How a cotton boll becomes your yarn
Most yarn on our list starts as cotton in a field. Here is the short journey from plant to cone.
- Step 1
Sow and grow
Cotton is sown in spring and grows through the summer. Each plant sets flower buds that turn into bolls.
- Step 2
The boll opens
When the boll is ripe it splits open and shows soft white fibre packed around the seeds.
- Step 3
Picking and ginning
Cotton is picked, then ginned. Ginning separates the fibre from the seed and presses it into bales.
- Step 4
Spinning
The mill opens, cleans and cards the fibre, then draws it out and twists it into yarn. Combed yarn gets an extra combing step.
- Step 5
On the cone
The yarn is wound onto cones and sent to weavers and knitters. This is the yarn in our list.