We are so excited to be the sole importer of this gorgeous yarn. Eco-Cotton is wonderfully soft, smooth and can be worn against your skin. It's perfect as an organic cotton yarn for baby knitting or for summer garments. So versatile, it is perfect for knitting or crochet. The yarn has a gentle sheen and comes in solid, semi-solid and variegated colourways. The colour, depth and tone is exceptional. Non-splitting and a joy to hook or knit, it slides through your fingers beautifully. Great drape but not saggy, it will hold its shape well without being stiff.
Expertly hand-dyed by Nurturing Fibres in South Africa. The cotton is grown locally, hand-dyed using borehole water heated by solar power to ensure the least amount of impact on the environment. The water used is then pH balanced and used to irrigate olive trees and the staff vegetable garden.
Carle was conscious when she started the company that, if not properly managed, her passion for dyeing yarn could have an environmental impact and believes that by careful planning she has made a difference. She designed her dyehouse to run with the lowest possible environmental impact and the greatest possible socio-economic benefit to her very small local community.
Using Renewable Energy resources:
Solar power is used to heat the water for dyeing and the temperature is only topped up if necessary. In the dye house, the water is gravity fed instead of being pumped. Yarns are dried naturally either in the sunshine or over their Aga Stove. All the skeining and balling is done manually.
Job creation:
It takes a whole day for one dye batch to be balled, up to 14 dyelots a day [70kgs] can be dyed, this means that 14 jobs can be created just in the balling department. Xhosa people from the local farms are employed in the dye house.
Water is precious:
The water used to soak the skeins in preparation for dyeing is recycled and used to irrigate the staff Vegetable Garden. All other water used in the dyeing process is ph balanced and then used to irrigate the 120 Olive trees. The washing of equipment and the yarn is done with Borehole water. As this water is sourced on the farm, it has a much lower environmental impact compared to other water sources.
The cotton is locally grown and spun.
All the dyes are Oeko-Teko approved as they do not contain any restricted substances listed on the Oeko-Tex Standard 100 list
100% organic cotton
DK - 50g gives 125 metres
Needle size: 3.5 - 4mm
Tension: 22 Stitches & 30 rows = 10cm
Dry flat.
