Marie Wallin Yarn

Marie Wallin’s passion for natural fibres and British Wool in particular, have inspired her to create her own branded yarn which, of course, is made with British Wool.

The range - British Breeds - took 2 years to develop into the beautiful, soft, bouncy yarn 4-ply yarn that it is today. It took a long time to finalise the colour palette as Marie wanted to ensure that they all work well together in Fair Isle knitting as well as standalone shades for single-colour projects. The result is an inspiring range of nature-based tones that will have you chomping at the bit to get knitting!

British Breeds is made from four British sheep breeds: Bluefaced Leicester, Exmoor Horn, Wensleydale and Zwartbles. The wool fibre from each breed adds a certain characteristic to the yarn:

  • Bluefaced Leicester adds the beautiful softness
  • Exmoor Horn adds the softness too but this sheep produces a white fleece therefore adding a ‘cleaness’ to the blended tops making for more successful dyeing
  • Wensleydale adds the strength and lustre
  • Zwartbles adds the bounce or springiness.
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The British Breeds Process

All shades from Lot 017 changes over to a new blend wherein Romney replaces Wensleydale. To produce the yarn, the Bluefaced Leicester, Exmoor Horn and Wensleydale wool fibres are first blended and then dyed into various coloured tops. These coloured tops are then worked together using a ‘recipe’ to create each of the base colours. Each colour base is then blended with the undyed Zwartbles fibre creating the lovely mélange effect and the authentic ‘sheepy’ smell!

British Breeds is proudly worsted spun in Devon by John Arbon, producing a high-quality yarn which is smooth, soft and long lasting.

Once the yarn is spun it is sent to Edward Hill’s Ltd in Bradford to be steam relaxed and balled into 25g balls. The steam finishing ‘opens up’ the yarn creating the full, light appearance and handle.

Marie decided to have British Breeds balled, instead of hanked, so that you can start crafting immediately without having the trouble to wind it beforehand.