Tag: The Fibre Co

This week I’ve been wondering around with a square of knitting folded over the armpit of my bra.  This is not something I plan to mention at dinner parties.

The Armpit Test is the most reliable measure I have to assess the Luma yarn, sent to me by The Fibre Company, for prickliness and wear.  Lets get the prickle factor out of the way first.  I completely forgot about this swatch.  For me this yarn had no prickle factor at all. If you are sensitive this is a yarn to consider.

The swatch only really started to show signs of wear after it had been worn for three days.  The stitches started to get that flat look, common on cotton knitwear in high friction areas.  And it was only in a very small area that saw a lot of movement.  In a garment with positive ease, I think this yarn would wear well.  If you were planning to use it for something more figure hugging, you will see signs of wear after a few days.  I have put the swatch back in the wash to see if the yarn is returned to it’s former glory, and will show that in my round up on the next podcast.

There was one pill.  Frankly, I think that’s reasonable.

If you are looking for yarns with good ethical credentials,  The Fibre Company wear their heart on their sleeve.  I’ve seen some websites for yarn companies where they use all the right language, but don’t follow through with facts.  I really enjoyed the stories on The Fibre Company Blog, where I could make my own value judgement about their ethics.  Luma retails on the pricey side at £9.60 for 50g.  I would be spending £70 to £100 for a garment.  I thought it was a good quality yarn. It held it’s shape, seemed to wear well, was a pleasure to knit with, and came in a nice range of colours.  This is an investment yarn for enjoyable knitting, and a beautifully functional garment.

If you saw my post on Monday, you may have been wondering how that beautiful Luma yarn from The Fibre Company knitted up.

Luma is a blend of wood, cotton, linen, and silk.  Cotton, linen, and silk are notorious for having no elasticity at all; however the 50% wool content means that there is enough elasticity for a pleasant knitting experience.  The finished swatch isn’t as springy as some I’ve knitted, but the fabric does pop back into shape after you tug at it.  Luma is a 2 ply yarn, and they have given the fibre just enough twist so that it isn’t splitty, but doesn’t feel like rope either.

I knitted my swatch on 3.75 mm needles, and ended up with a gauge of 22.5 stitches and 31 rows over 10 cm.  Then the swatch had a bath in cool water, and a popular wool wash; and laid flat to dry. It came out with a gauge of 21 stitches and 33 rows over 10 cm.  The fabric feels rather nice.  It’s not has heavy as some yarns with cotton, it has a nice drape, and the silk content gives the yarn a slight lustre.  It’s made a lovely smooth fabric, with a very low prickle factor.

The hanging test was the bit that really interested me.  Have you owned, or worse still knitted, a cotton jersey that lost all its shape on its first outing?  I hung the Luma swatch for 24 hours with a little bit of weight attached to the bottom, and am pleased to report no change to the gauge at all.  The strength of the linen and silk really held everything in shape.

The swatch is currently undergoing the Armpit Test.  Pop back on Friday to hear the results.

The lovely folk at The Fibre Co. got in touch with me to ask if I would like to review one of their yarns.  That’s a bit like asking a small child if they would like a large handful of sweets, right?  I’ve been contemplating a new warm weather jersey, so I was intrigued to test drive the sample of their new Luma yarn when it arrived.  They’ve also sent a skein for you to try out.  Keep an eye out for my next podcast episode to find out how to win that.

For now I’m going to leave you with the vital statistics for Luma.  I’ll let you know how it gets through a test drive as the week progresses.

Yarn weight DK; Skein weight 50 g; Fibre content 50% wool, 25% cotton, 15% linen, 10% silk; Length 125 m; Tension 21 – 23 stitches over 10 cm; Recommended needle 3.75 – 4 mm; Made in Peru.