JO Davies is passionate about wool. Set her off on the subject and she will spin yarn after yarn, listing her favourite breeds of sheep and extolling the virtues of wool in all its manifestations, from fleece to yarn to knitted jumper.

She has no flock of her own – “much as I love them, I have neither the time, knowledge or land” – but, together with partner Ian, she began selling sheepskin gilets and rugs about five years ago.

“We discovered a manufacturer who was doing the whole process here in the UK, which was quite unusual as most sheepskin was imported. About three years ago they decided to close the tanning business because they couldn’t compete with the Chinese,” says Jo, 62, from Marske-by-the-Sea.

As luck would have it, Jo had just discovered British wool in another form at an event in the Dales. A lifelong knitter, she had been challenging herself to knit in finer and finer wools.

“I didn’t want acrylic or any of the other man-made fibres that take so much time to produce but so little time to destroy, and was excited by the fact that the handspinners I saw were spinning the most exquisite Blue-faced Leicester yarn.”

She talked to the people at the sheep pens, including some who had only a few rare breed sheep, and they agreed to sell her fleece if she could find a mill to spin it. On the suggestion of one of the sheep owners, she rang Paul Crookes, at Halifax Spinning Mill, near Goole, in East Yorkshire.

“He invited us to the mill for a chat, showed us the whole process from raw fleece through to knitting wool, and an idea for a business selling wool for knitting, spinning, weaving and felting was born,” says Jo.

Paul explained that every breed of sheep produces a fleece that is unique; some long and silky, others shorter and coarser.

“He has been in the wool industry all his working life and has a wealth of knowledge that has been invaluable,”

says Jo. “I’m extremely lucky to have found him.”

Jo and Ian buy the fleece, which has little or no value, from the many smallholders who keep rare breeds to save them from extinction.

“Coloured fleece, in particular, has little market value, although some of the natural shades of brown, black and grey are stunning," says Jo.

“The very rare North Ronaldsay, famous for living on seaweed, makes a yarn that is a tweedy white, brown and grey; Manx Loaghtan is naturally brown; and Norfolk Horn, which provided the wealth to build most of the churches in East Anglia, has a white fleece with a dark fibre that gives a wonderful oatmeal effect when knitted.

I could go on and on.”

Jo is almost evangelical about the properties of wool: “It’s a living thing, it breathes and is proven to regulate temperature so it’s much more healthy for us.

Synthetics do not have this property.

While some might contend that wool is trickier to care for, Jo disputes this: “It only felts when the temperature is changed. I hand wash and when the garment is cold, I rinse and spin in the washing machine. It comes out perfect.”

The other comment she often hears is that wool is itchy.

“True, many wools are itchy – we call Herdwick ‘panscrubber- wool’, but you can't beat it for cushions because it is so hard-wearing.

Blue-faced Leicester, on the other hand, is so soft it can be worn next to the skin.”

The other reason we should all embrace wool, says Jo, is that it’s an environmentallyfriendly option. Why, she asks, do we buy garments, carpets and furnishings made from oil and transported across the world when we have thousands of fleeces, which would make a better, longer-lasting product, sitting around in barns or being burned because wool has simply become a by-product of the meat industry?

Farmers cannot make enough from it to cover the transport costs to a British Wool Marketing Board collection point, let alone the shearing costs, she says.

Much of the wealth of this country was built on wool – and the art of spinning, knitting and weaving has never died out, but has quietly continued. In a world where life is fast, Jo finds this heartening.

“Actually creating something and saying ‘I did that’ gives us a sense of achievement.

It’s calming and concentrates the mind on something other than the problems we all experience every day,” she says.

Jo’s wool business is expanding.

She and Ian now have access to fleeces from about 25 breeds, all of which should be online by next year.

“We sell at various shows around the country and online, but high production costs have made it difficult to sell to shops,” she says.

Oddly, the logo for the business is not a sheep but the couple’s black labrador.

They now have a younger version, Black Bat 3, “a seven and a half-month-old Labramonster who is currently trying to eat my chair,” laughs Jo.

While she loves her dogs, Jo’s passion is sheep. Does she have a favourite breed?

“I do have a particular fondness for the Norfolk Horn, which was on the edge of extinction, but may survive thanks to the grim determination of a few dedicated breeders, and the tiny North Ronaldsay, Hebridean and Shetland sheep, which can survive on virtually nothing.

“It’s difficult to choose.

Every new breed we find gives me an opportunity to design something different, be it a soft lace wrap or a rugged cushion or a jacket that will be windproof and virtually waterproof.”