“My dye studio has brought me back to the landscape of my childhood amidst the hills, hedges and sheep of Co. Antrim. Like all knitters, I am being led forward along my own particular colourway.”- Emma Robinson
Provenance
I created Woolly Mammoth Fibre Company to produce naturally dyed, non- superwash, nylon free yarn. The bases are spun in Yorkshire, Wales and Ireland.
I want my yarn to feel as if it is from somewhere- so that you can almost smell and feel this place by handling it. In wanting what I create to have roots, it is a reaction against the transitory, generic culture we live in.
Small Batch
My focus is on meeting farmers, sheep and shearers with a view to creating specific, regional, small batch yarns.
All yarns produced are predominately from the UK, and the limited edition yarns are from flocks close to my studio here in Northern Ireland.
Slow
My yarns are naturally dyed, using a mixture of traditional dye extracts, kitchen waste and responsibly gathered plants from my local area on the North Coast of Ireland.
About Me
While at art college in London studying photography, I discovered the magic of natural dyeing for the first time. I created Prayer Mat, which was a little mat exhibited on the floor, and it was dyed with foraged materials gathered from around London, with accompanying photographs. It explored the connections between place, rootedness and belonging through photography and woven, naturally dyed fabric.
After coming home to Northern Ireland in 2013, I decided to start selling some of my naturally dyed yarns- which my husband jokingly named “the woolly mammoth upstairs”. And so the name stuck, and that is how Woolly Mammoth Fibre Co. came to be!
Apart from natural dyeing, knitting and other fibre arts, I also enjoy the outdoors- hiking, camping, cycling as well as the odd board game, spending time with my family, and of course my Bedlington Whippet boy Rufus.
You can find me on Instagram (@WoollyMammothFibres), Ravelry (WoollyMammothEmma), and my knitting podcast on Youtube (Emma Robinson).
