4ply yarns - vintage 20 & vintage 21

vintage 20 is a unique blend of the softest British wool fibres. White fleeces from Shetland and Bluefaced Leicester sheep, mixed with a hint of brown Shetland to create its natural fawn base - providing solid richness for our dyed colours. The Shetland fibres provide strength and softness, with the BFL added to give lustre and drape. Worsted spun to give a smooth and luxurious handle.

Vintage 21 matches the softness of vintage 20.  We chose fibres from an award-winning British flock of Polwarth x Romney sheep in Northumberland to create a yarn unique to wool decanted. The base is a delicious rich cream, which soaks up colour.  And in a recent review by Knitting magazine, vintage 21 was described as delivering “…the kind of stitch definition you might expect from a Merino”

Both yarns, perfect for next to skin projects, are worsted spun to the same 2/9Nm specification. This produces a deliciously soft, lustrous, and nicely elastic fabric with excellent stitch definition and lovely drape.

The fingering/4ply is perfect for Spring/Summer garments. The fineness of the yarn produces the right weight of garment for days when you still want a little touch of cosiness. The smoothness of the yarn gives excellent stitch definition, and the finished fabric feels soft and luxurious against the skin

Make something to treasure!

Our colour inspiration for the yarns has been the awesome natural landscape of our island woolery home on the river Thames:

vintage 20:

Shepherd’s Delight. Inspired by the spectacular orange/red sunsets we often see from our island woolery on the Thames.

Lazy Hazy. Reminiscent of a slow start to the day on our island. With the early morning sun beginning to shine through low hazy clouds. Those days are coming!

Silver Ripple. This silver-grey colour reminds us of lights at night - shimmering across the river.

Midnight Lagoon. Think warm summer nights! The inky midnight sky meets our sleepy island lagoon - midnight on our oasis.

Natural. A warm, oatmeal colour base, completely un-dyed.

vintage 21:

Storm. Reflecting the exciting drama grey storm clouds sometimes seen over our island woolery - beautiful to behold!

River Thyme. Inspired by the many bunches of soft green thyme growing around the woolery, on the banks of the river.

Cream. A rich, natural colour base. Completely un-dyed.

Recommended care: hand wash cool. Dry flat.

Please note there might be slight colour variations between dye lots.

Our fleeces: 100% British.

vintage 20: The sheep who grew the wool (lot 002) live on 3 different farms. The Bluefaced Leicester fibre in the blend was grown in Wales, the Shetland was grown in the Scottish Highlands and Devon. The sheep for the 4th batch (lot 004) live on 4 different farms in the Southwest of England. The Bluefaced Leicester fibre is from Cornwall and the Shetland is from Devon. Lot 002 was dyed in Yorkshire, lot 004 was dyed in Scotland.

vintage 21: The Polwarth Romney sheep who grew the wool for our vintage 21 yarn live on an award winning farm in the beautiful Northumberland countryside. Lot 003 was dyed in Yorkshire and lot 005 was dyed in Scotland

Click here for more information on our provenance