Uist Wool Slubbing Cakes

Select shade

  • Small
  • Medium
  • Large

Price range: £8.00 through £14.00

Quantity
1
SKU: N/A Category:

Product Details

Fibre:
100% Scottish islands wool

Description

There are a series of processes that the sheep's fleece is taken through before it gets twisted into yarn. Carding is the part where it gets combed into an unspun stranded product that begins to show the qualities of the fibre. Knitters have discovered that this pre-spun 'slubbing' can be used for a whole range of creative activities including hand-spinning, felting, knitting and crochet. So the spinners at the Uist mill, now regularly set aside a small number of slubbing cakes before the rest of the wool gets turned into yarn. We're thrilled to say that we now have a batch of these slubbing cakes here in Clapton. As they are made from ends of batches, they come in a random assortment of sizes in the undyed natural shades of the sheep fleece.

 

The twist-free construction of this yarn makes it spectacularly airy and gives it an astonishingly long length-to-weight ratio. One medium cake is likely to be plenty for a beanie, and the large will get you a decent length scarf. You can take a fairly versatile approach to stitch gauge. The yarn will tolerate anything from DK to light chunky (14-22 stitches). In contrast to the fragility of the yarn, the fabric it knits into is hard-wearing, soft and incredibly warm.The Uist slubbing cakes will happily substitute for Nutiden and provide a softer alternative to Alafoss Plötolopi.We recommend a lightness of touch as you knit with the slubbing cakes on account of the fragility of the unspun thread. Breaks in the yarn are easily repaired by felting ends together with rapid rubbing in moistened hands. That said, the need to handle the wool carefully means that slubbing is probably not an appropriate choice for new and beginner knitters.You can read more about knitting with unspun yarn here.