The Manx Loaghtan certainly has striking looks - Adam Henson called it a hatstand on hooves. It also has desirable properties in both its meat and fleece. jaknitspurl says that it may be the nicest fleece that she has processed. Sadly it's on the endangered list but there have been campaigns to raise awareness of its commercial viability.
Here in the northern hemisphere we're approaching winter and thoughts turn to snuggly patterns - SweetGeorgia have been looking at the properties of sock yarn that make it suitable for warm woven scarves and shawls, centeringwithfibre has been using art yarn for some cosy-looking throws.
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Despite making a conscious decision to be more selective, this is still a packed issue, so without further ado, read on for all of this and more news, views and reviews for spinners, knitters, crocheters, dyers and weavers. This is the shorter free round-up for November 2025.
Cover photo: Progress of cotton, #6: Spinning by J R Barfoot
The striking Manx Loaghtan made the Rare Breeds Survival Trust's urgent priority list this year. Jenny Shepherd is aiming to raise awareness of the commercial viability of this "amazing" breed.
See also Adam Henson's thoughts on the matter in a recent column.
Each time The Longest Yarn 2 has moved to a new location, it's been in the local news and I've mentioned it here.
During October it was at Stoke Minster and this news article has more and better pictures than I've seen before. Of particular interest to me personally is this Bletchley Park scene. The attention to detail is astonishing.
For all 20 photos, look for the pagination at the bottom of the page.
During November it'll be at Sherborne Abbey, Dorset.
www.stokesentinel.co.uk...longest-yarn-2-britain-war-10545807
Each October, people turn out with deckchairs to see traditionalist farmer Lane Jensen move more than 2,000 sheep a distance of more than 20 miles along historic sheep trails.
1,000 stitchers took 50,000 hours and used 300 miles of wool thread to make this tapestry which contains scenes ranging from iconic moments such as the Battle of Bannockburn to everyday stories of millworkers, farmers, and herring girls.
The tapestry is located in Galashiels in the Scottish Borders. My thanks to Guzzisue whose recent blog post made me aware of the project. It contains lots of her own photos of the work.
For more information about the tapestry and visiting, see www.greattapestryofscotland.com.
travelfibreandthread.blogspot.com/2025/10/looking-for-sheep-at-great-tapestry-of.html
Kristin knows how many sheep she has since the shearers have just visited.
All is explained in this blog post, which has lots of great pictures from the day.
Araignee found this beautiful fibre while stash-diving to fill an empty wheel. "An interesting combination of Fallish colors", as she calls it.
This series has been a couple of years in the making. If you're new here (or need a reminder) craftmehappy has been spinning twelve fibre blends that could easily turn muddy in when spun and make you question the best way to handle them. She's spinning each blend several ways and comparing the swatches. She'll eventually make a blanket from the mitre squares.
This is the eleventh of twelve blends. It's Twinkle Twinkle from World of Wool. This time, when allowing the colours to mix and 'optically blend', the result is a lovely violet. She then uses four other techniques for different-looking samples.
www.craftmehappy.com...questionable-blend-number-11-twinkle.html
Rebecca has been working her way through The Spinner's Book of Yarn Designs by Sarah Anderson. She challenged herself to spin "at least one really weird yarn from each chapter". There are three shown here, including this "insane supercoil with three handspun singles and beaded pigtails".
Jillian answers a question about steaming. She discusses the options for steaming fibre and how the fibre changes.
Kyla Crawford's work straddles the worlds of craft and art. She likes to view the fabric or even the balls of spun paper as art, drawing or painting on the paper before making it into yarn. Her article is an interesting read if you're curious about spinning paper.
SeaFlowerSpins attended a workshop to weave with 'muscle wire' which changes shape when power is applied.
Constance Hall goes into the basics of Turkish spindles, the art of choosing the right one for the job and two ways of winding the yarn onto the arms.
Rowena found some old documentation that tells of thistle felt being used by hatters, possibly blended with wool.
Her own experiments saw more success with a lower ratio of thistle to sheep's wool. She also mentions attempting to spin the thistle fibre.
Following on from Durham Weaver's post last month about reproducing the double fringe found on one of Tutankhamun's robes, here she demonstrates a single-sided fringe on a narrow band. There's a link to a video in case you prefer that.
The accelerator is a less common style of wheel but has an interesting function. Multiple drive wheels gear up the flyer speed, while maintaining a compact form factor.
How do you ply an entire 4-ounce braid onto just one drop spindle?
Deborah wants to bust the myth that drop-spindle plying limits the size of your skein.
Trying a different spindle may inspire you to try a different technique and create a different type of yarn. This is how Cynthia came to love a bottom-whorl supported spindle.
The British Textile Biennial took place recently across multiple venues in Lancashire. It finished on 2 November but the catalogue is available in electronic form on the Biennial's website and is well worth leafing through.
Deborah Knits has made this walkthrough of Rhinebeck, covering the food, animals, vendors and other attractions.
It's a very long video, but see the description for chapters.
Last month, SweetGeorgia wrote about using sock yarn in knitted garments other than socks. This time they consider how the construction and content of sock yarn may be perfect for use in woven scarves and shawls.
sweetgeorgiayarns.com/use-sock-yarn-for-snuggly-handwoven-scarves/
Janna looks at the factors in sett and demonstrates with side-by-side examples how changing them affects your finished work.
sweetgeorgiayarns.com/how-sett-affects-your-finished-tapestry
Deborah admits that she cant resist adding a smattering of visual and tactile complexity into her handspun yarns.
Being 'slow' doesn't mean that weaving can't be done efficiently and ergonomically, says Laura Fry in this guest post.
Using a twist gauge isn't difficult and it's important to be consistent, but what's the best twist angle to aim for?
It depends on your intended use for the yarn, since the twist angle will affect its properties.
Felicia has written this guide containing a chart and also a free (in return for an email address) pdf twist angle gauge.
Ashford have announced a new tabletop tapestry loom. It comes in two widths and flattens for storage.
This new book contains a comprehensive history of British sheep, a directory of 30 of the UK's Primitive, Longwool, Down and Shortwool breeds (yes, including the Manx Loaghtan) and ten knitting patterns, suitable for the qualities of the yarns they feature.
I'm linking to an article written by Jess Morency which features the book along with interviews with Justine Lee and Jenn Monahan of Fibreworkshop, also passionate about rare breed wool.
www.greatbritishlife.co.uk...rare-breed-norfolk-horn-sheep-norfolk-broads
Sarah Renae Clark offers Color Cube and Color Cube volume 2, a physical colour palette tool.
She also offers a digital Color Catalogue as a companion to the cube(s).
Interweave carries this introduction to these tools and suggestions for using them in your fibre crafting.
This set of sheep-shaped stitch markers by Katrinkles is available at Quince&Co.
The realism that you can achieve with modern tools and stop-motion is a little uncanny but India Rose Crawford's knitted frogs are charming and come to life in her short videos.
You'll enjoy this article if you're interested in digital data preservation but even more interesting for us as knitters are the two jumpers that digital conservationist Leontien Talboom is shown wearing, which feature the floppy disks and other media discussed in the article.
This is only loosely related to our craft. I bookmarked it because it's of particular interest to me and since it does involve natural fibres processed into a useful product, I'm sharing it here.
Mycelium, or fungal roots, are grown on a waste product such as paper or sawdust. The resulting tiles have good sound absorption.
Sometimes just a picture is enough
jaknitspurl says that the Manx loaghtan fleece was possibly the nicest that she's prepped. The main colour is the natural colour, the copper contrast colour is a "blend of all sorts" including naturally dyed fibre with madder.
The pattern is Foliage by Anna Johanna although jaknitspurl says that she modified it so much that she only incorporated the yoke pattern.
I love the autumnal colours here, and I love the graduation. This was achieved using a sock blank. That particular sock blank is, I believe, a special for club members but the pattern is Heathered Sunset.
usingthe hashtag #Spookyspin15in25 allows us to see the fibre that @the1764shepherdess dyed especially for Halloween and many different approaches to spinning it, resulting in some different-looking yarns.
This throw looks very snuggly. The handspun art yarn gives it big puffs of wool. Both the warp and weft are art yarn, woven on a 48" rigid-heddle loom fitted with a Freedom Roller which allows for thicker fabric.
centeringwithfiber.blogspot.com...weaving-hand-spun-art-yarn...
SeaFlowerSpins has finished this tapestry of Ardgour Saltmarsh using handspun, hand-dyed Shetland, Herdwick and Nth Ronaldsay yarns
Liapluridon made this cardigan with 100% handspun Corriedale wool. The pattern is Potato Vodka by Thea Colman, which she calls "well written and a delight to knit". The contrast colour is Dutch Iris dyed by Three Waters Farm.
A selection of free seasonal patterns which will work well with handspun yarn.
Lustra is a top with no less than 15 sizes. It's one of two surprise additional patterns from Knitty.com.
It has pretty detail down the sleeves.
This is a gift idea, courtesy Handwoven.
This tablet-weaving draft has been frequently-requested since Catherine first shared a picture. It uses a historical "Anglo Saxon" technique, possibly misnamed. She provides some written instructions below the draft.
With thanks to SweetGeorgia for sharing, Woolly's designs are unmistakeable and it was good to have another look at the Frequential collection, which includes this particular design, probably my favourite.
The pattern includes a slouchy and a beanie.
Thanks to Kym for writing about her test knit of this pattern. She comments that she loves Elizabeth Smith's design style; "classic and clean, but with fun little twists and features".
This is a classic jumper with a choice of two lengths and shaping or no shaping.
It's made with worsted-weight yarn (9 wpi) on 4.5mm and 5mm needles.It has a wide range of sizes.
This pattern has three sizes and is made in light fingering weight yarn in two colours. Anne says that it's a "fun, quick knit, proving that simple can be stunning".
Highland Heffalump has made this cowl in commercial yarn (pictured) after making a Little Gemstones shawl.
The colours she's used look lovely. They're from a bundle of mini skeins in teals and pinks.
Carla has specifically designed this cowl for using a small amount of your precious handspun yarn. You can use what you have, 50g and up, in any weight, without playing yarn chicken or wasting any. She has included explanations and tips for" newbies to either spinning or knitting".
www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/handspun-diamond-twist-cowl
Last month we saw Mark Lewanski's woven piece made from kiln-fired glass. Since then he has been awarded a $100,000 art prize.
www.mlive.com...sprawling-colorful-hanging-glass-tapestry...
Wendy Dolan adds print, paint and three-dimensional mediums to her layered fabrics.
Anne von Freyburg's mixed media art appears to drip, bleed or spill from rococo excesses.
Pauline van Dongen's sculpture looks like sky-blue boat sails. The textile pavilion generates solar power from its Heliotex panels.
We've seen Brandon Morris' ghostly gowns before but in time for the spooky season he has made his debut in Paris with this collection of fibreglass and resin works.
There's a strong link between early computing and weaving. Ada Lovelace saw the punchcards used in Jacquard machines and proposed that they could be used to store programs and data for Babbage's mechanical computing engine. Although computers became electronic, punched cards and paper tape were indeed used to store and load programs.
I hadn't considered the gender aspect. Before electronic computers, teams of 'computers', often women, would perform calculations on paper.
Crystal Bennes has linked these things together by taking a punch card computer program, a CERN physics experiment, and translated it to Jacquard weaving punchcards to weave a series of four wall hangings.
Two large works by Miguel Arzabe have been unveiled at New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
Each is made by weaving together two different paintings. He cuts one horizontally, the other vertically.
www.broadwayworld.com...Miguel-Arzabe-Unveils-Large-Scale...
Élise Peroi weaves with strips of coloured silk. Her works are somewhere between tapestry and painting.
Cristina's interview with Élise also includes clips of her working and close-ups of her work.
Malaika Temba uses a jacquard loom to weave her portraits. Materials are important to her, "I am always asking what materials remember and who gets remembered through them".
She adds paint and silkscreen.
Natalie Ciccoricco uses found objects, coloured string and handmade paper.
www.thisiscolossal.com...natalie-ciccoricco-yarn-paper-collages
13-16 November 2025, The Eikon Exhibition Centre
Meet up with like-minded crafters, discuss ideas, learn new skills, find inspiration and shop for your annual craft supplies, including wool, fabric and beyond from big brands and specialist suppliers.
14-16 November 2025, The Barn, Burn O Bennie, Banchory AB31 5QA
flock Contemporary Craft & Design is back! Come along and shop a curated collection of the best designer/makers working across Scotland - with over 40 vendors taking part.
Entry is free but the website allows you to book a time in advance to guarantee entry.
16 November, National Conference Centre, Birmingham
70 amazing exhibitors from all over the country in a fabulous venue. Free parking, café, free demonstrations from local guilds, charity magazine stall, yarn winding service and plenty of room to sit and chat.
20 - 23 November 2025, Harrogate Convention Centre
Meet up with like-minded crafters, discuss ideas, learn new skills and shop for your annual craft supplies, including wool, beads and beyond from household name brands and special suppliers alike including Fabric Godmother, Toft and more.
I'm Shiela Dixon, I've been doing this for around sixteen years in order to promote and encourage spinning and related crafts.
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Happy spinning!
Shiela Dixon - Editor / curator
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