The Lamb Tea Cosy Kit

Our latest project box is something a little bit special. Not only will this lamb tea cosy look lovely and keep your tea at the perfect temperature, but it also has a big story to tell...

Using a Woman’s Weekly pattern, we’ve re-knitted this sweet lamb tea cosy using Pure Natural Wool sourced from Edfords Care Farm in Norfolk. A wonderful initiative, Edfords Care Farm is situated on a 80-acre site in picturesque Norfolk, where they keep goats, pigs, chickens, and of course sheep! The farm provides green space therapy to support vulnerable adults and youngsters living in various forms of care. They also work with school groups across the region and have a large vegetable garden with 28 beds and a poly tunnel.

Edfords has been designed to cater for a number of different levels of abilities, from working in their petting area with the rabbits and guinea pigs, through to full farm maintenance. The farm gives everyone an opportunity to be themselves in a peaceful and rewarding setting, whilst getting involved in a variety of new activities. It's a wonderful cause that we wanted to support here at The Knitting Network, and so we purchased the farm's first batch of Pure Natural Wool from their British sheep.

The fleece from Edfords' flock of Jacob sheep was spun at the Natural Fibre Company in Cornwall. Each kit also contains a ball of Merino Blend DK wool in White. Due to the natural dark brown and white colour of the fleece, Jacob wool creates beautiful undyed yarns. Thought to be one of the oldest sheep breeds in the world, Jacobs were extremely rare during the first part of the last century, but thankfully the efforts of a small number of enthusiastic breeders has meant they survived and their numbers are growing. Jacobs are one of the rare polycerate (meaning "many-horned") sheep breeds and most commonly have 4 horns, but can have up to six!

We’ve coincided the release of our Lamb Tea Cosy Project Box with the Campaign for Wool’s ‘Wool Week’. This is a global endeavour initiated by its patron, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, to raise awareness about the unique, natural, renewable and biodegradable benefits offered by wool. Since its launch in 2010, The Campaign for Wool has influenced a new demand for wool on an international scale, and its efforts have seen an outstanding increase in the price farmers receive for their wool.

Once the Jacob’s were sheared at Edfords Care Farm, their fleeces were then passed to The Natural Fibre Company to spin into familiar balls of yarn. Their mill in Launceston on the Cornwall-Devon border is the smallest large spinning mill (or the largest small spinning mill!) in the world! They have also been supporters of the Campaign for Wool since the campaign started.

Sorting fleece for processing at The Natural Fibre Company mill

Their specialist woollen mill is the only mill in the country that spins both wool and worsted yarns under the same roof.

Carding clean fleece at The Natural Fibre Company mill

We love the finished spun yarn from Edfords' Jacob sheep; the undyed fibres really help to remind you of where the yarn has come from, the incredible process that happens to get it from sheep to a ball of yarn and the people that have been supported and helped along the way to turn the humble fleece into something ready to made into an endless possibility of things.

You can buy the Lamb Tea Cosy Kit using Edfords Care Farm Pure Natural Wool for only £9.99.