We are exceedingly excited to finally have our grubby little mitts on these beautiful blankets woven by Daniel Harris of London Cloth Company fame at his mill in Carmathenshire in Wales. I’ve been following his exploits for a very long time and have been blown away by his rescuing of looms, learning how to restore them and then the herculean task of taking on the restoration of Elvet Mill.

Daniel has woven fabric for many companies, for films and works consulting on developing micro-mills for other companies as well as teaching. In between all this he has been getting the looms at Elvet back up and running and restoring the building (and that is a big ongoing job!). Some of these looms were specifically used for weaving the Welsh ‘carthenni’ wool blankets, over 3 metres wide these looms weave the double cloth designs of these traditional textiles.

This design is a traditional blanket style in a flat weave (rather than the double cloth style blankets), woven in a variation of ‘hopsack’ design (that’s a basket weave if you are interested, in this case it’s mixed in with plain weave to break the texture up). The handle of the fabric is soft and not ‘utility’ at all, it is made from donegal tweed yarn and the twisted fringing gives it a very smart finish. This blanket is made up of wide stripes of various pink and peachy tones with a narrow band of orange in donegal tweed and other yarns. It is sort of pinkly-pretty but muted and ‘dirty’ colours that lift this out of a cliched pink colour way, and the neps of colour through the donegal yarn give lovely pops of other colours.

The blankets aren’t cheap but this is to do with the quality of the yarn, the artisanal production and most of all the time it takes to weave a double cloth. Double cloth is woven on a warp that splits to form a back and front that intersect as the weaving progresses. These warps on carthenni blankets are two (or more colours) giving you two same-same-but-different designs in the one piece.

Made from 100% wool these are amazing to sleep under. I can’t recommend sleeping under woollen blankets enough. The weight and heat regulation is so much better than quilts, layer up these finer weight blankets for a fabulous sleep all year round.

Measurements: 170 × 225cm Perfect size to run across a queen or king size bed.

Washing: I like to wash my Welsh blankets in a large bucket or trough, or even the bath. Just use cold water and your preferred washing detergent. Fill the container and add your detergent, swish it about to dissolve and then gently press the blanket down into the water. Leave to soak. Drain the soapy water out and repeat with clean water. Once rinse you can transfer it to the washing to just spin out the excess water. Line dry on a nice hot day.
Wool is antibacterial and doesn’t washing often. Airing the blankets outside on a warm is perfect for refreshing them.

Remember!! The enemy of wool is heat and agitation when washing! That way lies felting and sadness!