We've had some great shows this year and met some very lovely customers - it's all been so encouraging, thankyou all.
We were runners up in the Organic Textile Awards back in the spring with our Wensleydale knitwear, and at the beginning of this month we were very surprised to be given the National Trust Award for 'Best Maker from Wales' at Made by Hand, Newport. We have also gained Cambrian Mountains branding for the Wensleydale knitwear - more about this in a separate post, along with a woolly tale about the sheep and their shepherdess at Ystrad, Brechfa. The photos on our website were taken on the farm, so many thanks are due to Juliet for that, and to Ginevra for modelling. (Ginevra owns the most beautiful and fun wool shop in Abergavenny - The Wool Croft, so she deserves a bit of a plug too!) Having some pieces in the October fashion shoots in Country Living magazine kept us very busy through the autumn, especially with Tailcoats, one of which was depicted in the magazine on location at Gifford's Circus. Was a great picture!
Maintaining our position of 'designer/makers' has definately been a challenge but one that we are determined to meet as best we can; the lovely Camille has stepped in at times of need to help with sewing, and I hope to have found someone to do a bit of knitting, but bridging the space between 'craft' and manufacture, couture and something a little more affordable is where we're at. Working on such a very small scale has serious limitations at times, not least when it comes to cost of materials, but we are finding more and more that the personal approach and the connection between suppliers/makers/end customer is important. And this is what we aim to build on as we go into another year.
The spring should see our knit studio up and running in Mydroilyn, Ceredigion, and this will have a little 'showroom' for our work. We'll also be developing workshops here for knit and pattern cutting. If you'd like to be kept in touch please fill in the mailing list form on the web site . (you may have to scroll down a little to see it) The studio is the former stable and little milking parlour at the side of the miller's house. Across the yard is the old watermill itself and the original, traditional single roomed building, typical of Welsh cottages of the area. We hope to start some work on these buildings next year too.
In the meantime - we wish everyone lots of love and happy times for Christmas and the New Year: hope to see you at one of our events in 2013!
