| Our Hand Knitted Baby Clothes
All of our hand-knitted baby clothes and toys are made in the UK from the finest natural materials. The information below describes some of the materials we use and their unique properties.
Merino Wool
Merino wool is made from the finest grades of wool from Merino sheep and is prized for being a natural yarn that is luxuriously soft and comfortable against the skin. Merino wool is excellent for babies because it insulates, absorbs moisture, breathes, is super soft to touch and non-irritating. Merino wool allows perfect comfort because it has a natural stretch and climate control; it moves when baby moves and keeps baby warm when it is cold and cool when it is warm. Alpaca Wool
Alpaca wool is highly prized and through selective breeding by the ancient Incas an extremely fine fiber was achieved. Modern breeding strategies aim to reproduce the fineness of the ancient alpaca fleece. The fiber produced from the fleece of the baby alpaca is the finest and is superb for babies because it is luxuriously soft to feel, lustrous, exceptionally fine, light weight, has excellent thermal properties and bears minimal lanolin which makes it virtually hypoallergenic. Alpaca is extremely durable, second only in strength to silk and its excellent natural thermal properties will keep baby warm when it is cold and cool when it is warm. Bamboo
Bamboo yarn is made by processing the bamboo grass stalk and combining the fiber strands from the actual plant itself making the yarn 100% bamboo with nothing else added. Bamboo yarn is the new environmentally friendly material with a number of advantages which make it extremely suitable for babies. It has excellent natural properties, including permeability, anti-bacterial qualities, anti-UV characteristics and is luxuriously soft and silky to touch. The cross section of the bamboo fiber is filled with various micro-gaps and micro-holes, allowing excellent permeability which allows moisture absorption and ventilation allowing the skin to breath freely and thus allow a cool and comfortable feel when wearing the garment in hot weather. The characteristic antibacterial qualities of bamboo ensure that the bamboo yarn has particular and natural antibacterial functions which have been shown to last even after fifty washes. Cashmere
The word Cashmere evokes images of luxury, warmth and softness. The ultra-fine fiber comes from the undercoats of the Cashmere (or Kashmir) goats that live in the high and dry plateaus surrounding the Gobi desert of Mongolia and China. These goats are exposed to the most extreme environmental elements of altitude and cold, and grow a fine downy undercoat of soft hair that is extremely sleek, soft, warm and silky. This fine downy hair is called Cashmere and is the highest class of all natural fiber. Cashmere is expensive because each Cashmere goat only produces about 1.76oz (50 grams) of washed cashmere each year and the process of collecting the Cashmere is extremely time consuming. Cashmere is appropriate for all climates because it has insulation properties that change with the relative humidity in the air. Cotton
Cotton is a soft fiber that grows around the seed of the cotton plant which is native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa. The raw cotton bolls (seed cases) are first processed into pure fiber by removing the seeds etc.; the cotton boll is then opened and the fibers dry into flat, twisted, ribbon-like shapes and become kinked together and interlocked. This interlocked form is then used for spinning into a fine cotton yarn. The structure of cotton is arranged in a way that gives cotton its many qualities, including a high degree of strength, durability and absorbency. Cotton is ideal for babies because it is a natural yarn that is soft, comfortable, absorbent and breathable. Cotton fiber is absorbent and breathable because it is hollow in the centre. This hollow centre enables the fabric to breath, allows the fabric to absorb moisture and provides the ability of water to penetrate into the core of the fiber which makes it easier to clean. Mercerized cotton is treated to permanently straighten the cotton fibers, making then smooth and uniform in appearance and giving the cotton yarn a high luster.
Silk
For centuries silk has had a reputation as a luxurious and sensuous fabric. Silk is one of the oldest textile fibers known to man and during the Roman Empire silk was sold for its weight in gold. Silk is a natural protein fiber, like human hair, taken from the cocoon of the silkworm and is prized for its versatility, comfort, natural shimmer and luster. Silk is the strongest natural fiber; a steel filament of the same diameter as silk will break before a filament of silk. Silk also has natural high absorbency which enables it to easily absorb moisture, making it cool to wear in the summer and warm in the winter.
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