We’re thoroughly delighted to introduce you to yet another amazing fibre from fabulous French yarnmakers Fonty! Joining its siblings Cocache and Tartan 6 in our Alexandria store, meet your new favorite yarn for Fall, machine washable Fonty Super Tweed!
This lofty woolen-spun 2-ply yarn is made three colors at a time at Fonty’s 145-year mill, one of the last remaining wool factories in France. As the Fonty team describes it:
To make this yarn, an initial blend of 95% wool and 5% mohair is first prepared. A portion of this blend is dyed in a selected color. Three blends are then made in three different proportions using unbleached wool from the initial blend. This process yields three heathered, cohesive, and subtly shaded blends, ready for carding.
Blending is essential for preparing the wool fibres before they pass through the carding machines. Using numerous machines with sometimes ominous names (“cage,” “beater,” “wolf,” “cyclone,” etc.), they are opened, aerated, turned inside out, stirred, and stretched to increase their volume. Simultaneously, 100% wool “buttons” are dyed in a dozen different colors, and a multicolored button blend is created.
During the carding of the three heathered blends, the multicolored buttons are randomly distributed across the carding cloths. The carding machine transforms the raw fibres into a uniform sheet of wool. The carding machine consists of numerous components, the main ones being many rollers covered with small, sharp metal teeth that brush the fibers, each fulfilling a specific function.
This process is demanding, difficult, and requires very strict discipline to control the risk of contamination of the spinning lines with the colored fibres. But it offers a tremendous qualitative and aesthetic advantage: the final color is deep, rich, and luminous, with a subtle heathered effect, like a stormy sky on a masterpiece painting. The result is 100% natural fibre yarns that are heathered, tweedy, subtly shaded, and cohesive, while minimizing the impact of dyeing.
An all-natural tweed yarn that comes in a gorgeous color range and is machine washable? All we can say is, “Superbe!“.
Yarn Details
- Aran weight
- 95% fine wool, 5% mohair
- 120 yards (110 meters) per 50-gram ball
- US #7-8 (4.5-5mm) needles or I/9-K/10.5 (5.5-6.5mm) crochet hook
- 17 stitches & 25 rows = 4″
- Machine wash gentle, no spin, dry flat
- $12.50, available in-store only
Pattern Picks
Yoko
Sizes
12-18 months, 2/3 years, 4/5 years, 6/7 years, 8/9 years; finished circumference 19.5, 22.75, 26, 29, 32.25″.
Yarn
3, 3, 4, 4, 5 balls Fonty Super Tweed (95% fine wool, 5% mohair; 120 yd/110 m per 50g ball).
Gauge & Suggested Needles
17 stitches & 25 rows = 4” on US#7 (4.5 mm) needles, in stockinette stitch worked in the round after wet blocking.
Schemer Slipover
Sizes
1 (2, 3, 4, 5) [6, 7, 8, 9]; finished circumference 32, 35.5, 39.75, 44, 47.75, 52, 55.5, 59.75, 63.5″.
Yarn
4 (5, 5, 5, 5) [6, 6, 6, 6] balls Fonty Super Tweed (95% fine wool, 5% mohair; 120 yd/110 m per 50g ball).
Gauge & Suggested Needles
18 stitches & 27 rows = 4” on US#7 (4.5 mm) needles, in stockinette stitch worked in the round after wet blocking.
Little Tiyuan
Sizes
6 mths, 12 mths, 2 yrs, 4 yrs, 6 yrs, 8 yrs, 10 yrs, 12 yrs; finished circumference 24¾, 26¼, 28, 29½, 31, 32½, 35, 38¼”.
Yarn
3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7 balls Fonty Super Tweed (95% fine wool, 5% mohair; 120 yd/110 m per 50g ball).
Gauge & Suggested Needles
18 stitches & 24 rows = 4” on US#7 (4.5 mm) needles, in stockinette stitch after wet blocking.
Cabin Slippers
Sizes
kids s [kids m, kids l, xs, s, m] (l, xl, xxl, xxxl); to fit US shoe sizes 13.5C–1Y [1.5Y–2Y, 2.5Y–4Y, W6-6.5, W7-8, W8.5–9.5] (M9.5–10, M10.5–11.5, M12–13, M14–15).
Yarn
2 [2, 2, 3, 3, 3] (3, 3, 3, 3) balls Fonty Super Tweed (95% fine wool, 5% mohair; 120 yd/110 m per 50g ball).
Gauge & Suggested Needles
14 stitches & 42 rows = 4” on US#6 (4 mm) needles, in brioche stitch in the round after wet blocking.
Justin’s Flannel
Sizes
A (B, C, D, E) F, G, H, I; finished circumference 36.5, 41, 44.5, 49, 52.5, 56, 60.5, 65, 68.5″.
Yarn
10 (10, 11, 12, 13) 14, 15, 17, 18 balls Fonty Super Tweed (95% fine wool, 5% mohair; 120 yd/110 m per 50g ball).
Gauge & Suggested Needles
18 stitches & 27 rows = 4” on US#7 (4.5 mm) needles, in stockinette stitch worked in the round after wet blocking.
