned our very messy old utility room cum storage space into my new dye studio. It took a while to relocate all the...

Our woad adventure began in May 2020 when twelve small plug plants arrived in the post from Plant Wild. By June they were ready to be transferred to my wee dye garden that I had created with my younger son during the first covid lockdown. Woad (Isatis tinctoria) is a biennial plant. In its first year, the leaves which contain insoluble indigotin can be harvested and used to make a dye vat. The second and final year sees it flower and produce seeds. Archeological evidence from the Mesopotamia area shows that blue dye vats have been used since the 6th...

Since March 2020 there's been a viral pandemic, a European war leading to a global energy crisis and a disastrous Brexit in the UK. All of this has led to the collapse of many small businesses here in Scotland. And even worse is the climate crisis which many national leaders refuse to put at the top of their agenda. So, how do you remain hopeful as a maker? How do you contribute positively to your crafting community? In an attempt to answer these questions, I started asking myself even more questions over the summer! What did I want out of Woolly...