Another study confirms that Wool (Superwash and Non - Superwash bio - degrade in Marine environments

As quite a few of you know, at Chester Wool, we spend a lot of time and consideration about where our materials are sourced and how biodegradable they are. We try to consider the balance between the necessities of nylon in garments like socks as it promotes longevity, and design yarns that may work as alternatives (see the previous blog post on the Eco sock yarns) but we also like to look beyond things like this and look at the overall picture of the entire life length of all of our products, and what happens to them at the end of their lives.

Jen is an avid composter, and quite often composts waste yarn to add nitrogen into the soil, including super- wash wools. Which has in the past raised a few eyebrows! People mistakenly think that super-wash wool is coated in plastic, but not all polymer coatings are not all equal, we don’t like the word ‘coatings’ as gives us the impression that the yarn is literally coated in a polymer, this isn’t the case, it’s micro dots which make up a very small percentage of the wool. You will find plenty of information on our super-wash wool in out FAQ section where we discuss this in more detail, but to summarise, we have been following the research in biodegradeability of Non- superwash wool and Superwash wool for a long time, and have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to discuss this with researchers in person.

We have previously linked before to studies that have shown that non-superwash wool and superwash wool degrade in marine environments very quickly and the thinking was that all the particles break down very effectively into their component parts without leaving any nasties in the sea. A new study has been published again confirming this, which is great news!! You can read it here. This is worth a read because there is a lot of misinformation about superwash however as discussed below some processes are better than others.

Yes, there is additional processing for superwash wool compared to non-superwash, but then again, there are longevity advantages to using it VS non-superwash, and we believe that accessibility issues are also very important, not everyone has the ability or resources to hand wash every item of clothing. I’d much prefer people to use super wash wools and get a life time out of a sweater, than either choose to not knit one in the first place because its a faff to care for it, or use a synthetic fibre that will not break down for hundreds of years and cause pollution. Wool after all is a natural resource and takes a great deal of effort to grow and create.

Please remember that not all super wash wools are the same, we know that these studies pertain to the type we use, but this may not be the case for all of them, so it may not extrapolate, its also worth remembering that we superwash treat our fibres in Europe so we know its done correctly and to a very high standard, this is not the same all over the world.

To sum up, it’s great to know that we can feel comfortable using super wash wools for our dyeing knowing that it will not end up as microfibres in marine environments.. and that if you really want to you can stick it in your compost like Jen does!

Our new Undyed Eco sock range

We had a long think about how to make some undyed eco sock yarns which contained a fibre which could replace Nylon, and an alternative to the Superwash bases. but that are easy care.

We came up with two different blends which tick these boxes in different ways.

Linen was used in both the blends as the strengthening fibre, it’s strong, extremely hard wearing, it won’t take acid dyes, but is in proportions that it doesn’t effect the colour update significantly.

Type 49198 as pictured below is an Easy wash Alpaca blended with Nylon. 80% Superfine Alpaca Easy Wash, 20% Linen with 400m per 100g

We all know that socks need washing regularly and we wanted an option that could be machine washed. Easy-Wash Alpaca has been treated with Enzymes in an ecological process to reduce shrinkage. There will still be a little shrinkage, but it is significantly reduced, and we recommend washing garments and socks with these on a wool wash, and of course even better - handwash.

This yarn is soft with a light caramel coloured base with some texture from the linen, it is less plump than the Merino version, and makes a lovely fabric, see below our swatches. The Gauge on this yarn comes out at:

In the round

2.25mm - 34sts &  44 rows

Knitted Flat

2.5mm - 30sts & 46 rows

WPI: 26

The yarn takes the dye nicely, and colours appear soft, muted and sophistcated on this base, speckles will spread somewhat. This yarn would be lovely as a warp and weft.

Type 49199 merino Linen Eco sock

Of course a Merino version was the second option, Type 49199 we used 18.5 micron merino for softness, and at 80% Non-Superwash  Merino Wool and 20% Linen, 400m per 100g this yarn has a lovely plump texture to it. It knits beautifully. The yarn takes the dye well, and the speckles softly spread. We LOVE this yarn. This will need to be hand-washed as it will shrink.

49199 dyed with Speckles

The gauge on this yarn is

In the round

2.25mm - 34sts &  48 rows

Knitted Flat

2.5mm - 30sts & 48 rows

WPI: 22

Both yarns would work well for weaving.

Greys using Tannins and Iron

I love greys, they work so well on their own, or with as a background with pops of bright colour, I also love to mix them with naturally dyed colours adding them into a pallet to create an element of sophistication.

Last summer whilst honing my natural dye skills, I experimented with using greys as undertones for natural dyes, creating extra colours which worked as shadows, it worked a treat and I was hooked, but what I loved more than anything were just the greys themselves, they were soft warm greys and they are really fun to make.

Tannins and Iron when combined create greys, its easy to do, and you can use what you have at home if you don’t have access to commercial tannin extracts or Iron (ferrous sulphate).

Tannin extraction has stayed the same basically forever, the tannin source which can be wood, leaves, and oak galls, there are many natural sources of tannins even tea leaves will work. When soaked in water, the tannin comes out and it is then processed from there. For this experiment, I collected Oak galls in June from under our Oak tree in the garden.

I blended these in a grinder (please take care if you do this, tannins can be toxic and irritating to the throat, it’s wise to wear a dust mask when doing this, and best to use separate equipment for dyeing than you use in your kitchen) You can also crush them with a hammer into pieces. In general the smaller you get them the easier the tannins will leach out into the water.

Pop them into a jar and pour over boiling water, leave them for a few hours. I left these for a few hours.

Filter out the solids when you are done, I used a jam jar and a coffee filter paper, which worked well.

Now you want to soak your yarn or fabric in the tannin to absorb it. For this experiment, I used some of our Cupro embroidery hanks and a piece of linen fabric. I used cellulose fibres as these are more tolerant of Iron than protein fibres, although you can use wool, iron can affect the handle, and when used in too larger amounts can degrade the integrity of the fibre. Dilute your tannin liquid and add your yarns to soak.

I left these overnight to get a good absorbency. In the morning I squeezed out the threads and gave them a rinse in warm water to remove any excess tannin.

Iron

I use ferrous sulphate for this as I wanted to be able to replicate my results, I use roughly 4% of the weight of the goods, so if I had 100g of yarn I would have used 4gms of Ferrous sulphate. You can make your own iron water to use as a mordant for this by rusting nails in vinegar and water, the only problem is you don’t know what percentage of iron you are applying and you may damage your fibres, so this is something you will need to experiment with.

I made a water bath with the ferrous sulphate solution and then dropped my tannin soaked threads and fabric. The reaction is very quick and these only needed soaking for a few minutes, once they were done I rinsed them with washing liquid and left them to dry.

You can use this solution again so store in a jar and make sure you label it!

The result is gorgeous dove grey embroidery threads.

Superwash Merino Fabric Round up

I thought a refresher of the uses of our special fabric was due. The fabric doesn’t exist anywhere else, it’s exclusive to us and it has so many uses. Its versatility means its an essential in your craft stash.

The fabric is 100% superwash merino, (21.5 microns) with an even weave, it’s made specifically for dyeing and crafting. It’s a medium to heavy-weight fabric. Each Meter (100cm x 140cm) weighs approximately 340gms. It sucks up dye like a dream, and that’s where we will start.

Superwash Fabric undyed.

We recommend Acid dyes for this fabric. As the fabric soaks up dye very quickly, we suggest soaking the fabric first and then removing as much water as possible so that the fabric is damp but not saturated by water, then apply your dye or prints.

We have a blog post on how we dyed the fabric with Shibori Here. I used this fabric to make all sorts including some oven gloves which worked SO well, the wool protects against the heat, on this particular project instead of using batting, I used superwash fiber sandwiched in between. I quilted onto the fabric to add some structire and bind the layers together, this worked really well, I also cut thinner strips for the bias binding on the edging.

Shibori dyed oven gloves

Machine-stitching on this fabric works really nicely for quilting and for applique, the picture below shows the effect of quilting and then the one below where I appliqued a piece.

Machine stitched and Quilted

Appliqued Peice onto cotton.

The even weave also works really nicely for Sashiko Embroidery:

To be honest, any embroidery works well on this fabric, we have more on embroidery using our yarns on our fabric here.

I also wondered how it would work for Wholepunching, so far I’ve only experimented with Chunky yarns, PLUS you can dye the background whatever colours you like making the possibilities endless.

A few tips to consider when using this fabric.

1. As mentioned above this fabric sucks up dye really quickly so can become oversaturated, by soaking it first and then removing excess water works really well before you start, just like you generally would with yarn.

2. Because the fibers can swell when dyeing and move apart, I recommend dyeing pieces and then cutting out smaller shapes once the fabric is dry, as fraying can happen on very thin strips.

3. Again because of the fraying it works well to secure the fabric with either a line of stitching around the edges or using fray stop which we also sell. Either work really well, this is more useful if you have lots of pieces hanging around for a while or are being heavily manipulated. I didn’t use any on the applique and it was great. I recommend especially with small or thin pieces to dye the fabric first and then cut them after the fabric is dry.

4. The fabric can stretch a little during sewing, so just factor this in when you are working on your project if necessary, I used iron-on backing for one or two projects where I didn’t want the fabric pieces to move.

5. Finally, dry the fabric flat, removing as many wrinkles as you can, you can use a hot steam iron on this fabric once it’s dry with no issues.

Exploring Embroidery with our yarns

People often think of knitting or crochet when it comes to our yarns, but we have a vast array of yarns for dyeing which can be used for a lot of other purposes, the crux really though is what yarns are most suitable for each purpose?

We get asked often which of our yarns would be suitable for embroidery, so I’ve tried and tested a few which I think would work the best for different applications, I will do a second blog post when I’ve tried a few more.

To start simply, probably the most easily recommended is our Cotton lace, this yarn is NOT mercerized unlike a lot of other embroidery threads, this gives the embroidery a really natural matt look, it’s my go-to for Sashiko Embroidery. It is a 2ply, but if you split the plies like a normal embroidery thread I don’t think it holds enough strength without the twist, so I would personally use it as it is. But it has a lovely stitch definition and holds up well to stitching with a long length and ripping out when you make a mistake.

Sashiko Stitching into our Merino superwash fabric using the cotton Lace 49047

Second up I wanted to try some yarns which were a little less common for embroidery. I really love the sheen of our Merino Tencel lace, its a 2ply construction and with a loose twist which makes it really nice for splitting the stitches. The yarn held up well to stitching, however, I used a long length, and eventually, the Tencel did start to fluff a little although it has a lovely soft effect and a delicate sheen from the Tencel.

I was winging this bit of embroidery and was trying a combination of single and double thread to fill in the leaves, so that’s why it’s a little inconsistent. (double works better for filling in with this yarn by the way, but single works nicely for an outline. We recommend Aci dyes for this yarn.

Embroidered Snow drop using Bright Lace 49013 on our Merino Fabric

One yarn I absolutely adore is the Camel silk lace, it has a nice tight twist, but I was worried the camel would fuzz up too much, but actually, this yarn worked a treat, and there is a gentle halo, which I would use to my advantage for something that maybe needs a little texture. The yarn held up really well and it’s a little like liquid caramel in its own right. I will be using this again. This yarn is easy to dye as well with Acid dyes.

Camel Silk Lace 49029 used in its natural colour embroidered into hand dyed Linen.

On the theme of silk, our pure silk lace works so beautifully for embroidery, it is a little thicker, but the texture is divine, plus the colours and sheen achievable on this yarn are unrivaled. This yarn can by dyed with acid and Procion dyes. Note the flowers on this embroidery are made in silk, the leaves are made in our cotton lace.

Pure Silk Lace 49043

Finally I’m previewing a yarn which hasn’t arrived yet, but I have great hopes for, particularly for sashiko. Its called Cupro and its a fibre made from the waste from cotton spinning, and its SMOOTH. I love it. It’s due in a few months, but I can’t wait. In the meantime.. here are my experiments, ignore my slightly wonky attempts on this one, I was winging it.

Honey comb on Linen using cupro 4ply

Supporting communities in the Highlands

The mill we work with support local communities in numerous ways. Some of these involve supporting smaller satellite businesses down to providing scholarships for education. For example, our mini skeins are produced at a small women owned company giving employment to women in the surrounding area. Our hand spun yarns are from women in the Highlands to supplement their income, and helps to support their families.

The mill also have a school called the Mirasol school. The school is in a remote area of the highlands, and it took us about 7 hours to get there in a 4x4, it was an incredible journey to say the least because of the terrain and altitude differences, the landscape is absolutely beautiful. The school is approximately 4500m above sea level and we all found this took a bit of adjustment for the first day or so. There is a special coco leaf tea which helps with the high altitudes which we were encouraged to drink as frequently as possible. It’s a strange feeling to walk even for just a little bit and for your muscles to get tired really quickly and get puffed out, but these are the joys of high altitudes, the longer we were there the more we adjusted.

Because of the sheer enormity and vastness of the highlands, people mainly live in small communities which are spread out. To access school, children often have to walk hours to school in all weathers. The Mirasol school now has 47 children from ages of 5 - 14, the children are selected from families in the surrounding area who would benefit from going to the school, it makes sense to make it a boarding school because some of the children live so remotely that travelling in everyday isn’t easy. This gives them more time to study.

The children prepared some performances of local dances and songs for us.

The school is a boarding school Monday to Friday and provides the children with an education far superior than they would get normally. This is often the first time the children have used flushing toilets, and often pressure their parents to get them at home once they are used to them. Even simple things like cleaning their teeth for the first time. The school is an incredible place, it's not fancy, but the kids absolutely love it. The parents contribute a very small fee, this just encourages them to engage in the education process without it being a financial burden for them. The parents take it in turns to come and help do the washing and cleaning again encouraging them to invest in the school.

We are really proud to sponsor the education of 5 children a year, and also provide extra funding for things they might need. That means that you as our customers are making this happen, the school is a very special place and the education they receive has incredible impact on these children’s lives, giving them better opportunities for the future. The children work hard at their studies, have ample play time, help to cook, and take responsibility for cleaning their spaces.

The warmth and energy of the children was a pleasure to be around. Thankyou for everyone at the school for making us feel so welcome, we will be back!.

Making Yarn

The fibre story so far, the fibres have been washed, dried, carded into sliver and then into rovings, these are then spun into a thick loosely twisted pencil roving ready for spinning:

Ok, I love this next video, when we talk about air splices in the yarn this is what we mean. When the yarn breaks the machine grabs the end (I think it actually sucks it to find the end on the cone) and then pulls it down, pulls the other end up and puffs the air through both ends together to join them. I think sometimes people get quite upset about splices, and of course lots of them are not acceptable, but actually, they are part and parcel of the natural process, and the wastage that would occur if this didn't happen would be sacrilege, as the ends are plied together the splices get incorporated into the yarn and most are not noticeable.

Fleece processing

Shearing takes place once a year and fleeces collected, these go to be sorted. The fibre arrives in sacks ready for unpacking and sorting.

The sorting is a highly skilled job, the fleeces are sorted for their natural colour (around 22 natural for alpaca) and micron (how fine it is), this is generally done by women because they are considered to have a better ability to distinguish the micron than men. This picture below shows the fleeces being sorted into different microns, sometimes with just 1 micron difference!

Below, the fleeces are being sorted into colour, these sometimes then get blended to make other natural colours, or are used on their own.

This is naturally black alpaca, we blend this down with cream alpaca to get our naturally grey Angel yarn.

Once the fleeces have been sorted, they get washed, as you can imagine, they are pretty dusty and dirty. They get popped into what is sort of like a very big gentle washing machine:

The fleece then gets air dried.

Now it’s dry, it needs to be opened up ready for coming into sliver and tops, this is done by putting it through a roller which teases the fleece apart.

Now the fibres need to be aligned, this starts with making a sliver as below:

The sliver then gets made into tops, and the resulting noils (short pieces) come out the bottom, these get used for mattresses, bedding and futons, nothing gets wasted.

The fibre goes from tops into pencil roving, the thickness of the pencil roving depends on how thick the yarn is going to be made, so the thinner the yarn, the thinner the pencil roving.

Our story with our Mill in Peru

There are many places in the world to spin yarn, different mills spin different types of fibres and yarns, and normally specialise in something particular which makes them good at what they do, South African mills for example are known for their mohair spinning, Peru for their alpaca, Italy for their cashmere and Britain specialised in carpet spinning.

People often ask why we don’t spin in the UK, and there are a whole host of reasons, but I think the number one reason we choose our mill in Peru is because of the strong bonds we have with them.

For us relationships are the key to everything. We started working with our main mill over 60 years ago when they first started exporting alpaca around the world. Andy’s family were wool merchants and bought and sold fibres all over the world, some of these fibres were brought into the port of Liverpool which at the time was one of the main ports in the UK, the photo below shows the original stencils used for the containers and boxes used all those years ago!

Relationships are important when you are creating and making products, and in our case actually so many different products, trust and quality comes before pretty much everything else. We want to work with people who share our values, and for us this is our mill, and this is why we support and work with them as much as we can, more of this later in further blog posts.

I wanted to share with you a bit more about our processes how our yarns are made, and more insight into where the fibres come from to give you a richer context about our products, and the care and attention that goes into them.

Lets start with the fibre. Depending where you live in and your experience of farming life, people have wildly different ideas about what goes into farming. South America is a vast place with alot of different landscapes, some suitable for farming animals. The highlands of Peru have had Alpacas/camelids and sheep farmed on them for thousands of years, Alpacas are well adapted to the high altitudes and contrasts in temperature. It’s a vast and hard environment and the animals rely on being farmed in herds. They tend to be smaller herds, anything from 2 to 40, there are some larger farms but even then the majority will be broken down into smaller flocks with herders, as this works better for the animals and always have a watchful eye on them. The herders are often women, who wander out with the animals on a daily basis often for a considerable distance to make sure the animals get good grazing and water.

Herders often walk, use horses or motorbikes, depending on the terrain. Many of the herders spin and knit as they guide their animals.

The animals get to roam freely, eat the food available all around them, and are protected and kept an eye on by their herders

The animals get sheared, often by their herders, and the fleeces are sold to people who collect them all up from all over the mountains, and these are then sold on to the mill. It happens this way because the landscapes are so vast, and would be impossible for the herders to take their fleeces to one place, or for the mill to collect them all. Fleeces command good prices, which is as it should be for the work that goes into them.

Eco bamboo yarns

I get asked a lot about the fibres we use, I love these questions because it makes me work harder at finding out about where things come from, and how things are sourced. I frequently get asked about bamboo. Bamboo is generally touted to be an eco fibre, which to be honest makes me a little uncomfortable. Yes, it's sustainable and grows quickly, but when it comes to processing, well, this is where I take issue with the eco stance. The processing of most of the bamboo you find in clothes and yarn is actually 'viscose bamboo' and takes a fair amount of chemical processing using the viscose process, to put it bluntly, what you put in is not what you are getting out. It got me thinking, was there any way of using the fibres that have been a little less processed? i.e the fibre we think of as bamboo in its rawer state. 
I asked our fibre guys about using raw bamboo, and everyone eye-rolled and said, no, it's not a nice fibre, it's coarse , like linen, etc. I eye-rolled back and said, please can I have a sample. Eventually, they gave in to my badgering, and send me what was actually a nice bunch of fibre, I could see the potential, and we had samples made.

The raw bamboo is marginally coarser than processed bamboo, however, once blended into the yarn, it's negligible, and makes a really lovely yarn. it's virtually impossible to tell our old and new bamboo yarns apart. 

We are always looking to improve everything that goes into our yarns, and this although a small step, it's important to keep making improvements, lots of small steps lead to big impacts over time. We hope you will love the new yarns, We are replacing our current bamboo blends with the new eco bamboo,  and also have a bamboo merino silk blend to add to the mix. I can't wait to see what you think of them :)

Our new merino bamboo blend is 49107N (N for natural bamboo). 80% Merino, 20% bamboo  (exactly the same as the old bamboo, just with the natural bamboo in it).
We have a new 65% SW merino, 20% bamboo and 15% silk blend 49186N with the natural bamboo, 400m per 100g.

Jeni

Platinum & Titanium, whats the difference?

One of the most common questions we get asked is whats the difference between Platinum and Titanium sock yarn. Firstly lets start with the obvious similarities, they are both 75% Superwash merino, 25% Nylon, and both have 425m per 100g skein.

The fundamental difference with these two yarns is the number of Plies, this effects the look of the yarn and the resulting knitting:

As you can see in the picture above there is an obvious textural difference between the two yarns, which is  a result of the number of plies they are made from, and the twist of these plies in each yarn.

Platinum has 4 plies, so if you slightly untwist the yarn, you will see that the yarn is made up of 4 strands, where as Titanium is made up of 2 ends. This makes Platinum smoother, and Titanium more bumpy or textured (as the more plies in a yarn, the less obvious they become).

The difference in texture does slightly alter the way the yarn takes the dye and the resultant look, in this test I found that the speckles have more prominence on the Titanium than the Platinum because they tended to stay on one of the fatter plies of the Titanium, but obviously spanned more plies of the Platinum giving slightly less prominence, but ofcourse it completely depends on the dyes, temps and how you are speckling. Its not that Titanium is necessarily better for speckling, but  you can use the fat plies to your advantage for this technique.

So how do they look different when they are knitted up? Actually I was suprised at the different in the swatches, please ignore my rubbish swatching but here we go:

Combinations of knits and purls is where you notice the difference most in these yarns. Again, the smoothness of the platinum creates a much smoother swatch, and gives a smoother stitch definition, where as Titanium gives a bounce to the fabric, both swatches were knitted on 2.5mm needles, but the Titanium gives a wonderful plump fabric, and Platinum a smoother one.

Its not easy to see here, but the stitch definition on the left with the Platinum is smoother, and more textured with the Titanium on the right.

Again, the Titanium creates more pronounced stitches,  but the Platinum produces a flatter smoother fabric, and slightly 'clearer' stitches.

So to sum up, the difference is one of construction, which can effect the way the yarns look when dyed, and when knitted create different fabrics, I absolutely love both yarns, I would use both for socks, but I think I would err on the side of platinum for a sock thats cabled or has lace in it, where as for something I wanted to show off colours and speckles I would err on the side of Titanium.  For sweaters, both would be awesome, but I suspect the platinum may block out slightly more than the titanium, making it slightly better for sweaters which require larger than 2.5mm needles (3mm upwards).

Tips for dyeing stellina yarns.

One of the most common questions we receive is about how to treat stellina when dyeing. Stellina is used in our sparkle bases, and we sometimes get questions with respect to the dulling of the sparkle which some dyers  occasionally experience when they dye it, in addition the sparkle can taking on the colour of the dye. We have worked with this fibre for years, and these are tips for dyeing sparkle yarns succesfully.

How to keep the sparkle in your yarn sparkly!

Contrary to popular belief, stellina is not actually metal, its a type of metallic toned nylon. Sometimes with excess acid when dyeing, the acid basically degrades the surface of the nylon and takes away the metallic tone, this can make the sparkle seem to have disappeared, it hasn't, it's still there, but just blends in with the other fibres, but it's no longer sparkly.

Basically there are three rules of thumb that affects the sparkle:

1. The longer the sparkle is in contact with acid, the more likely the stellina is to dull. 
2. The higher acid concentration you are using the more likely the stellina is to dull. 
3. Anecdotally citric acid causes more dulling than vinegar.

High acid (especially citric acid) + a long time in contact with the acid the more likely you are to get dull sparkle!

• Acid levels: Reduce the amount of acid you are using when dyeing these particular yarns. Lots of dyers have found that vinegar is less abrasive than citric acid. My own experience of dyeing this yarn holds with this theory in that I have dyed an enormous amount of stellina (always using vinegar), and never had a problem with the sparkle dulling. However after much research and testing, I'm convinced its more down to the acid concentration levels rather than which acid is used, so don't worry if you have a preference for citric acid.

How much acid you use is obviously a personal preference, I am not a specific dyer, and don't use exact amounts, it's more of a table spoon here and a glug of vinegar there, but to give you an idea about how much I would use with a sparkle yarn its as follows: 

For one Jam jar/ 1.5cups of dye with one teaspoon of dye:

Vinegar: approximately 1 Tablespoon of vinegar. 

Citric acid: approximately 2 teaspoons.  

If I was adding the acid into a kettle I would probably use about 1/4 cup of vinegar and 2 table spoons of citric acid.

If you use significantly more acid than this, and are worried about reducing the acid levels that much, I would suggest starting at the amount I have suggested and working upwards, keep increasing until you get a satisfactory dye uptake vs your sparkly staying sparkly (you don't need to use a whole skein each time, take a few feet and test it). 

High heat is going to be your friend if you are decreasing your acid level, and I say this because sometimes when I'm helping people with this issue, especially with low immersion dyeing, it inevitably comes out that peoples dyeing temperatures are really not very high, (below 80C / 176F and this means it can take hours for the dyes to set, this will be exacerbated if less acid is being used than normal as well so finding a way to increase your temperatures to make the process more efficient is something to consider, using lids on your pans to maintain internal pan temps or even a final steaming of the yarns can help once the initial dye is in the yarn etc.

• Reducing the time the yarn is in contact with the acid: Instead of adding acid to your yarn pre -soak, add your acid directly to your dye solution, or dye bath. If you pre-soak your yarn before you dye with it, just soak your sparkle yarn in plain water (no need to add any scouring agents). Consider increasing your heating temps to make the exhaustion time quicker, (one reason I like to steam set yarns is because it sets quicker than the microwave or oven, for me anyway.)
• Sparkle taking on colour of the dye: Sometimes the sparkle takes on the colours of the dyes being used, especially with saturated and dark colours. Because the stellina is nylon, it can sometimes absorb some dye, although not quite at the same rate as wool. I personally quite like this effect, but to stop this from happening, add the yarn into a cold dye bath and then bring it up to temperature this will stop the stellina taking up the dye colour.

I hope this is helpful! If you have any other tips or comments please feel free to leave them in the comments section.

Jeni

We are of to visit our mill and we want to share our journey with you

If you don't already follow us on Instagram or facebook, this is a great time to do so, we are off to our Mill in Peru, because we want to show you how our yarn is made and sourced. This means we will be posting regularly on our trip to give you the inside scoop. Use the #cwcbehindthescenes to follow us. See you in Peru.

Shibori stitched throw using the Superwash merino Fabric

This is one of those projects that might go on for some time, it has a life of its own, I love it, it will be cherished once its finished.

To start the dyeing of, I didn't just want a simple indigo and cream throw, I wanted it to have some depth, so I decided the first colour layer on this fabric would be yellow. I also wanted to create distinct circles, so I started with some jam had lids clamped on the folded fabric using some cheap plastic clamps normally used for wood working, these hold things super tight, so work perfectly:

Next up I dyed the first layer yellow, the fabric takes the colour better on the outside:

This was then dyed again in Navy acid dye.

The Fabric is then unclamped, where the Jam jar lids were clamped to the fabric the fabric remained undyed.

Next up I wanted to apply some other textures across the circles, so I wrapped the fabric around a drain pipe and wrapped lots of string around it, where the string ties the fabric the dye doesn't penetrate and so you get some lovely wavy textures:

Pop the fabric into the dye bath, and then turn it over every so often in the dye.

The resulting fabric is now ready to embroider

Shibori using pebbles on our new Superwash Merino Fabric

To demonstrate various ways to use our new fabric, I tested one of my favourite techniques for use on fabric - Shibori dyeing.

The first attempt was tying little pebbles into the fabric before I dyed them:

Wrap cotton around the pebbles to secure them in the fabric.

I popped this into navy acid dye in my bain Marie, and left it for about 20 minutes, note the cotton doesn't take the dye, which is why I used cotton thread instead of wool. Once the fabric is dry, unwrap the pebbles from the fabric.

Superwash Merino Fabric - Brand new!

I love dyeing things, anything really, and for the past few years have become interested in dyeing fabric, and like a lot dyers I have more experience with using acid dyes than I do using cotton dyes. I do have a go with procion, and natural dyes on cottons, but I just know my way around acid dyes a lot better. Which got me thinking, I searched around for wool fabrics and there are lots of them, but no superwash merino ones, not that I could get hold of anyway, so.... after much badgering of Andy we ran some trials and had a go at making some. Fabric that could easily be printed on (like peeps do with the Sock blanks) or tie dyed, or using techniques such as Shibori, or even marbled, which totally works! Basically if you can think of a use for acid dyes you can probably do it on the fabric. I loved the trials so much we got the fabric made.... and its exclusive to us, it's awesome and its here!

Its made of 100% Superwash merino and comes in 5m x 1.4m lengths, the weight per 100 square meter is approximately 160g.

The fabric has a lovely drape, it's quite a heavy fabric, can be used for making clothes, but also great for homeware. Because this fabric is Superwash merino making it slipery, it also means it will fray at the edges, this can be rectified by either hemming, using a securing stitch, or because I'm lazy, I used Fray stop, super easy and perfect for small pieces of fabric when I made trousers with it.

There will be so many uses for this fabric, your mind really is your only limit, you can dye it to match your yarns, you can dye it to match your favourite colour scheme, you can print it, draw on it, speckle it, and even stitch on it, as the weave is very even.... you name it, its super easy to do. 

It will make wonderful throws, baby slings, cushions, dresses, bags, anything your imagination can conjure up!

I have run a few simple examples of what I have used it for to give you some ideas:

A simple Shibori attempt using a Jam lids and a clamp, tutorial to follow.

Trousers made from the fabric.

Email Chesterwool@btinternet.com for info and pricing info.

Sample it!

It's that time again, yes, this week we're giving you all the chance to buy our yarns at just over the wholesale price in minimums of 500g, but just for this week, giving you a chance to sample the delights in small quantities.  

It's the perfect chance to try our new bases, such as our brand new Yak Merino Silk Singles 4ply, so why not experiment with something new?  

Bronze Sparkle Sock (Type 49158)

Our entire range sectioned into 500g packs will go live here on the Bluefaced.com Special Offers page at 6pm BST on Sunday 23rd October and will be available in these smaller packs at the special price for one week only!  

Happy Dyeing!

Jeni

Stunning new Yak Merino Silk Singles 4ply

Yes, it's new yarn time and our latest base is a keeper.  I certainly want to keep all of it, but apparently, I'm not allowed!  

Meet the soft buttery gorgeousness that is Yak Merino Silk Singles 4ply:  

We know how much you love our grey Yak bases for the way they create depth of colour when overdyed and we also know how many of you love single ply yarns, so we decided to combine the two to make an awesome new yarn!  

Obviously we had to try it out as soon as it arrived!  

It works really well in shades of semi solid yellow, so don't be afraid to try paler colours!  

We tried a complex tonal variegated too and found it almost gives an iridescent effect where the dyes have layered up, so you could create some real showstoppers with this.  

Available in 120g skeins (480m per skein), this is the perfect yarn for shawls and will have a gorgeous drape when knitted up.  Jeni has already claimed the yellow skein!  

We can't wait to see what you do with it!  

Pitti 2016

Pitti Filati is the main European textile trade show which happens twice a year in January and June. manufacturers gather with their new collections of yarns and fabrics, and next years trends and colours are outlined.  There are always themes that seem to pop out and these do appear on the high street in the following year.

The displays were themed around '24 hours in Knit' showing how knitwear can be part of any activity in the day, from wearing your dressing gown first thing in the morning, to walking the dog, playing sport or doing yoga, hanging out with your children, and for workwear, basically how you could work it into an outfit for every activity (pics below)!  

As this quote from the colour predictions booklet says: 

““H24 will explore applications of various fibers through 24 ‘moments’, 24 colours, 24 atmospheres, 24 sensations and 24 physical states that need a different garment for every hour of the day and night. It is a way of getting to know ourselves better, to respect ourselves and to reap the maximum benefits from what we wear: twenty-four hours in knit.””

The themes which jumped out at me in terms of knitted fabrics were plaids in knits, rather than woven plaids, almost Fair Isle plaids (yes, these fabrics are actually knitted rarter than woven): 

Tweeds were also present, as were subtle sparkle (for a similar look, you could try one of our yarns with Stellina such as Angel Sparkle (49036), Sparkle Lace (49025), Sparkle Sock (49041) or Sparkle DK (49216) which all give a subtle sparkle without overpowering a finished piece) and beads:

Finally textures were all about printing onto knit fabrics, embroidery on knit fabrics, and creating really interesting textures by creating sheer fabrics with patterns and textures underneath, and idea that has great potential for hand knits:

The colour predictions for Autumn/Winter 2017/18 work around the same theme of 24 colours for 24 hours (one for each hour of the day from dawn at the top of the shade card to night at the bottom): 

I'm really looking forward to seeing how everyone interprets these trends over the next two years!  

New Andean hand spun yarns!!

Our newest yarns have just arrived and this time we have something quite different from our other ranges, two beautiful hand spun yarns! 

Meet Marshmallow Hand Spun: 

...and Spira Hand Spun:

Spira Hand Spun Mid Grey

Spira Hand Spun Fawn

Spira Hand Spun White

We are really excited about these two new yarns, hand spun in the highland communities of Puno, the main Alpaca producing region of Peru. 

The women living in communities of Alpaca shepherds have a long history of traditional textile skills going back generations including hand spinning, which the program helps to preserve.  

Combining their skills with modern yarn designs has created these beautiful hand spun yarns which are not only wonderful to dye and knit with but also provide these small highland communities with more trade, enabling them to maintain their way of life as it has been for generations.  By supporting this program we are helping to keep their skills alive and also the mountain villages themselves, where sheep and alpaca have been farmed for centuries, keeping families together by giving them the opportunity to earn money without having to move away from rural areas.  

So, I guess you'd like to know a bit more about the yarns? 

Marshmallow Hand Spun is a beautifully soft single ply super chunky yarn spun from 100% super fine alpaca, with approx. 40m per 100g skein, this yarn is lovely and squishy, perfect for cosy accessories!  We can't stop petting this skein, it's so soft!  

Spira Hand Spun is a single ply yarn with a wonderful texture, a little thinner than Marshmallow Hand Spun, with 50m per 100g skein.  A mix of super fine alpaca and Peruvian Highland wool, this yarn has a very subtle variations in colour when dyed thanks to the way the two types of fibre take up the dye differently.  We've got in three lovely shades for you to choose from in this yarn too!  Two of the shades use white wool together with a different natural shade of alpaca fibre, and the third uses natural white:

Three gorgeous natural shades in our new Spira Hand Spun

Clockwise from top: Mid grey, white and fawn

We were so excited to see how these yarn dyed up and we've not been disappointed! 

Here's how they dyed up!  

Clockwise from top left: Mid grey, fawn, white

We particularly love the way the mid grey yarn dyes, it would be absolutely stunning dyed with jewel colours like teal, sapphire blue, purple or ruby (too many ideas and not enough time!).  Grey yarns give a wonderful depth of colour when dyed, so don't be scared of trying them.