Cornwall in the rain

Rare breed Manx Loughton and Leicester Longwool flock raised on the Lizard Peninsula near Manacan by Sue and Geoff Howarth.

Today as forecast it is raining! and it seems that the forecast for the South West of Cornwall and in particular the Mounts Bay area was correct, it often is completely wrong but not today. Here we have a micro climate which seems to stem from the fact that there are only some twenty plus miles across the peninsula from the English Channel and the Gulf Stream on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other side. It has been known that on hot windy days in the Summer we can get a red desert dust all the way from the Sahara Desert and then the next day we can get the coldest of winds from over the Atlantic Ocean and beyond. Sometimes it is full sunshine in Penzance with mist and rain in St Ives, quite bizare in fact. An old Cornish saying is that it can be 'a coat colder in Camborne' - often very true.

My dogs Sharna and Layla have not yet had their long morning walk across the cliffs and they are getting fed up with waiting, I can see that there will be nothing for it but to put on full waterproofs and get going, it seems there will be no rest until we do.



It is too wet today for any work to be done on the fleece sorting which is still going on - we have to fit this job in and around running our other business 'Village Crafts of Perranuthnoe' http://www.perrancrafts.co.uk a craft shop which my partner Kevin and I have run for the last five years. There are not many people around today, although it is the first weekend of the Summer season, yesterday was the last day of school this year for many children.



Earlier this week Kevin managed to find a break in the weather to get into the tractor shed to sort fleece, the fleece is now piled high awaiting sorting and it is quite a daunting and strenous task. He did manage to decant five huge wool holding bags (holding around 25 sheeps fleece in each) in to smaller more managable bags and away from vermin, moths and the weather. This is the start of the process, then the next job is where I am involved, as chief fleece sorter, to check each fleece for quality and to remove unwanted fleece, vegetation and the grotty, claggy bits. At this stage the fleece is full of lanolin and it makes for a very greasy job, but its very good for the hands, excellent hand softener.







Cornish Wools also produces Alpaca yarns and right at the moment we are putting together the next shipment of fleece to go off to the Mill. Here are Bev's boys, I took this photo of them in their field near Helston when they had recently been sheared and were looking rather trim. Their fleece is now waiting to go off to the Alpaca Mill where it will be processed into wollen yarn. 100% natural Alpaca knitting wool, a wonderful deep tan colour, undyed and so beautifully soft. Later this year the finished yarn will be available to purchase from our Cornish Wools e-commerce website (more news on this later).





More anon

This is what it is all about!

Today is looking good! at the Woolshed in Perranuthnoe - and for the moment seems to be stretching out before me, a never ending allotment of time for me to choose how to fill it but if it goes the way of all my days it will suddenly be jam packed from beginning to end with a miriad of interesting and must do issues.


The weather is against us at the moment which is a shame because there is such a lot to do, lovely sunshine mixed with very heavy showers. Most of the fleece bought from the 2009 wool clip has been delivered coming from farms and small holdings within a 25 mile radius of Perranuthnoe and much of what we have bought has come from The Lizard and Roseland peninsula in particular. Lovely Cornish Wool!


Now comes the back breaking job of sorting out the grotty and poor quality fleece from that which will be sent off to the mill for processing. So much sheep and alpaca fleece to be sorted and every time we try to get started it decides to throw it down with rain. Due to the lack of inside space (currently all crammed and stuffed with fleece) we need and must work outside, which is wonderful when the sun shines and we can feel the sun's rays on our backs but impossible when it is raining.


It looks like it is going to be another difficult day, weather wise, I can hear spots of rain now on the Conservatory roof whilst I am writing this diary and contemplating the day ahead.


Yesterday, I spent some time taking photos for the diary and the Cornish Wools website (yet to be built but on the current working agenda), the images were of 50g balls of Lleyn Shearling knittng wool in double knit and 4 ply thicknesses which I produced from the 2008 clip and which are on sale at £3.75 each in our craft and gift shop, Perrauthnoe Village Crafts. The fleece for this knitting wool came from a farm belonging to some friends of mine at Ruan High Lanes on the Roseland Peninsula, Cornwall and after 5 months processing time and a steep learning curve for me (a total experiment on my part) hey presto we had knitting wool and we had throws and scarves which I will tell you about another time. The mill we used to process the fleece and to produce the knitting wool is based in Launceston, Cornwall so the whole process was kept within the County of Cornwall. A totally Cornish product!


I could waffle on all day but neither you nor I have the time - must get on now with the day, first because they are sitting here just patiently waiting I will take Sharna and Layla, my two collie cross labrador dogs for their morning walk along the cliffs towards Marazion and St Michael's Mount. Then the day will begin for real -

1st Blog ever from the Woolshed - Perranuthnoe

Today in the Woolshed I am sorting fleece - or rather I am outside the shed in the sunshine, its such a lovely day here in Perranuthnoe. My day began sometime after sunrise when I took my dogs Sharna and Layla along the cliff tops and then down to the beach to swim in the sea, they loved it. Too early and cold for me yet but I did some beach cleaning, I have a mission regarding plastic and came back with bottles, bags, floats and string. Didn't really make an impression but every little helps so they say.

So back to fleeces, there are some beautiful fleeces in the sorting pile from Leicester Longwool, Jacobs, Manx Loughton and Portland sheep and also some gorgeous alpaca fleeces. I will be removing all the 'daggins' the grotty bits from the back end of the sheep!! and the coarser fibres and poor quality fleece, the aim is to have the yarn with a soft as possible finish. I will then 'bag up' the fleece ready for the mill in breathable bags tied tightly at the top so as to hopefully keep out the moths until processing begins. The Woolshed smells wonderful - I read somewhere that dried lavender will keep moths away and so I have put lots and lots of lavender flowers in there.

The fleece comes from local farmers within a 25 mile radius of Perranuthnoe and I personally go to each farm to look at the animals and to check the condition of the fleece before I buy it. My aim is to keep everything as natural as possible, no chemical dyes just natural colours.

From last year's clip I have produced 100% pure Cornish natural yarn for knitting (4ply, double knit & aran) and some throws and scarves. Currently only natural cream products are available from our first processing batch of Lleyn fleece.

So until my next post - by for now

Valerie