Beowoolf: Yarns Around the World

by : Jimmy Beans Wool

It's third period, JBWU students, which means it is time for a social studies lesson. Here at Jimmy Beans Wool, we sell yarn from over 100 manufacturers, companies big and small. That's a lot of yarn, and it comes from a lot of places! Today, our lesson is on just that: where does the yarn come from? What makes it different from place to place?

Lots of yarn suppliers are very open about their yarn's origins. To list a few, we stock yarns that uses fibers from China (Cascade), South Africa (Madelinetosh), Italy (Berroco), New Zealand (Love Fest Fibers), Turkey (Universal Yarns), Uruguay (Manos del Uruguay, of course), Peru (Malabrigo), the United States (Lorna's Laces), and the UK (Rowan)! And that's just the beginning! 

Suppliers get their yarns and fibers from all over the world, so while one Berroco yarn might be produced in Italy, another could be from Peru or Turkey. You can find this info right on our site: 


But what is the difference between yarn from Turkey and yarn from China? Or South Africa? Or Peru? 

It starts with the fiber. Last week we learned about fiber types: protein, plant and synthetic fibers. Today we'll focus on wool, which is just one of the types of protein fibers - others include alpaca, mohair, angora, silk, and cashmere, to name a few. Alpacas usually live in South America, mohair often comes from the Middle East, and lots of silk and angora is from Asia! While all wool comes from sheep, the kind of sheep and the place they live determines the quality of the wool yarn they produce. Not all breeds of sheep can live in all climates. All wool is measured by its staple, which is like a lock of hair. Staples are graded based on the length and fineness of the fibers.

     
Merino Sheep
Photo: Wikimedia
Far and away the most popular sheep's wool fiber is, of course, merino wool! The breed can live all over the world, with much of today's merino wool growing in Australia. Merino wool is so valuable because the staples are extremely fine. This makes the wool less itchy on the skin than thicker fibers, and means it is easier to spin yarn into threads at varying gauges. The breed has been managed so closely for so long that they no longer naturally shed their wool. Remember Shrek the Sheep? He was a merino that ran away and lived in a cave in New Zealand for six years. When they found him, they sheared 60 pounds of wool off him! 

Faroe Sheep
Photo: Arne List

Other breeds of sheep are not quite so wide-spread as the merino. A famous example is the Faroese sheep, which live exclusively in the tiny Faroe Islands in the Atlantic Ocean between the UK and Iceland. These sheep are really small - at full grown, they weigh around 45 pounds, which is just about the size of an adult Border Collie! By comparison a full grown merino sheep is normally well over 100 pounds. These sheep are adapted to live in the cold North Atlantic, and don't do well in other climates.

 Faroe sheep's wool is a longer staple and slightly thicker than the merino sheep, making their yarns sturdier but also itchier than merino. Sweaters made in the traditional Faroe style (think fair isle yoked colorwork!) are very warm and hold up for years. Faroese sheep also produce lots of lanolin, so traditionally processed wool in the Faroe islands works up to be water-resistant because of this. For the Faroe people, that quality is really important to have on the cold Atlantic waters!

Wensleydale Sheep
Photo: Wool Initiative

One of the rarer breeds of sheep is the fabulous Wensleydale. These sheep are among the tallest of all domesticated sheep, and they grow to be a massive 250 pounds! Their fleece grows in long tight curls, making for glamorous photo ops and awesome attitude. It is some of the shiniest - called lustre - wool available. Seriously, if you are bored, search up some Wensleydale sheep photos -- they are amazing and hilarious.

Wensleydale sheep are native to the UK, and are most often found in Yorkshire, though there is a growing population in the USA. This breed of sheep is actually rare and at risk for disappearing! Paradoxically, the best way to help the breed survive is to eat more lamb and wear more wool -- these big sheep are bred for dual purpose, so if there is more demand, then more sheep will be bred!


Sheep are hugely important to lots of peoples and cultures around the world -- us included! Do you use wool in your crafting? What is your favorite fiber? Would you like to learn more about other fiber origins? Let us know in the comments!
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Crocheter in the Dye: Chemistry and Yarn Dyeing

by : Jimmy Beans Wool

Hello crocheters and knitters! So you passed your first quiz, did you? I hope you studied hard and tucked away some facts about the history of knitting; you never know when you'll need to know something! Great work, my friends. Now it's time to move on to your second lesson: chemistry.

 Chemistry?? What does chemistry have to do with yarn? Believe it or not, chemical reactions are behind one of the most important considerations you'll make when you start out any sort of project: color.

 We know that, broadly, yarns can be put in three categories: protein fiber (like wool and other animal-sourced fibers), plant fiber, and synthetic fiber. But did you know that each of these fibers have to be dyed differently? All protein fibers, like wool and silk, are colored with acid dye. Acid dye uses a combination of hot water and a mild acid like white vinegar to set color in the fiber. Plant fibers are dyed with fiber reactive dye, which bonds with cellulose to create the color you want. It needs to be heated in lukewarm water to work. Synthetic fibers are trickier - these include acrylic, nylon, and polyester yarns, and use varying kinds of composite dye. 

 Nylon, rayon, and other synthetic fibers are made through especially cool chemical reactions. Check out this video to see how chemists create nylon in the lab!

On an industrial scale, this same reaction is created at very high temperatures to make liquid nylon. At this stage, they can add the dye to the entire batch, and then cool and stretch the polymer into yarn or thread. 

Machine dyeing is also very common, and guarantees consistent colors across large dye lots. Larger companies such as Berroco, Rowan, and Shibui all use machine dyeing for many of their products. Machine dyeing with composite dyes is also common for synthetic fiber yarns. Here's one way that works:
In a nutshell, the hanks are lined up on big rollers to keep the yarn moving, and rinsed, then bleached in hot water. At this point, the hanks can be moved to the dye chamber, where different parts of the yarn can be dyed separately. Each color needs to be dyed for a set amount of time and then rinsed before moving on to the next color, so this process can take a lot of time for variegated yarns! After all the dyeing and rinsing, the hanks are placed in a large extractor, which spins the yarns at high speed until they're dry and ready to be packaged.

We love machine-dyed yarns, because the color is so consistent, but we also love the subtle changes in hand-dyed hanks too! Many of the yarns we stock here at Jimmy Beans Wool are hand-dyed in small batches. Madelinetosh is one dyer who does this, and this week some of their yarns are on sale! The manufacturers also have awesome Instagram accounts where they share their dyeing process and their colors. Below, Madtosh is using onion skins to create a natural acid dye. 




Jimmy (aka Laura) took a trip to visit Madelinetosh and learned to dye yarns with the experts. Here she is dyeing two different (and original!) colorways of Tosh Merino Light!
Laura Zander holds up an undyed hank of yarn.Laura Zander holding one teal and one purple hank of yarn.

 Got the dyeing bug? You can buy plain yarn and start dyeing at home. Check out these great articles on acid dye and fiber reactive dye from Dharma Trading Co to get started, or take a look at this book all about dyeing your yarns. 
Cover of Dyeing to Spin & Knit by Felicia Lo

Looking for undyed yarns? Our powerful search tool lets you shop for yarns by dye method, so you can find kettle dyed, hand painted, machine dyed, and many others at the click of a button. 

Have you ever dyed your own yarn? How did it turn out? What kind of chemistry did you use to dye it? Let us know in the comments!
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Brave New Purled: A Jimmy Beans History Lesson

by : Jimmy Beans Wool
JBW University Lesson 1: History

 Welcome, knit and crochet students far and wide, to your first summer school lesson here at Jimmy Beans Wool University! You were accepted into this program because you have a passion for fiber crafts, and the skills to bring that passion to life -- but there is always more to learn. And so we begin with one of the most serious and most often-neglected topics: HISTORY.

 Specifically, the history of knitting.

 Micro-specifically, the history of men in knitting. Since Father's Day is this week (Sunday the 16th!), you can come to your Dad's cookout prepared with some cool facts to entice him to learn to knit, too.

 There is a stereotype today of knitting as a woman's craft, but it certainly hasn't always been that way. The oldest knitted item that has been found is an Egyptian Sock from about 300 AD, which uses a complex one-needle technique called nålbindning. All the dyes are natural and plant-based, and the yarn is wool! Just like many of the yarns we still use today. Knitted garments were in high demand, and so the booming textile industry in ancient times was supported by male knitters.
Two-toed, striped Egyptian sock. Image courtesy of the British Museum.
Two-toed, striped Egyptian sock. Image courtesy of the British Museum.

What we now call knitting -- using two needles and one thread to create a fabric -- likely started well before recorded history. By the 15th century, European knitting guilds were established exclusively for men to begin to regulate the business of knitted garments. Teen boys would leave their homes to become apprentice knitters in the guild, and wouldn't be classified as masters of their trade until they could produce an entire knitted carpet in under two months!
18th-century knitted carpet. Image courtesy of the Victoria & Albert Museum.
18th-century knitted carpet. Image courtesy of the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Of course, during this time, from about the 1600's on, we also have lots of mentions of Aran, Gansey, and other fishermen's sweaters in the British Isles, Scandinavia, and the Nordic countries. In the Faroe Islands, men and women would collaborate on really elaborate garments using their famously hardy wool. Gansey or Guernsey sweaters originated in the Channel Islands between Britain and France and were designed to be sturdy and long-lasting. These sweaters were knitted by and for both men and women. This is just one example of practical knitworks: men and boys would also knit themselves socks, stockings, and other hardy garments while herding sheep or fishing.

So, hand-knitting skills were both practical and profitable to have for most of human history! Just like any other trade, having these really marketable skills made knitting a way for men to move up in social class or status. That all changed when the knitting machine was invented in 1589. Though it took another century to really take off, the birth of widespread machine-knitting totally undercut the work of the knitting guilds, and so the hand-knit industry sort of died off. Men took their time and skills to other trades, which left it to women to pick up the slack in household knitting, and that's how we got our modern stereotype of knitting as a woman's craft.
Berroco Vintage Beagle SweaterRowan Valley Tweed Bristlecone MittsRowan Brushed Fleece Stour Men's Cardigan 


What do you think of this knitting history? Do you know men who knit, or who would like to? Sound off in the comments! Or, browse our site for some patterns that might appeal to the men in your life, here.
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