A woollen mill beside a river in spate, photographed in 1910.
Grass Naturals

Grass Naturals woollen blankets

Mill No. 4, Fallow Weir On the loom: Batch 41, Floodwater 62 blankets in the batch

One colour of yarn goes on the loom each month. When the batch is woven, that colour is gone.

On the loom
Batch 41, Floodwater
Dyed with
Alder bark and iron
Cloth
Two-and-two twill, pure new wool
Left to sell
62 of 62
Woven, washed and finished at the mill Shop the batch See how it is woven

What the mill weaves

Three cloths come off the one loom. Pick a piece, then pick the colourway it would be made in.

Three folded bottle-green wool blankets stacked, with a gold stripe at the selvedge.
The Weir blanket, folded as it leaves the finishing room.

The Weir blanket

£185

Single bed or sofa, 140 × 200cm. Four pounds of undyed Fallow fleece carded with the month's colour, woven in a two-and-two twill and washed in river water at the weir.

140 × 200cm1.8kgPure new woolShips in three days

Pick the colourway, read the tag

Every piece leaves the mill with the tag below tied to its corner. Choose a colour to see the tag, and the weave, as it would be made.

A woven swatch drawn in the chosen colourway.

Floodwater

Batch
41
Dyed with
Alder bark and iron
Yarn
Fallow fleece, 2-ply worsted
Woven
November, Loom 2
Left in the batch
62
See every price
A raw sheep's fleece spread on a wool table in a shearing shed.

What the mill has, and what it costs

Prices include finishing and tag. Posted free within the country; add £14 overseas.

Blankets

  • The Weir£185140 × 200cm, two-and-two twill, whipped edge
  • The Long Field£240180 × 230cm, double bed, same cloth woven wide
  • The Cot£9570 × 100cm, lambswool, soft-washed twice

Throws

  • Fallow check£130130 × 170cm, the month's colour against undyed grey
  • Weir stripe£130130 × 170cm, nine stripes, one per week of the batch
  • Mill end throw£78The last two metres off each warp. One of each, never repeated

Scarves and smaller things

  • Long scarf£6830 × 200cm with a hand-tied fringe
  • Short scarf£5225 × 150cm, lambswool
  • Cushion cover£4445 × 45cm, wool face, linen back, no pad
  • Bag of mill ends£16A kilo of offcuts for patching and mending

From the loom room

  • Batch subscription£150 a yearA metre of each batch posted as it comes off, four times a year
  • Repair and re-fringe£28Any Grass Naturals piece, however old, mended on the bench

The mill shop is open Thursday to Saturday, ten until four.
Mill No. 4, Fallow Weir, by the lower bridge.

Archive photograph of four women holding piles of freshly sheared wool.

Why there is only one colour at a time

I took on Mill No. 4 with one working loom, a dye vat that holds forty kilos and no room to store yarn. That is the whole business plan.

Forty kilos is a month of weaving, so the mill dyes once a month and everything made in those weeks shares a colour. When the yarn runs out, the colour is finished — we cannot match it again, because the bark, the water and the fleece are never the same twice.

It makes buying harder and the cloth better. Nothing sits in a warehouse losing its loft. Nothing is dyed to a swatch book. The colour of your blanket is the colour the river and the hedges were in the month it was woven, and the tag says which month that was.

Come and see it. The loom runs on Thursdays and Fridays and you are welcome to stand and watch it, which is louder than you expect.

Ada RowntreeWeaver, Mill No. 4

Ask about a colourway, a repair or a visit bggassd42@gmail.com

From fleece to tag, in one month

Seven weeks of work, fleece to tag.

The fleece arrives

Four farms on the valley sides, shorn in June, graded on the table by hand. Anything coarse goes to rugs.

Printed plate from 1914 showing sheep shearing and wool being taken to market.
Shearing and market, printed plate, 1914.

Scoured and dyed

Washed in the soft river water, then forty kilos into the vat with that month's bark, root or lichen.

A raw fleece spread out on a wool table.
A fleece on the table before scouring.

Carded and spun

The colour is carded through undyed grey so the cloth keeps its depth, then spun two-ply on the worsted frame.

A fringed lambswool scarf in muted gold with fine green stripes, coiled on a dark surface.
Two-ply yarn, woven up as a long scarf.

The warp is dressed

Nine hundred ends wound on the beam and threaded one at a time. Two days of work before a single pick is woven.

A floor loom strung with warp threads in a weaving workshop.
A dressed loom, warp under tension.

Woven, nine metres a day

Two-and-two twill, selvedge marked with a single gold end so you can tell a Fallow cloth at a glance.

A heavy wool throw in gold and green check draped over a wooden chair in a dim stone room.
Cloth off the loom, resting on the bench chair.

Washed at the weir

The cloth goes into the mill race to full and soften. It comes out shorter, thicker and warmer than it went in.

Archive photograph of a woollen mill beside a river in flood, 1910.
Mill and river in spate, 1910.

Tagged and posted

Fringe knotted, batch and colour written on the tag, wrapped in paper and sent the same week it is finished.

Folded bottle-green wool blankets stacked ready to be wrapped.
Batch 41 finished and folded.

Questions, answered

Can I order a colour that has sold out? No, and this is the one hard rule. Each colour exists for one batch. We can tell you what is on the loom next and hold a piece from it.

How long does an order take? Anything shown as in the batch is in the finishing room and posts within three days. A piece reserved from the next batch takes four to six weeks.

Is the wool local? It comes from four farms on the valley sides, within eleven miles of the mill. The fleece is bought whole, graded here, and the coarse parts become rugs rather than being thrown out.

Will it itch? The blankets are pure new wool and have a honest handle; the lambswool throws and scarves are softer and sit against the skin happily. Order the mill-ends bag if you want to feel the cloth first.

How do I wash it? Rarely. Air it outside instead. When it must be washed, cool water, wool soap, no wringing, dried flat out of the sun.

Can it be repaired? Yes, any piece, any age, £28 on the bench including a new fringe. Send it back and we will put it right.

Do you post overseas? Yes, £14 a parcel, five to twelve days. Duties are the receiver's to pay.

Can I visit the mill? Thursday to Saturday, ten until four. The loom runs Thursday and Friday. No need to book unless you are more than four people.

What if it arrives and I do not love it? Send it back unused within thirty days and we refund it, postage included. Mill ends and the ends-bag are final.

Do you take trade orders? One a year, up to twenty pieces, agreed before the dye date so the colour is yours for that batch. Write to Ada.

Write one line and Ada answers from the loom room, usually the same day.

On the loom now: Batch 41, Floodwater. Sixty-two pieces, then that colour is finished.

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