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White Gum Wool yarns are made from 17-micron superfine merino wool.
This is the calibre of wool used in the finest of Italian men’s suiting, and gives an amazing softness and handle to the yarn.
Little Tree
This 5 ply yarn blends superfine 17-micron merino with 30% tussah silk for a soft, buttery feel, subtle heathering, and excellent stitch definition. In a durable twist-on-twist construction, it comes in a sophisticated ash grey with green undertones, adding understated depth and elegance to every project.
About Rebecca Robinson
Rebecca Robinson of Augustbird is an Australian yarn dyer based in the Adelaide Hills. Rebecca encourages knitters to find a slower pace so they can better navigate the hustle and bustle of modern life. Her calm and joyful yarn colourways have been delighting knitters and crocheters since 2012. Rebecca has worked closely with Nan Bray over the years and she has designed 5 colourways for the White Gum Wool yarn range. You can find Rebecca’s hand-dyed yarn and gentle offerings at augustbird.com.au.
About the Yarn
The silk and merino blend is 30% tussah silk, which has a golden hue, and 70% WGW merino. The variable uptake of dye between the silk and merino fibres results in a subtle heathery look to the yarn.
Our silk merino 4 ply yarn, also called Fingering, is the yarn we sell as sock yarn.
We are transitioning from our original worsted spin style to one called ‘twist-on-twist’, where a fine single thread is plied twice: once in pairs, and then two or more of the pairs are plied together. This reduces pilling by hiding the pesky cross-fibres that stick out and roll up as pills inside the second ‘twist’. It also improves the wear of knitted items like socks.
About pilling: like so many things in life, superfine yarn has its trade-offs — the very thing that makes it lovely and soft next to your skin also gives it more tendency to pill than a yarn made from a harsher, broader micron. It also felts beautifully, when you want it to (and even when you don't!). The simplest solution to pilling is to use a high quality fabric shaver to remove the pills as they appear. The Classic 50 fabric shaver is highly recommended by a number of experienced knitters who use White Gum Wool. To prevent inadvertent felting, follow the care guidelines.
With regard to sock wear, we initially created our 4 ply silk merino yarn to replace the original WGW 10% nylon-reinforced sock yarn, wanting to get away from using synthetics with our beautifully soft superfine merino. We hoped the high tensile strength of the silk, along with its resistance to felting, would make a good substitute. We also expected the twist-on-twist construction to increase the yarn’s ability to withstand wear. After a couple of years of experience using this yarn as a sock yarn we can report that it is not quite as sturdy as our original nylon-reinforced sock yarn (now out of stock), but certainly wears better than the straight merino 4 ply.
70% MERINO/30% SILK 4 PLY (FINGERING)
METRIC UNITS: 100g: 472m.
Tension: 28 st/36 rows for 10 x 10cm square on 3.25mm needles.
US/UK Units: 3.5oz: 516yd.
Tension: 28 st/36 rows for 4 x 4 inch square on US 3 or UK 10 needles.
CARE: Hand wash cold, dry flat, medium iron, dry cleanable.
