FAQ's Yarn

FAQ's Hand Dyed Yarn

Will naturally dyed yarns fade?

No natural dye is 100% resistant to fading (the same is also true of some synthetic dyes) Under normal use, care and wear any fading would only be visible over a long period of time. I think this only adds to the charm of natural dye as the colours become softer. Faded natural dye is just as beautiful as its original colour and is one of the reasons the natural dye process is so rewarding. However, if you store our yarn, fibre or fabric in a sunny, south facing window or under a high-intensity lamp then we cannot guarantee the colours will remain true.

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Are naturally dyed yarns safe? What chemicals are used the process?

All dye extracts are natural Logwood, Lac, Cutch, Organic Indigo etc. I use alum, which is a nontoxic water-soluble metallic salt that has many different uses in day-to-day life, cream of tartar, or baking powder as mordants (colour fixing to yarn or fabric) and modifiers (colour changer or colour shifter). I do not use heavy metals.

Is your yarn 100% natural?

Our yarns are 100% natural fibre, Wool, Alpaca, Mohair, Linen, Silk and they are either Welsh or UK yarns sourced from local farms or smallholdings local to us in Pembrokeshire or British wool from a British spinning mill. Some yarns can’t be sourced locally, Merino and Blue Faced Leicester for example, we outsource this supply from a spinning mill in England. All our yarn are UK yarns, predominately from UK fleece.

Will the colour bleed?

Our yarn and fabric are washed and rinsed thoroughly after dyeing to remove any excess dye so that none of our products should bleed dye. If there is a small amount of colour bleed, as it can with acid dyed commercial yarn, this will not affect the colour, it is excess dye stuff not absorbed in the hand dying process. If you do have any problems with excessive colour bleed, then please email.

What is the best way to care for my yarn?

It is recommended that all yarns be hand washed with a pH neutral detergent in cool water with least agitation. Natural dye can be pH sensitive which means due to the acidity or alkalinity in some normal detergents the yarn colour would be modified or changed. This is also why you should never rinse naturally dyed yarn or fabric with vinegar, mistakenly believed as a way of fixing colour as this would also bring about a colour change. As with all natural fibres do not tumble dry any of our yarn unless you really want them to felt. Once knitted our yarns are best dried flat to maintain the shape of the garment.

Are there imperfections in skeins?

There may be, this is a handmade product. There could be a subtle variegation of colour this is due to the hand dyed process. I do not knot the yarns and I hand skein each skein of yarn. If I came across a lot of knots or spliced yarns that skein would not be available on the website. However, there may be an occasional knot in a skein of yarn, this would be from the original spinning process.

I want to knit a large project; can I get enough yarn to complete?

I dye the yarns in small numbers, ranging from two to five skeins in one dye bath. The number of skeins available on the yarn page is the number included in that dye bath. If you want a larger quantity for one project you could email, the yarn could be dyed in one bath.

Is the yarn information correct?

Skein weights and meter/yard measurements are approx. In most cases the skeins have more but a few may be a gram under. The yarn weight information Aran, DK, 4 Ply etc have been provided by the supplier of the yarns.

What about mordants? Aren’t those toxic?

Natural dye mordants are mineral salts or tannic acid whose purpose is to chemically bind the natural dye to the fabric. Some of these substances such as copper and chrome are toxic and not recommended – ever. We do not use these mordants, nor do we support their use in textile dyeing. We only use the safest mordants and auxiliaries including alum, cream of tartar, iron water and tannins.