about

I'm Fran, a seasoned hand-knitter, self-taught lace-maker and mender and apprentice spinster. Originally from Dorset (UK), I took French leave in 2012 and moved permanently to live in south-west France. I live with my French sweetheart in a rural valley in the Hautes Pyrenees - stick a pin in a map between Lourdes and Spain and you'll find us somewhere in the mountains.

I've suffered with the  debilitating and life-limiting conditions of ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia since I was eleven years old. On good days, I love nothing more than to spend my time outside, foraging in the woods and fields around about, spinning wool from local fleeces and knitting beside the fire or out in the fresh air.

I have a degree in French language and I’m a certified language teacher and translator. But more than that I’m an endless apprentice. This year, I'm learning to sew my own clothes and I'm also teaching myself to spin my own yarn from scratch, from sheep to sweater if you will.

My cheri and I are immersed in this landscape: it's what encouraged him to work as a walking guide and it inspires me to learn to create yarns and hand-knits using fleeces from the rare breed sheep that graze in these green mountains.  Treading as lightly as we can in both cases. 

So here I am now, crafting a slow life for myself halfway up a mountain in the French Pyrenees.

ps: You can also keep in touch over here and here. 

The name of this blog, "filer à l'anglaise" is the French equivalent of our English expression "to take French leave", but also a play on words as the verb "filer" also means "to spin".