Beyond the Dyes: Nurtured (Part III)

While our logo says “Julie Asselin – Hand-dyed yarns”, color is not our only passion.

We’re also passionate about fiber and yarn, which is why we helped design most of the yarn lines that we carry. ‘Beyond the Dyes’ is about sharing the process that led to each of those yarns, from concept on to delivery.

Finally, now that I’ve said so much about the process leading to Nurtured, let me tell you about the result!

Nurtured is a mix of American-bred Merino, Targhee & Rambouillet – the wool came from sheep who grazed in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin, something we’re exceedingly proud of!   

The yarn is a light worsted, 3-ply, woolen spun, a process different from worsted spun – it makes a lighter and fluffier yarn, with more air trapped it in, which means it’s also more insulating than a worsted spun yarn.

Visually, a woolen spun yarn is not only fluffier, it has even more of a handmade look, in part because the fibers are not all looking in the same direction after carding – they’re carded into a “web” instead of being combed in a single direction.

If you wish to read more on the difference between worsted and woolen spun, I found this article very clear. (Thank you lovely folks of Mason-Dixon Knitting for making such a great post on the subject!)

This may be why we often call such yarn “rustic” looking, which doesn’t seem quite adequate to me, but I’m still looking for the appropriate word! Organic maybe?

I already mentioned how dying was different with Nurtured, because we dyed the fleece and not the yarn.

For that reason, but also because Nurtured is SO different from our other yarn lines (woollen spun and different sheep wool!), we created whole new colorways instead of trying to reproduce our existing colors.

Nurtured needed its palette and colors that would make the wool shine!

Why did we call it Nurtured? Nurtured calls to mind images of the earth, of something that has been taken good care of, yet has grown organically, naturally. It suggests life, love, patience, and care. We felt it was the perfect name for a yarn made as locally as possible, from sheep to skein, dyed by us in small batches, spun in a mill, Green Mountain Spinnery, that is close to us.