Behind the Cover Photo Montage

Every picture holds a story, and this picture holds six stories that deserve to be told. Here they are, from left to right.

Those are my hands knitting a deliciously bulky, easy strip of stripes out of my Clara Yarn Cormo 3.0. It's a neck cozy and wool fortress and when I wear it I feel safe from the slings and arrows of the world.

These gorgeous LumaLano felted lamps were hand-made in the Netherlands by sisters Manja ten Donkelaar and Sophie van der Lubbe using wool from native European sheep. These ones were custom made for Saskia de Feijter, purveyor of Rotterdam's Ja Wol. Saskia has since closed the storefront to dedicate her energy to her conscious crafting membership community.

Wing and a Prayer Farm's darling miracle lamb Jubilee needs no introduction, but I'll give her one anyway. A Valais Blacknose x Teeswater lamb, she was the fourth of five to be born on March 14, 2020—and the only one to survive. Barely four pounds, Jubilee couldn't even hold her head up. For months, we all watched as Tammy White slowly, patiently nudged Jubilee toward life, and then health. And now, robust health. Jubilee was the spark of hope we needed during a painful pandemic, and I'm honored that Tammy let me use her photo here.

The wool label! Like many women of her generation, my great grandmother did quite a bit of mending. Even after she surrendered the scraps to the rag pile, she kept bits for quilting. Turns out, she also kept pretty labels. Eventually, she had enough fabric scraps and labels to make a full-sized label quilt. In person, this thing is breathtaking. I especially love that she saw beauty in wool just as I do. Naturally, when it came time to create a cover montage for TWC, she needed to be in it.

When we think of wool shoes, our thoughts tend to go in one of two directions: Allbirds-style wool lace-up shoes, or "old-school" wool felted clogs. Well, things are changing. These charming Liesl Skimmers were made by legendary wool footwear manufacturer Stegmann. Stay tuned for a full review.

And finally: Every woman needs a power shirt—and this is mine. It's the New Oxford shirt by Naomi Nomi, a made-to-order small-batch garment line based in Brooklyn, NY. Merino from Australia and New Zealand was transformed into fabric by Germany's oldest textile mill. The shirt itself was cut and sewn in the Bronx. And every single detail of this piece, every stitch and seam, is impeccable. It will last a lifetime. The color is Period Red, a nod to Pantone's Period Red color shade announced in 2020 as part of a global move to normalize converstions around, and destigmatize, menstruation. Power shirt indeed.