Wool Roads wind through all regions of the globe. In a tiny village in the Shetland Islands, tending sheep and producing wool might have made the difference, at one time, between ease and hunger. A herder in Africa might keep warm in his wool blanket as he brought his cattle down from the cold highlands. A Swedish girl might spend hours knitting mittens and dreaming of her betrothed, whose family would receive the mittens as gifts on the day of the wedding..

Wool clothing is economical and practical, but when we look at the creations of people along the wool roads, we see more than the utilitarian. Indeed, humans make meaning wherever we go. In living rooms, at markets, on stumps or stone ledges, all over the world, men, women and children spin, weave and knit special properties into their work.

There are beliefs in different cultures and countries along the Wool Roads that magic resides in the wool or in the tools themselves; others express their wishes for the recipient with the gift they create and that imbues magic into the fibre or design.

Over the centuries, wool workers have created belts to encourage fertility, tunics to protect babies, socks to cement relationships, vests as a form of tribute and, some of the oldest, funeral bands as part of the rites of death. Along the Wool Roads around the globe,, spinning, weaving, knitting, and creating with wool holds a special, magical place in songs and stories. These are the stories told in this book. Join me in meandering along the Wool Roads to find and share these stories.