Organic linen yarn

Linen DW fabric

Dear Weavers

In this blog I would like to introduce the new organic linen yarn NeL 16/2. Yes, I finally managed to put this new yarn online with all its glory, all colour pictures and description. Putting a new yarn into my online shop is always very time consuming. I do everything myself, which is my own choice to do so, not complaining. It really never made sense to me to have a website and not being able to service it myself. So everything on there had to be manoeuvrable by me. I had to learn how to do it and being able to change it when necessary... And I am sure it takes me three times as long as when a website designer does it. Hey I can do it... but I really don't want to bore you with all the website details. 

The new organic linen NeL 16/2 is a beautiful yarn. It is of course a 100% linen yarn made out of organically certified grown flax. The yarn has an amazing shine, wrong...  it glows. I love the colours there are available, bright and happy. But the best got to be the smell. Ahhh for me it smells of summer hayfields and sunshine. (Warning: Please don't smell it if you have an allergic reaction to hay). The linen yarn is a very strong yarn and can be used for many things. Actually its tensile strength is even higher when woven in humid weather. Like now. We just experienced another rain period over the last couple of days and the linen yarn loves that. When the yarn is able to suck up the humidity, it is more flexible and not as stiff. The linen yarn is not just used for weaving, there are so many applications. It can be used for stitching, tatting, embroidery and even bookbinding. 

 Costrel

An amazing example of what the linen yarn can be used for would be this costrel made by Wayne Robinson. Wayne is reproducing all sorts of medieval and Anglo-Saxon leather works. For more information on his work go to  https://leatherworkingreverend.wordpress.com/

The linen yarn can also be quite temperamental and sometimes be declared as stiff and not cooperating. I remember in my early weaving years, I beamed a linen warp very neatly on the warp beam only to discover next day, that the whole warp has unravelled itself. Well, I always keep saying, linen is special and has its own character. Treat it as such and you won't be too surprised when it does not want to behave. But what you can achieve with linen is always worth the trouble. A linen product is very unique and special with its shine and long-lasting quality. 

When weaving linen and there is dry weather, it is advisable to have a water spray next to you. Spray it directly onto the warp and you will even notice how the thread pulls itself together. Once moist, it seems to be handled much better. Whenever you use water, just be careful not to spray towards the reed. Most reeds rust and cleaning them is not fun.

The new organic linen from Venne comes in cute 100g cones. Even though this linen is certified organic it has a great price of $15.90 natural and $16.90 bleached and coloured. 

There is still some of the old linen 16/2 yarn from Borgs Vavgarner available. You will find this yarn in the On Sale section on the website and it is 20% off. The colours still available are Lavender, Magenta, Basil, Orange, Hickory, Shamrock and Ultramarine. Press on the photo below to get straight to the page.

 Old linen orange, magenta, lavenderOld linen basil, olive, hickory

It has been cold in our neck of the woods. We had the coldest ever day with a top of 11 degrees! Our wood fire heater was on all day long. A couple of days ago it was only 5 degrees in the morning, Oh my was that cold. Thank goodness for the sun, which brings some warmth back during the day. Look, I know it can get much colder than that in some parts of Australia. But not in Queensland. We are definitely not used to such cold weather up here. Anyway, the wattle and casuarina trees seem to like the colder weather and have started to flower. The gold and green from the wattle trees is spread all over our property. The casuarina tree or she oak looks a bit like an autumn coloured tree. But if you look closer it has an extended needle with some reddish pedals on it. Isn't nature just extraordinary?  

WattleCasuarinaCasuarina close

That is it from me. Stay safe and be good. Looking forward to hear from you.

Happy weaving

Ursula



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