Know the fibre before the yarn
48 fibre sheets — where it comes from, how to recognise it, what it is good for, and its physical facts with their source. The engine consumes yarn only through your swatch; here is the story.
Translated from Italian. A native knitter has not reviewed this translation yet.
Animal
Alpaca
Alpaca
Very warm, soft and with a luminous halo, but heavy and with little memory: lovely for shawls and garments that fall elegantly, best avoide…
Angora rabbit
Angora (rabbit)
The hollow hair of the Angora rabbit: incredibly soft, very warm and light, with a cloud-like halo no other fibre can give. In return it sh…
Bluefaced Leicester sheep
BFL Wool (Bluefaced)
A lustrous, hard-wearing English wool, springy and pleasant to knit. An excellent all-rounder: it combines the backbone of a longwool with …
Camel
Camel
The luxurious warmth of the steppes: a very fine, very light undercoat in a warm natural caramel colour. It is far warmer than its weight s…
Cashmere goat
Cashmere
Soft luxury by definition: warm, light and enveloping, with a creamy handle out of proportion to its weight. It is a comfort garment to tre…
Sheep
Classic / Rustic Wool
Honest wool without frills: springy, sturdy and warm, a little lively on the skin. It has the character of its breed and holds up very well…
Llama
Llama
The sturdy cousin of alpaca: warm, soft and light, with a fluid, rich drape. It has little elastic memory, so it tends to stretch: it is at…
Merino sheep
Merino Wool
Wool par excellence: springy, warm, resilient and soft enough not to prickle. It is the easiest choice for starting to knit, because it for…
Angora goat
Mohair (Angora goat)
Extremely light and wrapped in a soft, airy halo that fills the garment with air. It shines like silk and is very warm, but the long hair c…
Musk ox
Qiviut (musk ox)
The Arctic fibre above all others: the undercoat of the musk ox, among the warmest and lightest there are. Very rare and precious, it does …
Silkworm
Silk
The fibre of lustre and drape: cool, strong and sumptuous, it slides and falls like no other. It has no elasticity and does not spring back…
Merino sheep
Superwash Wool (Treated)
The easy everyday wool: machine washable, soft and even, with no risk of felting. The other side of the coin is that it tends to grow and l…
Wild silk moth
Tussah Silk (Raw/Wild Silk)
The rustic, wild silk: less slippery and less glossy than classic silk, but with a warm golden sheen and more body. It has no elasticity at…
Vicuña
Vicuña / Guanaco
The rarest and most precious fibre in the world: very warm, light and so soft it feels like a caress. A luxury to save for exceptional comf…
Yak
Yak
The warmth of cashmere with a character that is both rustic and noble. It comes from the soft undercoat of the high-altitude yak, has deep …
Plant
Abacá
Abaca / Manila hemp
The hard fibre par excellence: stiff, tough and almost legendarily resistant to water. It is not a yarn for garments but the material that …
Banana plant
Banana fibre
A lustrous plant fibre close to silk, with a fine sheen and a cool handle. It has very little elasticity: it brings lustre and lightness to…
Coconut palm
Coir (coconut)
The stiffest, roughest fibre in the plant kingdom, taken from the husk of the coconut. It was not born to clothe but to endure: it is pure …
Cotton
Cotton
Cool, breathable and surprisingly hard-wearing, cotton is the classic of the in-between seasons. It has no elasticity and is heavy when wet…
Hemp
Hemp
Very strong and cool, it starts out stiff and almost woody but softens with every wash. It is the toughest plant fibre: perfect for structu…
Jute
Jute
The rustic, raw fibre of sacking and bags: cheap, strong and full of body, but rough on the skin. It is made for objects that have to stand…
Kapok tree
Kapok
One of the lightest fibres there is: hollow, barely there and full of air, slippery like silk but very short and fragile. On its own it can…
Flax
Linen
Cool, with a lovely dry drape and a stiffness that creases with character: it is the summer fibre above all others. Don't expect stretch, b…
Lotus
Lotus (Lotus Silk)
The rarest and most precious of the plant fibres used in knitting: cool and light like linen but noticeably softer, with a dry, breathable …
Nettle
Nettle
The rustic cousin of linen: a cool, tough and surprisingly smooth plant fibre that comes from the stem of the nettle. Not very elastic but …
Paper mulberry
Paper (Washi)
The most unexpected fibre in knitting: a ribbon of Japanese paper twisted into yarn, extremely light and crisp. It has no elasticity, and p…
Pineapple
Pineapple (Piña)
Very fine, lustrous and translucent, obtained from pineapple leaves: a precious, ceremonial fibre, light as a veil but extremely delicate. …
Ramie
Ramie (China grass)
A glossier, brighter cousin of linen: cool, very light and remarkably strong, with an almost silky sheen. It has little stretch and is some…
Sisal agave
Sisal / Agave
The hard fibre par excellence: stiff, tough and structural, it does not spring back and is not meant for the body. You choose it when an ob…
Man-made
Wood
Acetate
The artificial silk with an elegant drape: it is born from cellulose but behaves like a melt fibre, lustrous and fluid. Not very elastic an…
Cotton seed
Cupro / Bemberg (cotton linter)
Vegetable silk: a regenerated cellulose filament made from cotton residues, silky, cool and smooth-running. It has no elasticity at all and…
Eucalyptus
Lyocell / Tencel
Cellulose reborn the clean way: soft, lustrous and with a fluid fall, it is the most eco-friendly version of viscose. It has little elastic…
Beech
Modal (from beech)
The refined version of viscose: very soft, fluid and with a lovely understated sheen, very cool on the skin. It has little elastic memory a…
Brown seaweed
Seaweed (Seacell)
A lyocell enriched with brown seaweed: soft, cool and with a fluid drape that falls straight. It has little stretch and almost no memory, s…
Wood
Viscose / Rayon
The fibre that pours like a liquid: lustrous, cool and very fluid, it takes colour brilliantly and drapes beautifully. In exchange it has n…
Synthetic
Crude oil
Acrylic
The synthetic that imitates wool: cheap, brightly coloured and easy to wash, it is the workhorse of carefree projects. It asks little in re…
Crude oil
Aramid (Kevlar / Nomex)
The armour fibre: extremely strong in tension and flame-resistant, it neither melts nor burns. It is technical, for protection and reinforc…
Crude oil
Carbon fibre (3D knitting)
It is not a clothing yarn but an engineering material: extremely stiff, extremely light and with no elasticity. It is knitted only in techn…
Crude oil
Elastane / Spandex
The elastic core of yarns: a single strand, added in a blend, gives fit and recovery to swimwear, leggings and cuffs. It is almost never wo…
Aluminium
Lurex / Metallic yarn
The thread that brings light into the knit: a metallised ribbon that glints with every movement. It is stiff and a little sharp, so it is n…
Crude oil
Microfibre (ultrafine poly/nylon blend)
An ultrafine synthetic fibre with a velvety hand and the typical peach-skin effect: light, soft and slippery, valued not for the material b…
Crude oil
Nylon / Polyamide
The reinforcement fibre par excellence: extremely strong, elastic and light. In knitwear it is almost always used in small doses, to make s…
Maize
PLA (polylactic acid / bioplastic)
The plastic that grows from plants: a polyester made from the sugars of maize, cane or beet instead of petroleum. Lustrous, light and stabl…
Crude oil
Polyester
The most widely used synthetic fibre in the world: practical, strong and colourfast, it holds its shape and dries quickly. In knitwear it i…
Crude oil
Polypropylene (Polycolon)
The lightest fibre there is, so light it floats on water: it absorbs no moisture, pushes it away from the skin and dries in no time. It is …
Regenerated
Bamboo
Bamboo (natural/viscose)
The yarn for drape: very soft, lustrous and cool on the skin, it falls like a liquid and slips through the hands. In exchange for that flui…
Used clothes
Regenerated / Recycled Fibres
The most sustainable choice in the catalogue: fibres recovered from offcuts and end-of-life garments that become yarn again with little wat…
Soybean
Soy (Vegetable silk)
The "vegetable silk": soft, lustrous and with a fluid drape that glides over the body. It is made from soy proteins, has very little elasti…