Welcome to Fibre Prep February: Bast Fibres!

Welcome to Fibre Prep February. We are so excited to explore bast fibres with the SweetGeorgia Community this year, inspired by the lessons in Kim McKenna’s School of SweetGeorgia course, Spinning Bast Fibres: Tow Tops & Bast Blends. You do not need to be a School of SweetGeorgia member to join our fibre prep-along, though it helps to have Kim’s amazing tips and tricks, as well as her inspirational guidance for creating truly beautiful blends.

Team Bast Fibre Blending Day materials SweetGeorgia Studio January 9, 2026
SweetGeorgia Corriedale fibre in the Celebrating at Cleveland Park colourway, with Ramie bast fibres (and a small amount of green bamboo for a pop of extra colour!)

Tools & Materials

Each week, we explore the four bast fibres Kim covers in the course: flax (linen), hemp, ramie, and Himalayan nettle. If you picked up the SweetGeorgia Bast Fibres Kit, you will have all four. (We still have a couple available in the shop, while supplies last.) Each kit includes 40 grams of fibre, which is plenty for this exploration. Kim chose the combed-tow-top as a gentle and beginner-friendly approach to work with these fibres. And it is especially lovely when mixing fibres. We will also need some wool, which we will explain below when talking about making blends.

When it comes to tools, it is really up to you and whatever you have on hand. You can use…

Team Bast Fibre Blending Day with hand cards SweetGeorgia Studio January 9, 2026
…hand cards,
Team Bast Fibre Blending Day on a blending board SweetGeorgia Studio January 9, 2026
a blending board,
or a drum carder.

Spinning Bast Fibres

Each week, we highlight one bast fibre, and we begin by spinning a few grams of each fibre on its own. This helps us understand how each fibre behaves. Kim shares excellent guidance on how to handle each one and how to sample them in four different ways, giving us a deeper sense of how preparation affects the spinning experience, using around 3 to 5 grams for each method.

Making Wool Blends

Next, we move into blending. Kim suggests choosing a wool we already know well. When we are familiar with how something like Merino or Corriedale feels to spin, it becomes much easier to notice how adding bast fibres changes both the spinning experience and the final yarn. Using a new-to-you wool can make those differences harder to spot.

In the course, Kim also shares her approach to creating smooth, uniform blends, along with ideas for making multiple samples. This helps us really see how each bast fibre behaves when mixed with wool with varying intensities. Depending on the samples, this will use another 2 to 8 grams of bast fibres for each sample.

A wool and bast blend in a batt form
SweetGeorgia Corriedale Fibre in the Tanzanite colourway, mixed with SweetGeorgia BFL+Silk fibre in the Snowing in Tremblant colourway, blended with Himalayan Nettle bast fibres.

Community & Support

As we move through the make-along, we have a dedicated space in the SweetGeorgia Community where you can share your work, bounce ideas off other members, and be inspired by fellow fibre enthusiasts! If you are a member of the school, you have access to the School Forums with a direct link to the course thread, where you can get support from Kim McKenna.

Team Bast Fibre Blending Day SweetGeorgia Studio January 9, 2026
The SweetGeorgia team making bast blends!

Fibre Prep February: Bast Fibres Next Steps

At the end of the month, we can wrap up our exploration by using any leftover fibres to spin a larger skein of our favourite blend, just like Kim did with her Tanzanite Flax Brunch yarn.

Our team has already jumped in so that we can share inspirational photos each week, and we are having so much fun. During the Fibre Prep February, some of us will be making our blends, some will be spinning their samples, while others will be working toward their final yarns.

And we want to see your blends. If you submit photos through the link on the Fibre Prep February page by February 28, you will be entered to win a $50 SweetGeorgia Yarns gift card. We will also feature your yarn in our Fibre Prep February Wrap-Up post in March.

We are so happy to be working with Bast Fibres with you this Fibre Prep February.

The post Welcome to Fibre Prep February: Bast Fibres! appeared first on SweetGeorgia Yarns.



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