Daughter of a Shepherd is the brain child of Rachel Atkinson from Yorkshire. Ram Jam encompasses everything Daughter of a Shepherd set out to do and be; that of wanting to put value into something otherwise considered worthless.
Yarn details:
- 100% British wool from mixed breeds (see more details below)
- Worsted weight
- 126 yards per 50g skein
- 4-5mm (US 6-8) needle or hook
- 18 sts/4" using a 4.5mm (US 7) needle
- Cool hand wash only — lay flat to dry naturally
- Sourced, scoured and spun in the Yorkshire, UK
All the raw fleece that goes into Ram Jam is gathered from flocks where it would otherwise have gone to waste. Daughter of a Shepherd is therefore utilizing both black and white wool. You will find a plethora of different sheep breeds in the yarn; the natural blacks include Hebridean, Zwartbles and black Texel and the white comes from a mixture of BFL/Cheviot cross, Texel cross, various other mule crosses and we have even added fleece from the naturally black and white colored Badgerface sheep.
Ram Jam is woollen spun as a 2ply yarn to a worsted weight with 126 yards on each 50g skein. It is light and bouncy to handle, with good stitch definition, a soft halo and lots of character.
Being a worsted weight means the yarn is suited to working across a range of tensions, and is just as happy on a 4mm needle as a 5mm. We suggest a tension of 18 stitches to 4" using a 4.5mm (US 7) needle but please do swatch and play with it; have fun seeing the different fabrics you can create by simply varying needle sizes.
There are 5 undyed shades in the range:
-
0 Natural White
-
1 Light Grey
-
1.5 Inbetween Grey
-
2 Mid Grey
-
3 Natural Black
Rachel worked with the mill to blend the greys which are created by combing different quantities of black and white fiber together, resulting in wonderful, soft heathered shades. Meanwhile, the Natural Black is a complex, very dark brown perfect for backgrounds or intricate patterning, while the Natural White lifts the darker shades with its creamy tone. By working closely with the mill she mixed a balanced palette that is ideal for use in stranded knitting patterns, color-blocking and stripes, but equally beautiful for single color projects.
Rachel is proud that Ram Jam is a 100% Yorkshire product. From the raw fiber, to the scouring, spinning and skeining, even the delivery of the final yarn to DofaS, is from or has been done by Yorkshire companies. As a proud Yorkshire lass this makes Rachel beam!
