Peregrine finally reveals itself.
I tell you in this article about the three years process needed to obtain a local and ethical yarn.
Peregrine, the birth of an ethical and local yarn
Three years ago, after several contacts in the world of wool to be able to create a yarn, I crossed the path of the Filière Laine belge and its coordinator at the time Ygaëlle Dupriez.
The possibility of creating a local yarn with sheep from the East of France quickly came up.
But it was a total unknown. This type of fleece had not been combed for at least 50 years.
In Europe, the know-how around the wool and yarn process has fallen into oblivion or is maintained painfully by a few convinced people and a few craftsmen.
Nowadays, sheep fleeces are shorn and then sold to big traders who send them to Asia to be washed.
These fleeces are neither sorted nor selected according to the breed.
We thus lose all traceability, all that makes the specificity of certain wool breeds, the fleeces are mixed together and sold in Europe in the form of products of low quality and at low prices.
Working with the Filière Laine has allowed us to establish a privileged contact with sheep breeders, here breeders of Est A Laine Merino, it has allowed us to highlight their work and let them know the qualities of this sheep breed.
L’Est A Laine Merino is a sheep that is specifically bred in Eastern France and is a cross between a local Germanic sheep and Spanish merino sheep. This sheep is particularly resistant to bad weather and walking. This breed is mainly used for butchery today.
Unfortunately, one of the major reasons why this sheep was selected has been forgotten: a sheep producing a fine, abundant, long and resistant wool.
Knowing the peculiarity of this breed, knowing also the fact that the wool from Est A Laine merino was, more than 50 years ago, better quoted in the wool trade markets, we launched ourselves into the adventure.
Peregrine was born.
Peregrine is a fingering yarn; therefore it can be knitted with needles from 2.5 to 4 mm depending on the expected result.
It is a 4 ply yarn to give it strength and combed to obtain a clean, round yarn that is suitable for accessories as well as for children’s or adult’s clothing. It is not treated superwash to keep its authenticity.
The fleeces were selected and sorted at two French breeders in Moselle and Haut Rhin. They were then sent to Verviers in Belgium, the cradle of the Belgian wool industry, for washing.
Once this step was done, the wool was sent back to the North of France in the cradle of the French textile industry to be transformed into combed tops.
It was then sent to Switzerland to be transformed into yarn. And finally it went back to Belgium to be dyed in the tapestry workshops of Tournai.
Each step was a roll of the dice, not knowing what the yarn looked like after washing, after combing and after spinning.
The gamble paid off, I think.
Peregrine is available in seven colors carefully chosen to satisfy knitters and crocheters: one natural color, three pastel colors and three bright colors that are complementary to each other.
The colors have been worked to be as solid as possible without any variation.
While working with these colors, we were surprised to find that the rendering was very close to the rendering of the colors on Blue Faced Leceister. The rendering gave muted colors with a touch of light depending on the exposure. These colors give the yarn a certain timeless sobriety while being original and elegant.
By creating this yarn, we hope that it will raise awareness about the importance of wool. Wool is a noble, healthy, biodegradable and renewable material. It has its place in today’s world in search of ecological awareness and respect for nature.
Peregrine is on sale here : Shop (availabe at 8PM 25/5) and in a few days, I will share with you two new designs created with Peregrine.
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See you soon,
Christelle
