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The world is a rather scary place at the moment. So much is so desperately wrong: terrible wars; the rise of intolerance; hatred running rampant; poverty that would horrify Charles Dickens; the climate crisis being ignored; and so much more. Sometimes, it seems that there is very little we can do to instigate change, to restore balance, to be heard. But there is! We can PROTEST. Like the women in the 70s marching for equal wages and equal rights. Like the women of Greenham Common in the 80s who camped outside the RAF military air base where nuclear weapons were to...

I have loved the work of Anne Redpath for a long time. When I discovered that she was born in Galashiels, I decided to make a Woolly bag inspired by one of her paintings called Landscape, Kyleakin for the fibre festival, Tangled Galashiels. Anne was born on 29th March 1895 into a family that had lived in the Scottish Borders for generations. Her father was initially a pattern weaver at a mill in Galashiels and then promoted to head of design at another mill in Hawick. She began her studies at Edinburgh College of Art in 1913 and on graduating travelled extensively throughout...

At the recent Woolly Good Gathering in Edinburgh, I spotted an amazing jumper. The pattern was the Paul Klee Sweater by Midori Hirose. I instantly knew I had to knit my own version!  As I was already planning on foraging and plant dyeing a number of mini-skeins this spring and summer, to tie in with the launch of my "Botanical Dyeing on a Budget" workbook, this seemed the perfect project for the resulting yarns. I will need twenty-two 10g mini-skeins of Jamieson's of Shetland Spindrift 2-ply jumper weight Spindrift wool.  This week, I will scour and mordant the wool. I'll do this...

Did you know that the beautiful sandstone building where the Woolly Good Gathering is going to be held used to be a veterinary college? William Dick founded the first veterinary school in Scotland in 1823, now considered to be one of the oldest in the world. It was originally located in Clyde Street in Edinburgh’s Georgian New Town but soon outgrew its premises. Therefore, The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies moved to Summerhall in 1916. Construction of the buildings began in 1913 but WW1 delayed its completion until 1923. The Vet School, which became part of the University of...

I've been asking myself a question over the last few years, namely what to do with my used dye baths when they've reached the stage where they don't contain enough pigment to dye any more yarn but still have some remaining colour. And over the last few years, I've been researching what might work. I've looked at creating crayons with natural vegetable waxes. I've investigated ink making. And, I've sloshed through the potential of watercolour paints. However, the same issue kept arising: it took so much heat energy to reduce my dye bath to a suitable concentrate that the process was no longer environmentally...