Iconic British brand Baa Ram Ewe is back with an exciting range of gorgeous yarns, as Helen Spedding discovers
BRITISH KNITTERS have fond memories of Baa Ram Ewe, the yarn and design brand which played a key role in raising the profile of British wool and Yorkshire’s wool industry and spinning heritage. Baa Ram Ewe was founded in 2009 by Verity Britton, and started life as a yarn shop in Leeds.
The store quickly became popular with knitters in the Yorkshire region and beyond, and a few years after opening, Verity was offered the opportunity to make a small batch of Yorkshire yarn, which she called Titus. It was a big hit with the shop’s customers, selling out very quickly, so another small batch was produced – and then a yarn review by Clara Parkes on her influential blog Knitter’s Review kickstarted a global following of knitters who came to love Baa Ram Ewe’s yarns.
After the successful launch of Titus, Baa Ram Ewe went on to create a range of popular yarns including Pip Colourwork, a soft and woolly 4ply designed with colourwork projects in mind.
Rising costs and increasing competition from online yarn stores meant that Baa Ram Ewe decided to close its bricks-and-mortar shop in 2019, and it moved its sales online. However, challenging economic conditions forced the company to close for good in 2021.
Now, though, Baa Ram Ewe is back, and it’s a very welcome return for this much-loved brand! It has been purchased by Shepley Yarns, a family-owned business which is committed to bringing beautiful yarns to keen knitters. “Roger Shepley founded Shepley Yarns in 2001 - he has been employed in the spinning industry all his working life, and has been spinning worsted wool yarns for over 35 years,” explains Emma Townsend, Baa Ram Ewe’s head of design and marketing. “The Shepley Group has historically supplied yarns to businesses on five continents, working closely with top Italian, French, British, New York and Japanese design houses on their new collections.”
Roger Shepley was already very familiar with Baa Ram Ewe when he decided to buy the brand. “Shepley Yarns had supplied Baa Ram Ewe with some of their yarns and accessories for more than five years, and admired the blends and colours they used,” says Emma. “Roger was delighted to acquire the name and intellectual property of this well-respected brand in 2021 after Baa Ram Ewe started to experience trading difficulties.
“Like Baa Ram
