Overside Wool are sharing their fleece tales at Gairloch Museum
By Lulu Stadler
I received a message from Sarah and Alicia from the Forgotten Fleece Tale exhibition (FFT) — which has been touring Scotland over the last two years — that it is finally coming to Gairloch Museum this Winter. Overside Wool is one of the exhibitors, and I am just delighted that it will finally be here!
The call for applications to exhibit at FFT came just a few weeks after we got together, much too early for us really, but we loved the idea of using our local fleeces (many of which are discarded these days because of the low prices they fetch) and trying to show them off to the wider community throughout Scotland, and to our own community in Gairloch: not least to the crofters themselves.
The fine material produced by their sheep does them proud indeed!
Although not ‘bred for fibre’ (as this is called in the world of wool, where fleeces are carefully chosen, judged and bred by experts for their suitability to be made into wool products), we find that Gairloch’s sheep produce wonderful fluff that is perfectly wearable and delightful all round.
For the exhibition, Annette and I spun and knitted three jumpers, each from the flocks of three of our late Overside friends.
Annie, Cathy and Cathma were all shepherdesses and knitters in their own right.
Each of the three jumpers also represents a strength and special property of our wool, and taken together, we hope they showcase how versatile and wearable our local fleeces are:
• Cathy’s cardigan is pristine white (or at least it was, when it started its tour of Scotland!), it is light and with a hint of lace, spun quite finely from her flock of pet north-country cheviot lambs;
• Mali’s jumper from Cathma’s north-country black cheviots: a robust and hard-wearing outdoor garment, somewhere between an arran and a gansey style; and
• Sandy’s jumper from moorit Shetland fleeces of his flock of rare-breed Shetland sheep includes the very first fleece Sandy proudly handed to me when he was 12 years old and which I kept until I learnt to spin.
Interlaced with some white lambs’ wool from Lachie’s flock of (mostly) cheviot hoggs, this fair-isle inspired jumper would hold its own, we hope, as a 2-colour ‘stranded’ heirloom.
We amazed ourselves by getting all three jumpers ready just in time.
The experience gave us the confidence to carry on and to experiment with other local fleeces.
As well as the Mackinnes’ and also Jamie & Carianne’s hogg wool from South Erradale (her flock of mixed-breed hoggs come to the Overside from Uist on their holidays), Neil & John’s from Port Hendersen and Danielle’s and Richard’s chocolatey Zvartbles from Redpoint and Dundonnell, respectively, we have been hoarding (there really is no other word for the amount of wool in my shed) more Shetland from Isabella’s lovely flock in Melvaig, as well as a few cheviot hogg fleeces from Redpoint Farm, most of Willie’s sweet little Herdwick hogg fleeces (you usually see the wee Herdwicks grazing by the Kerry Bridge) and Gemma’s shiny black Hebrideans.
We mix the wool and even designed our own speckled ‘signature yarn’: representing our area’s flocks and fleeces, most of which are white, with the occasional black sheep!
For the past two years, while we were waiting for the exhibition to reach Gairloch on its tour of Scotland, Overside Wool has become a regular feature in the museum: we spin in the gallery every Wednesday during the season as part of the display (frightening an occasional visitors who might not have realised that we’re animate) and meet in the activity room every Monday afternoon, welcoming other spinners to join us.
We now take in lots more local fleeces (too many, of course!), notably two huge bags of Cameron’s hoggs from Inverasdale this year, which we sort, wash and pass on to our new learners.
And we also use it to hand-spin yarn and create woollen wear which is donated for sale locally for charity mostly, through the museum. To be honest, we’re mainly just having a lot of fun! Our little group grew from two — Annette and Lulu — when Ali and Jean joined us last year. And this year we welcomed Lorna, Dyllis and Jill as regulars.
As our little group grows and we teach each-other the craft of spinning, enjoy creating beautiful yarn and garments from our gorgeous local fleeces, and in the process make a few pennies for local charities such as the Highland Hospice and the Gairloch Museum.
We continue to encourage others to join us and are always happy to welcome experienced or new spinners who’d like to learn and use our lovely local fleeces.
The preview of the ‘Forgotten Fleece Tales’ exhibition is on 30th October between 6-8 pm. All welcome!
Overside Wool will be attending of course. Overside Wool will have a spinning demonstration on Saturday 31st October at the museum.
The exhibition will run all winter until February 5 2027 which gives us plenty of time to plan other activities around it: watch this space and come and join us!
Weaving A Sustainable Future
Forgotten Fleece Tales is a celebration of the space where art, craft, story and ecology come together. The exhibition features a curated collection of works made using “waste” or “unwanted” organic Scottish fleece, and byproducts of industrial fleece processing.
With a combination of wearables, wall hangings, home textiles, sculptural pieces and interactive experiences, Forgotten Fleece Tales provides an immersive and in-depth exploration of the enduring value of Scottish fleece, both in terms of farming and textiles heritage, and hopes for a sustainable future.
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