Beautiful winter cowl from Lancaster wool shop makes perfect gift for a keen knitter

Trading for more than eight years, owner Kate Makin has worked with more than 15 local farms, creating beautiful yarns using our abundant natural and renewable resource – the fleeces from the many flocks of sheep scattered around Lancashire and Cumbria.

Kate pays a higher price for good quality fleeces than the wool board would give, to help promote and support British wool and local farmers.

Hop over to https://www.northernyarn.co.uk/ where you can read Kate’s blogs about her woolly adventures!

Every year Kate releases a winter kit using her own wool, and this year’s kit is a cowl named Tjörn designed in Methera, a soft blend of wool from four local farms and four breeds; Cheviot, Bluefaced Leicester, Shetland and Zwartbles.

Methera is taken from an ancient northern counting system; yan (one), tan (two), tethera (three), methera (four).

Tjörn is an Old Norse word for tarn or water hole, of which we have many in the nearby Lake District, where Vikings settled hundreds of years ago.

Inspired by the deep and dark tarns and looming mountains, the cowl follows a simple lace pattern, reflecting the waves and fells.

The kit contains enough wool to make the cowl, a pattern and a beautiful postcard by printmaker and local artist Julie Evans and on the back a poem by her late father Tom Bowker.

Kate always enjoys compiling a playlist for you to listen to while you knit – you’ll find it on the pattern itself. Costing £19 it’s the perfect gift for a knitter or a treat for yourself.

Pop down to 9 Kings Arcade and have a browse; Kate stocks a large range of British wool with more than 15 breed specific wools and yarn from well loved producers such as West Yorkshire Spinners, Jamiesons of Shetland, John Arbon, The Fibre Company and many more, with locally made gifts and accessories from other farms and small businesses.

With weekly socials, Northern Yarn supports a lively community of crafters – go and join the flock!