Manchelopi

• Yarn Notes
• Yarn Specs
• The Brand

• We are head over heels in love with this very special yarn, and the amazing project that produces it! 

  Watch our IG Live with Wooldreamers for even more info on this amazing yarn and project.

  Manchelopi is an airy unspun yarn produced entirely in the region of Castilla-La Mancha, a land rich with history, and the home of Wooldreamers.

  This unique yarn was created to honour the Machega sheep, the breed native to the region and the source of famous Manchego cheese. This yarn is made with 100% Manchega wool. 

  Manchelopi’s unspun, twist-free strands make this “cheese” a rare and high-quality yarn which creates the most wonderfully airy and characterful fabric when knit up.

  Like it’s more famous unspun cousin Plötulopi, the ribbons of yarn off the “wheel”/cheese are more delicate and easily pulled apart. Once knit though, the yarn becomes strong, very hardwearing and durable, whilst magically maintaining its airiness and bounce.

  Unlike Plötulopi, Manchelopi consists of two (untwisted) strands, so it’s not as fragile to handle, and you are actually able to carefully knit right off the “wheel/cheese” without the need to wind the yarn off first.

  When you accidentally break the yarn, just rub it together in the palms of your hands to rejoin and you’ll never know the difference. This wonderful property means that you’ll like have no ends to darn in when adding/changing yarns – just splice together! Perfect for patterns where you’re chopping and changing yarns all the time.

  Also, Manchega yarn is much, much softer. You can happily wear it right next to the skin with no itch or prickle!

  Manchelopi will teach you the art of being relaxed with your knitting. So if you’re an intermediate knitter who tends to be a little tight, this yarn might be your perfect remedy for relaxed, meditative knitting.

  The wool is about as unprocessed as you can get. It smells gorgeous, and you’ll have to pick out the odd bit of straw. It has just the right amount of natural lanolin to sooth your skin, and the yarn hasn’t been smoothed down by chemicals so retains its amazing natural insulating and anti-bacterial properties.

  Each giant 100g “cheese” holds a whole 230m of yarn, which technically makes it a DK, but we LOVE it on 5.0 – 6.5mm needles – so more of an Aran/Worsted gauge (but with DK yardage – yay!). 

  (Note: Manchelopis comes double-stranded in one plate. They are knit as presented in order to achieve aran/worsted gauge.)

  If you’re an experienced knitter, you can even knit from one strand (wind up the other strand as you go) for a fingering/light DK weight yarn with 460m length on the cheese! It will be more delicate to knit with, but is very, very doable, and so worth it for the end result!

  We think everyone should try this INCREDIBLE natural, traceable, family produced yarn!! The more we knit with it, the more we LOVE it!! 

  Some of our fav pattern ideas for this yarn (and check out our Miles Shirt-Jacket kits and High Peak Sweater Kits!):
  

   

• Ingredients: 100% Manchega Wool

  Length: 230m (252yd)

  Weight: 100g

  Gauge: One strand = Fingering/4ply, 3mm – 4.5mm (US 2.5 – 7) needle Two strands = DK / Worsted / Aran, 5mm – 6.5mm (US 8 – 10.5) needle

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  Sustainable Yarn with Social Awareness

  Wooldreamers was created by the 4th Generation of our Family Mill where the family work with every stage of wool: from the sheep to the yarn.

  The Wooldreamers project aims to be part of the solution to the critical problem of Spanish wool being undervalued, and in some cases treated as waste 

  due to global market conditions.

  Nowadays, our family mill covers all stages of Spanish wool production, right from shearing the sheep to spinning the yarn under the same roof. This means we are the only ones treating the wool from the very beginning. So we can guarantee the quality of yarn, with minimum carbon emissions AND we can guarantee the traceability of our yarn from the sheep to your hands.

  We have been working very closely with local Spanish farmers on the adoption of preferable techniques and sharing knowledge in order to produce the very best yarn, always focusing on animal welfare. 

  After many years of prep we launched our first collections, starting with Dehesa de Barrera – 100% Spanish Merino Wool Yarn with full traceability (coming to Tribe soon!)

  Our second collection was Manchelopi: A unique and soft unspun yarn made with Manchega Wool. The white and black wool comes from 2 different flocks near our hometown. This yarn is so different and light. Everyone who tries it falls in love with it.

   

   

  And last but not least, we would like to share something that we are very committed to. In the planning of each collection, we collaborate with people with disabilities at risk of social exclusion. People who deserve to be rewarded for the great work they do. They help us with the labelling and braiding of our skeins.

  So, to sum up, we are a project that pays special attention to sustainability, helping farmers to continue caring for their flocks, supporting local wool, and showing solidarity with our vulnerable community.

  @wooldreamers – Instagram