Thus mum keeps her wool not wholly for knitting, in a way (7,2,5)

I believe the answer is:

somehow or other

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'wholly for knitting in a way' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'thus mum keeps her wool not' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'thus' could be 'so' (synonyms) and 'so' is found within the answer.
'not' could be 'o' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'o' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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