Notes from the Yarnie 

We strive to treat cotton with the same love and affection that most dyers give only to animal fibers. We shoot for high intensity and adult colors in our cotton. Sure, we carry pastels for those who love pastels, but we want to provide more sophisticated deep colors for people who love hand dyed color but prefer (or must have) cotton.

We call this yarn Biella in honor of the City of Yarn in which most of our yarn is produced. It is a chunky weight cotton twist with a large "strand" of combed cotton fiber surrounded by a single cotton thread binder. The binder and cotton roving dye together beautifully. 

Each hank had 100g at the beginning of the process. After scouring out the natural waxes from the cotton and the grease from the spinning process, the hank weighs approximately 95g and has approximately 112 yards, making it comparable to several commercially available cottons and making it easy to find great patterns to work with! Each hank is finished with an eco-friendly softener that gives it a soft hand.

These hand dyed cotton yarns are the product of a collaboration between Yarns of Italy and its dyeing branch, Piemont Fibers. We had the yarn custom made for us in Italy for dyeing, and Wendi from Piemont Fibers spent a week with Kim working with commercial cotton dyes. After significant research, we were able to piece together a dyeing method that would be safe for the lake environment in which we were working. At the end of a week of dyeing, there was no salt or unsafe chemicals to dispose of. In fact, the entire dyeing process used zero salt. We also did the dyeing outdoors during hot summer weather so that we could use the natural heat of the environment rather than a power-driven source.

We modified the Low Water Immersion (LWI) method of fabric dyeing to a method that would be suitable for yarn. The hallmarks of LWI dyeing are fantastic color graduation and unpredictable results. Removing each dyelot from the bath was very exciting even when we had a good idea what to expect. 

Although these yarns are listed within their own dyelots, please expect variation between hanks. To control for major differences when using several skeins of the same dyelot, please consider alternating rows from two skeins on your project.This should minimize color differences and give you a more balanced project. While you’re unlikely to find different colors on different skeins from the same dyelot, it is likely that one skein will be darker or lighter than the next. Knitting with this yarn will provide a lot of excitement even in simple stockinette or single crochet.

These are garment quality cotton yarns. While they would make beautiful dishcloths and towels, these are a significant step up in quality from “kitchen cotton.” They would make beautiful garments for anyone from a baby to an adult. They would also make gorgeous blankets, tote bags, or accessories.

These yarns are machine washable and dryable. As with any cotton yarns or cotton garments, you want to avoid hot water and hot drying to combat shrinking. With cold water wash and a low tumble dry, the colors are permanent and you should see minimal (if any) shrinkage.These yarns have been washed no fewer than two times and rinsed at least ten times. They are clean, safe, and ready to use.