My objective was to create a knitting yarn that would be soft enough for any general purpose, be durable, give good definition to texture and cables, create a firm fabric that retained elasticity, be resistant to pilling and be enjoyable to knit. If I’m spending tens of hours, or more, knitting a sweater I want to enjoy the knitting process and to still have the sweater looking good after many years of wear.

For this 4-ply yarn we have added a little extra twist to the yarn to increase its durability for those wishing to knit socks. Texel has a lot of inherent qualities that make it a good yarn for socks and the extra twist, while not affecting the general handle for other knitted items, will enhance the suitability for sock knitting.

To create this yarn with the qualities I demand I visit pure breed Texel flocks at Veltigar Farm, Orkney, when they shear their shearlings and select the finest shearling fleeces from the sheep as they are being shorn.
I’ve chosen Natural Fibre Company to spin the yarn because I am familiar with the high quality of their yarns and their expertise with wool from different breeds of sheep.
Texel is a very versatile wool with a lot of natural loft so we had a number of options for the structure of the yarn. In the end we settled on a woollen spun yarn with an extra combing in the preparation to increase the ‘soft’ feel of the final yarn.

I also wanted the yarn to be in solid colours but with a ‘natural’ look about the yarn. A black Texel sheep in the flock provided the dark fleece that, when blended with the white fleeces, gives that special ‘wool’ look to the yarn. The colours are inspired by Orkney itself.