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Last week, I attended an amazing "Make Your Own Zine" course run by Typewronger Books in Edinburgh. In case you're wondering, Zine is short for fanzine or magazine. Typewronger have a Risograph electronic screenprinting machine called Lyra that uses ecologically friendly bran oil based inks to print onto uncoated A3 paper which is then folded and cut into an A6 booklet. I carefully planned my zine in advance as I wanted to create a wee pamphlet with some of my urban dyeing recipes that I have been slowly formulating over the last three years during my various dyeing experiments and with my medical herbalist hat on. Making the zine was...

In advance of Yorkshire Yarn Festival on 4th & 5th March, my first event of the year, I have carried out a review of my prices. I have tried to keep my prices at 2021/22 levels but unfortunately most of my costs have risen by more than 10% since last year. And plant dyeing my yarns takes more time than buying in pre-dyed wool that uses acid dyes.  So, I have come up with a two-tier pricing structure: one for my Woolly bags which are knit in undyed yarns; and one for my bags which have one plant dyed yarn and one...

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...