For me, Manda Stretch, it was just another day to visit the boutique. As soon as I arrived Chris exclaimed: “We have the perfect knitted coat for you”. I tried it on and yes, it was perfect. She said it had been knitted by Karen, who I had known, so I was even more delighted. As I was leaving Chris added: “We have a jumper to match”. “Ok” I said.

I happened to be visiting my friend Jane Macduff that same day so the knitwear was still in the car. Over a cup of tea I was telling her about the jumpers. “Wow!” she exclaimed and this is what she said:-

“About 25 years ago, in the early 1990’s I was friendly with Karen Hermes (RIP) and was weaving Sunrise panels in the Weaving Studio. During a big tidy up of the loft in the weaving studio I found a box of naturally dyed wools, all labelled – madder, onion, broom, weld, logwood, indigo….. I don’t remember them all but they were beautiful – stunningly beautiful – and had been there for many years. I showed them to Kathryn, who was focalising the weaving studio, and she was not interested in them so I took them for Karen to see.

Karen was already experimenting with natural dyes and had started knitting with them – gorgeous coats and sweaters knitted with pure, naturally dyed sheep wool. I spent more and more time with her up at her home, Juniper Cottage, helping her with dying and spinning and often knitting with her in the evenings. I was knitting my own plant dyed cardigan – nice, but nothing like as skilled as Karen’s. It must have been around 1995 when Karen asked me to model a sweater and coat that she had knitted.”

Here are the photos and with them a current (2023) photo of Manda and Jane wearing that very same sweater & a similar coat.”

What a wonderful recycling after 25 years.

Manda and Jane 2023 photo: Manda Stretch