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  • Home
  • Linen Yarn Shop
  • About Linen
  • Blog
  • Info
    • Our yarns
    • WASHING INSTRUCTIONS
    • Free patterns for linen yarn >
      • Dandelion Linen Washcloth
      • Colour gradient linen scarf
    • Knitting with 100% linen
    • Delivery, payment and returns
    • Contact us
    • Privacy Policy
  • PATTERNS
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Natural and hand-dyed linen yarn

linen yarn
Flax growing in the coastal region of Normandy
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The best quality linen comes from the long stems of the flax plants which are grown in the fields of Western Europe, in the coastal regions between Normandy in France and Amsterdam in Holland.
This is where our linen fibre originated, before being spun into yarn, and then hand-dyed in the UK, using non-toxic, low impact dyes.
We currently produce 2 weights of linen yarn: 4-ply sport weight and DK, which can be used for various crafts, including hand-knitting, crochet, weaving, needlework, beading, knotting and macramé, braiding.
Our 100% linen yarn is strong and smooth with a beautiful natural sheen.

linen hand-dyed yarn

Linen has numerous natural qualities

All these qualities make linen ideal for warm weather knits, but why limit it to spring and summer garments? 
With such benefits, it can be used all year round.

Linen:
  • organic, coming from the flax plant
  • eco-friendly, renewable resource
  • antibacterial, anti-fungal
  • hypoallergenic
  • hygroscopic i.e. absorbs moisture, remains cool
  • thermo-regulating: warm in winter, cool in summer
  • stain resistant
  • very strong fibre, much stronger than cotton
  • natural exfoliant
  • moth resistant
  • resistant to abrasion and not prone to pilling
  • durable, so an excellent investment
  • anti-static
  • has high air permeability
  • does not shrink or stretch if treated properly
  • bio-degradable
  • environmentally friendly: no irrigation is needed and hardly any chemicals are used 
  • resistant to the effects of UV 

From flax to yarn..... a truly eco-friendly fibre.

Here are some reasons why linen is a truly eco-friendly fibre:
  • The whole flax plant can be used, leaving no waste.
  • Flax grows naturally and requires no irrigation and grows with little, if any, help from potentially dangerous chemicals
  • Because it’s a natural fibre, flax linen is recyclable and biodegrade.
  • Flax is gentle on the land and is easy to incorporate into modern crop rotation cycles, preventing soil depletion.
  • Very little energy is required to process flax. The production process is mainly mechanical (see below)
  • Linen yarn is inherently strong, which reduces the need for starching during spinning and weaving.
  • Flax linen is many times stronger than cotton, which means clothing and upholstery made from linen are made to last, rather than end up in landfill. - See more at: http://worldlinen.com/eco-friendly/#sthash.fjLKVAJF.dpuf

Linen production process

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Linen is made from the fibre of the flax plant. It is a bast fibre which means it is collected from the inner bark, or bast surrounding the stem of the plant. Flax fibres vary in length from about 25 to 150 mm (1 to 6 inches) and average 12-16 micrometres in diameter.

The flax growing cycle is brief, with only 100 days between sowing in March and harvesting in July. The plant flowers very briefly, dotting the fields with blossoms of violet, blue and white. Each flax plant blooms for one day only.

The production process is a lengthy, labour-intensive one, and quite complicated. It is carried out by purely mechanical means or by hand.
This explains why linen is a more expensive fibre, more expensive than other fibres, like cotton for example.

Different stages of the production process

​Harvesting - Flax must be treated carefully, so to preserve the full potential of each plant, flax is never mowed but must be uprooted. Until the second half of the 20th century, this was painstakingly done by hand. Today, it is done mechanically.
​Retting and Turning - The woody core and pectin which binds the fibres together must be allowed to naturally decompose in the process known as retting. The preferred method requires the intervention of nature as the flax is spread out in the fields and exposed to rain, dew and sunshine for several weeks.
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​Scutching (stripping) and Hackling (combing) - During these mechanical processes the fibres are separated from the outer layer (shive), and then graded into the short fibres (tow fibres) which is used for coarser yarns, or the longer fibres (line fibres) which will be used to create the finest linen yarn.
Spinning - Drafting and carding draw out the long or short fibres into sinuous "ribbons" which are then plied together on spinning looms in various weights and thicknesses. The fine long fibres are  "wet spun" to impart a smoother, shiny appearance. The shorter tow fibres are usually "dry spun" yielding a less regular and coarser yarn.

 The yarns that we supply are the longer fibres which have been wet spun, giving a strong, smooth yarn with a natural lustre.

If you are looking for a little inspiration for what you could make with linen, feel free to visit our  Pattern section in the menu, or check out our Pinterest "Ideas for linen yarn" page.

Follow eco-stitch's board Knitting with Linen yarn on Pinterest.

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