For our very special birthday yarn this year we’ve created a blend that’s truly one of a kind, combining fine and rare British fibres with painterly inspiration.

Scottish Bowmont are very special sheep, their fibre is renowned for its superb fine quality. They were originally developed by crossing Saxon Merino with Shetland, to make a Merino-style sheep which could live comfortably in the UK’s damp climate. The majority of Scottish Bowmont fibre goes into luxury garment manufacturing, so we were thrilled when Sue managed to purchase a bale for Blacker Yarns. We immediately knew we had to do something truly special with this one-of-a-kind fibre.

We’ve chosen to blend our Bowmont with 10% Castlemilk Moorit, a breed listed as ‘at risk’ on the RBST Watchlist – there are only around 1,000 of these sheep left in the UK. Castlemilk sheep produce a wonderfully plump and bouncy fudge brown fleece which adds a depth of colour and a touch of rustic character to this yarn. To give a little more drape and luxury to this lofty, woollen-spun yarn we added 20% British Alpaca, and we adore the resulting blend!

We knew the colours for Brushwork needed to be as unique as the fibre content, so we chose to dye the fibre in the wool before spinning. As the fibre emerged from the dye vats it reminded us of inks or watercolours, and this became our inspiration for the range. Sonja developed the colours by hand-carding – mixing the fibre like paint in a palette – to create subtle heathered shades that complement each other in magical and unexpected ways.

Brushwork’s eight shades have each been named after a painting technique or process. Inspired by the yarn, Katie created our four ball band designs using inks and pigments.

These shades have been blended as little as possible to preserve the small nupps of individual colours in the yarn. For this reason each and every ball is unique and you may find a subtle colour variation from one ball to another. We think this is part of the beauty of this very special product, but please be aware that you may wish to alternate balls for consistent colour – like with a hand-dyed yarn.