LalainedeGaleine’s life, Made in Bretagne
LalainedeGaleine’s life, it is mine… I am an artisan, I knit and crochet clothes and accessories from my home in Brittany. This is where I was born, spending my childhood in the countryside, on a smallholding. It is said that Bretons always come back home and so did I ! After 31 years in England, I came back to France to settle in the heart of Brittany, in the country side not far from the atmospheric town of Huelgoat.
LalainedeGaleine’s life : Destined to become an artisan
A precocious creative interest
The road leading to La lainedeGaleine has been long and tumultuous…
I have always been creative and adored all which is related to textiles. As a child, I loved drawing and sewing, spending my time creating outfits for my dolls. I learned to knit when I was abouy 10 years old. My interest was awakened whilst observing a neighbour, who had herself learnt from her grand-mother. She tought me the basic stitches.
As a teenager, I was creating my own clothes, which earned me a few dubious glances… I admit that I was neither afraid of mixing colours nor of a bit of excentricity! I particularly remember an outfit “à la Liz Taylor” made of a green satin long skirt, a bright orange kaftan top and an ample red jacket to top the whole. I can assure you than I wasn’t unseen… Well! One has to experiment when young, n’est-ce-pas?
Back then, I was more interested in sewing creations than knitting. One of my early dreams was to spend my life creating “haute couture” clothes and be on par with Coco Chanel, no less! Circumstances (notably a lack of change in my pockets) made it that I was never able to attend high fashion school and accomplish that dream.
Exile to Great Brittany !
And so it is that, in 1989, having spent 2 years at university (notable by their lack of motivation) I found myself in London.
To stay true to myself, my life there could somehow be qualified as colourful. No yet brightened by my skeins of yarn, but it will come! London was then a never ending well for expérimentation. Each day brought a new adventure, for the best and the worse. A lot of fun and up to this day long enduring friendships were established. I am looking back fondly on those beginnings in England.
“Keep calm…” and the lady becomes an artisan.
After leading a life somewhat eclectic, I eventually found peace in the beautiful Wiltshire countryside. There, I found myself surrounded by ancient monuments such as Avebury and Stonehenge, crop circles, and white horses adorning its ondulating hills…
It is also there that I met my dear husband, a multi talented artist. He was then working on green wood, in a traditionnal way. A marriage made in heaven, wood and wool !
In those auspicious surroundings, I re-discovered the noble material that is wool. What started with a very simple hat knitting became dozens of hats, then gloves, then shawls… In the space of a few months, they accumulated.
My living space being quite limited, I thought I might participate to my first ever market, the Christmas market of Devizes, Wiltshire. This is where I realised that people actually appreciated my creations. Encouraged by this success, I developped a creative insatiability.
Not long after this first market, my life took another direction.
Return to France
In 2019, I came back to France, accompanied by my husband..
Our first stop was the gorgeous Lozère, in the Cévennes, where we stayed for a year. There, I did a few more encouraging markets, just before the confinement.
LalainedeGaleine’s life : an artisan full time
I then went back to where I am from, Brittany. I discovered the area centre Bretagne. I fell head over heels in love with it. We settled there and bought an old 16th century house (le manoir de Plourac’h, s’il vous plaît!) that we are still renovating to this day.
When I am not knitting or crocheting, I have my hands either burried in the soil… (my garden is big enough to feed 10 people) or working on the stones of our house.
The first picture on this page shows me in front of the ruine we have bought.
