Wool and fibre products
About TurnAcre
Living in the beautiful countryside of the Calder Valley, West Yorkshire I am inspired by the natural landscapes and nature I have surrounding me. From the deep valleys with rivers and canals in their bases, to the wind swept moors on the hill tops. From the dry stone walls that edge the open fields to the bluebells in the woods sheltered by magnificent oak trees. My muse is all around me.
I am Julie Turner. I have two grown up children and am granny to six grandchildren. I have been married to Peter for 35 years and am generally a creative person.
TurnAcre Ryeland wool products came about after my son and daughter-in-law founded the Bouldacre Ryeland and Roseacre Coloured Ryeland flocks.
How I fell in love with Ryeland wool.
After the first shearing took place my creative juices started flowing and I decided to have a go at hand cleaning, processing and spinning these beautiful fleeces. I didn’t know anyone else who did this so I turned to books and the internet for advice and just got stuck in. My first attempts were long and labour intensive and did not produce the best spun yarn, but it was yarn, useable and I enjoyed the process. I had some of this yarn knitted into a toy sheep by a friend as a keepsake and now . Oh how excited and hooked I was on this new craft!
I now had the basic skills and equipment to enable me to develop my skills further. After much practice, the purchasing of more specialised equipment, lots of trial and error and the passage of a few years, TurnAcre wool and fibre products was developed to showcase and share my knowledge and skills through exclusive and bespoke learning experiences in the heritage crafts of spinning, weaving and felting. I now work with a variety of wool and other fibres too.
It takes a skilled spinner many hours to produce small quantities of hand-processed, hand-spun yarn. The yarn I produce is expertly used in the products I create. A variety of which can be seen in in the online shop and gallery. Weaving and felting was a natural progression. As well as the introduction of other animal and plant fibres.
Commission work came next. Hand spinning for people using the fleece from their own sheep, goats, rabbits, and other creatures to create bespoke keepsakes from their cherished animals to treasure forever.
This truly is a family concern as my husband, children, their spouses and grandchildren are all involved in some aspect of TurnAcre, be it rearing, shearing, designing, making, modelling or selling.
