Just a heads up for all our lovely customers! We’ll be taking a short break during the first week of the school holidays to have some much-needed family time. Our house-sitters have quite the menagerie to look after – sheep, pet lambs, ducks, chickens, chicks, budgies, cats, and fish! And then there’s the garden… So we won’t be asking them to run the shop on top of all that!
This means that any orders placed between Sunday 25th September 2023 and Sunday 1st of October will ship on Monday 2nd of October.
We apologise for any inconvenience this slight delay in shipping orders this break might cause. But we’re sure you’ll be aware of how important and bit of R&R is for a happy life! Looking forward to a bit of Noro knitting!
Zealana yarns are some of the finest I’ve ever come across. Milled by Woolyarns in the Wellington region of New Zealand they predominantly feature natural fibres, and luxury ones at that.
NZ fine merino, NZ brushtail possum fibre, NZ cashmere, and silk.
These are all luxurious fibres.
One of the things I appreciate most about these yarns is the quality of their engineering. Possum fibre is notoriously difficult to spin – it is a short fibre and prone to shedding or pilling. I’ve found that even after several years of wear, garments made with Zealana yarns maintain their ‘fresh’ clean, new, look. I have made garments with similar compositions of fibres as Zealana’s merino/possum yarns, but produced by another mill. However, I’ve been rather disappointed in how quickly they’ve pilled and ended up looking shabby.
Including silk in some of their yarns also gives a beautiful sheen to the fibres. This is enhanced as it’s worked up into a garment. All of the fibres used in Zealana yarns are very soft and non-scratchy, which makes the final products very comfortable to wear.
Zealana also have a commitment to environmental considerations:
“At Woolyarns, we take our environmental responsibilities seriously. As part of our commitment to sustainability, we have implemented an Environmental Management System (EMS) that is designed to minimise our environmental impact and promote sustainable practices throughout our operations. Our EMS is based on the internationally recognized ISO 14001 standard and is aligned with the principles of sustainability, including reducing waste, conserving resources, and promoting environmental stewardship.”
You can read more about Woolyarns and their sustainability here.
Zealana Kauri Worsted Merino/Possum/Silk yarn after 8 years of wear (approx once a month) – no pilling!Merino/Possum yarn milled by another mill. Within a few wears it was showing signs of pilling.
Mynx String Therapy is a proud supporter of The Campaign for Wool.
Why Wool? It’s simple.
Natural and renewable – wool is grown not made; every year sheep grow a new fleece. Wool products also use less energy than man-made fibres during manufacture.
Sunsafe – wool has naturally high UV protection.
Flame retardant – wool fibre has a higher ignition threshold than many other fibres and is flame retardant up to 600°C. It also produces less toxic fumes in a fire.
Biodegradable – when disposed of, natural wool fibre takes only a few years to decompose, and with a high nitrogen content, wool can even act as a fertilizer.
Breathable – wool’s natural structure allows it to absorb and release water vapour into the atmosphere, keeping you warm in winter and cool in summer.
Non allergenic – wool is not known to cause allergy and does not promote the growth of bacteria. With microscopic scales, wool fibres can trap dust in the top layers until vacuumed away.
Durable and elastic – wool fibre can be bent 20,000 times without breaking and still have the power to recover and return to its natural shape. Quality wool garments look good for longer.
Easy care – modern wool can be machine-washed; retaining a small amount of natural oil, wool fibre resists dirt and grease.
Multi-Climatic – wool acclimatizes to its surroundings.
Naturally insulating – wool can insulate the home providing and retaining warmth, and reducing energy costs.
An IntroductionFrom Manufacturing of NORO Yarn -From Farm to Product
Kimono style cardigan knitted in Noro Silk Garden colour 279. Pattern from Knit Noro or available on Ravelry.com
“We make our yarns with emphasis on hand made quality. We believe that handmade items should be made with a sincere heart and are more beautiful when handmade quality materials are used. For that purpose the first important step is the selection of materials. We take the specially selected materials from all over the world in our hands, and check the texture with our eyes closed in order to know them as much as possible. The second important step is to blend the materials. We have to know the special characteristics of each material and its ultimate use to then understand how to blend them. For example we make yarn soft, lustrous or light using technology to blend the materials in good balance. After blending the materials the next step is coloring (dyeing). It is hard to reproduce what we think of in creating the wonderful colors in our collection. We try to remember the ideas that come to us in our daily life and express them soon, while still fresh on our minds. Although it is difficult to reproduce our thoughts into color we are happy with the results. Next we spin the blended and colored materials being careful that they not loose their natural textures. Nowadays, almost all spinning process is done by machine, but at NORO Yarn, machines are used only when the process cannot be done by hand. First of all, we spin wool by hand and then knit them by hand and check its knitted texture. Our firm is supported by technology and an abundant work force in the fiber producing center of Aichi. For more than thirty years we have been only using natural fibers seeking ‘color’ with the feeling of the vitality of nature. We try to produce our yarns by hand as much as possible. We have been proudly making ‘one-of-a kind, unique, enjoyable and beautiful yarns’ for our customers. We hope that the yarns we produce with our sincere hearts will amaze and impress people who love hand knitting and crochet not only in Japan, but all over the world. We will continue to produce our yarns with our attitude of love and great care. Eisaku Noro はじめに”
Noro yarns are specialized and unique! Once you’ve worked with them you may well find yourself wanting more and more. They have a unique texture and vibrancy of colour. As a result of the special dyeing process slow colour changes are created which allow spectacular effects to occur when an item is created. Noro pay special attention to the characteristics of the fibres, the environmental impact of the yarns production and do as much by hand as possible. This results in wonderful yarns with beautiful colours and a unique texture. For more details on their amazing processes and philosophies you can read their document. Manufacturing of NORO Yarn -From Farm to Product – PDF document 13M
Garment knitted in Noro SIlk Garden colour 8. Pattern from Noro Magazine volume 1 or available on Ravelry.com
Tips on Noro yarn The yarn often contains joins – this is related to the way it’s spun, as big long continuous runs are not possible. It can be a bit frustrating but it’s a small price to pay for the creation of such a beautiful yarn. Working around these can also lead to some creative solutions!
Skeins of Noro yarn are notoriously inconsistent and often don’t weigh exactly 50 or 100g. I suspect this is because they’re wound according to length so give the great variation in thickness you can have with many Noro yarns this may result in a heavier or lighter skein.
Noro mixes well with other yarns. I particularly like mixing it with plain colours for trims etc. Zealana’s Kauri Worsted weight yarn is a good mix with Silk Garden and Kureyon and I often use Ashford’s Mackenzie 4 ply yarn with the sock weight yarns.
The fibres in Noro yarns are sorted by hand and often little bits of grass etc can be found. Keep a pair of tweezers handy to pull these out!
I find the best way to join the yarn is to ‘spit splice’. This involves splitting the yarn a little at each end to be joined, overlapping them then moistening the join (with spit or water!) and rubbing it vigourously between the palms of you hands. This ‘felts’ the join together and you can continue knitting (delicately) across the join.
If you need to run two skeins together you can often figure out what colour will come at the end of the current skein by having a dig around in the middle. There is often a ‘tail’ of the end of the yarn sticking out (or just tucked in). It will show you what colour the skein ends with so you can match it up with the beginning of the next skein. It’s a great idea to rewind each skein before you use it to check for knots and to help you plan continuous changes of colour, especially if you’re making a larger garment.
Depending on the effect you want you can work from two skeins a the same time to get longer colour runs.
Some of the cotton containing yarns can be ‘sticky’ to work with and plastic or smooth wooden hooks and needles can be easier to work with than metal ones.
Many Noro yarns can be a bit fragile if you pull on them hard (except those containing nylon for example). So if you get a tangle or are sewing up with it be careful not to tug on it too hard!
After a few years of procrastination we have finally taken the plunge and renovated the entire Mynx String Therapy website! We’ve moved to an entirely different platform, and new server. Hopefully this will get around some frustrating issues we have had in the past.
It is, however, a big task to get all our stock relisted! So please bear with us, we are working on this bit by bit, but our staple, favourite yarn, Noro, has been given priority. Some other yarns will be dropping by the wayside.
Some products may not make it into the new shop. Eg, if there are just a few balls left of a now discontinued yarn it is not worth the effort of creating a new listing. So, if there is something you’ve had before but isn’t on the site, drop us an enquiry.
We will be continuing to specialise in beautiful yarns and threads to fuel your creativity, along with accessories and tools. Our focus will continue to be on natural fibres and quality products that will reward your efforts with wonderful finished products.
Overall, we hope the new site will provide a better experience for all users. We are able to add more details, photos, and cross-references. Now we can also support our products with more news, images, and blog posts. If you have any finished projects you’ve made with products purchased from us that we could feature, please feel free to get in touch!
We hope you enjoy browsing the new website and find something you love. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and have a look at what we have to offer!
We are also on Instagram @mynxstringtherapy and Facebook, should you wish to keep up with our news there.
