Ancient Arts Nettle Soft DK

Nettle Soft DK - 68% SW Fine Merino / 32% Nettle
240 meters / 263 yards per 100 gram / 3.5 oz skein
Gauge: 21 - 24 sts / 4 inches (10 cm) US 5 - 7 or 3.75 - 4.5 mm

Nettle Soft DK is a unique and eco-friendly blend of Fine Merino and nettle fibre, which results in a yarn that will give your garments beautiful drape, lustre, and stitch definition. Fine Merino is one of the most popular wools for a good yarn because it creates a soft, lofty yarn with plenty of bounce and character and feels wonderful next to the skin.

Nettle is a very eco-conscious and sustainable plant fibre that comes from the Common Stinging Nettle plant family. It consists of long white fibres that are found deep inside the stem, and they are extracted from the nettle plant in the same way that linen is extracted from the flax plant. However, unlike flax or cotton, nettle does not require the use of herbicides or pesticides, and it requires much less water to grow and is a perennial. It has been used by people for millennia to make yarn, and historically we find it in everything from Viking ship sails to fine woven textiles. It is lustrous, soft, wrinkle resistant (wrinkles will hang out), and is fabulous for warm weather knits because it is breathable. Thanks to it’s hollow fibres it is also temperature regulating so you can wear it year round! Nettle is also anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-viral, plus it adds strength to a yarn and helps preserve the shaping of garments.

In this yarn the nettle does not take up dye and this results in a lovely soft heathering effect, providing a silk-like sheen to the yarn. This wonderful yarn is as close as you can get to an all-purpose yarn and will give you many years of enjoyment!