Downland Worsted 100g

Introducing Downland, a brand new, limited edition worsted-weight yarn, spun specially for Laine des Iles by the Natural Fibre Company in Cornwall.  Downland is a beautiful, woollen-spun blend of Southdown wool and British alpaca.  It is a full, round and springy 3-fold yarn, which makes it extra-bouncy and means it doesn’t split easily.  It knits up very evenly and is fabulous for textured stitches and cables.  The small quantity of alpaca comes from fawn-coloured alpacas, which when blended with the Southdown wool gives the finished undyed yarn a rich, creamy colour and the knitted fabric of the colour Écru a very faintly mottled effect from the mixing of the fawn and white fleeces.

The Southdown wool used in this blend comes from the world-famous Goodwood Estate, in West Sussex, England.  The Goodwood Estate is home to one of the biggest and oldest fully organic farms in Europe and its Southdown flock is considered to be the finest example of the breed.  The small quantity of alpaca comes from a small, local breeder near Plymouth in Devon, and the yarn has been dyed using GOTS-certified dyes.  So although the yarn itself does not have an organic certification that we can display on the label, it is in fact 100% organic and fully traceable through all stages of production, from the animal to the finished product.

This yarn is available in a small palette of 6 retro colours.  A note about 2 of these colours:  it had been our wish to have the colour Terre Rouge (clair) plus a much darker red, however due to a misunderstanding on the part of the dyer, we have instead received 2 very similar shades, one lighter and one a little darker.  Consequently our palette is more restricted than we would have liked, but they are still beautiful colours and we hope that you will still find something that you will like.

For more information about the Southdown breed and the Goodwood Estate, read our associated blog post.

Country of origin: United Kingdom

Fibre: 80% Southdown / 20% British Alpaca

Type: Worsted

Weight: 100gm

Length: 205m

Tension: 18-20sts & 24-26r = 10cm

Needle size: 4.5 - 5mm

Care: Handwash only