Baa Baa Brighouse – Have you any Wool?

As a relatively new business and with the Popup Wool Show 2014 being the first show Baa Baa Brighouse exhibited at, I was delighted to be asked to write a blog post to tell you more about what we do.

Baa Baa Brighouse is an online knitwear and yarn store which opened its virtual woolly doors to the public in April this year.

The shop, which specialises in unique hand knitted accessories and Yorkshire yarns was set up by me, Elaine Jinks-Turner, 37, after leaving a career in journalism.

I’m a mother-of-three and was taught to knit as a child but rediscovered my passion for the craft following a lengthy bout of post-natal depression following the birth of my daughter, Florence, aged four.

I’ve since turned my “therapy” into a business and have sourced beautiful knitting yarns from across Yorkshire, the home of the woollen and textile industry, in order to showcase the very best the county has to offer.

I knit a range of accessories from the finest yarns available including scarves, shawls, wraps, hats, gloves and bags – each one a little different from the last, with a definite vintage feel.

The majority of the yarn I use is sourced, spun and dyed locally, allowing me to create beautiful one-off pieces and in turn, support Yorkshire sheep farming and the many independent businesses, from spinners and weavers, to people who dye yarn at home in their kitchen sink, that thrive as a result.

Baa Baa Brighouse stocks yarn from the popular West Yorkshire Spinners in Keighley, County Alpacas in Sowerby Bridge, Eden Cottage Yarns and Sylvan Tiger Yarn in Leeds, Laura’s Loom in the North Yorkshire Dales, Herdy in Cumbria, Rowan, in Holmfirth, as well as from well-known knitwear designer, Erika Knight, whose British yarn is spun at Laxton’s in Guisley and world famous knitwear designer, Louisa Harding, who is based in Holmfirth and trained at Rowan. All of the yarn produced has strong connections to Yorkshire.

We also stock a selection of cotton hand dyed yarns by Little Boo Yarns to cater for those with wool allergies and we will soon be expanding our range to include Susan Crawford Vintage Fenella and Wendy’s Ramsdale – anther 100% Yorkshire yarn.

Baa Baa Brighouse is committed to using wool in at least 75% of the knitted products it sells and as a result has joined the Campaign for Wool, whose patron is HRH the Pince of Wales.

Knitting needles, patterns, books, buttons, brooches and knit kids for both children and adults can also be found in the store along with accessories such as stitch markers, measuring tapes and custom made-to-order knitting bags in our own design.

We also offer a generous reward scheme called the Baa Baa Brighouse Shepherd Reward Scheme where you can earn points every time you shop with us online to save money on future purchases.

We have recently launched a brand new yarn club called the Yan Tan Tethera Yarn Club which seeks to celebrate the very best indie dyers of Yorkshire.

Subscriptions to the club open each month and dyers take their inspiration from a photograph of the Yorkshire landscape provided by Shutterspot Photography.

We will soon be taking part in the Kaffe Fassett Pure Wool Worsted Mystery Knit-A-Long with Rowan, beginning on October 1^st, and will be offering special discounts on KAL bundles so that customers can buy all the yarn they need to knit their afghan or cushion in advance

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Following on from the success of the first Popup Wool Show, we are now making plans to exhibit at a number of shows. Our next appearance will be at Armley Mills Industrial Museum in Leeds for Wool Week on Saturday October 4^th. We hope to see you there!

In the meantime, please visit www.baabaabrighouse.co.uk