Linen Quill: A Closer Look At Our Most-Loved Yarn

Ten years since we first introduced Linen Quill, it’s still the yarn we all return to again and again—familiar, enduringly beautiful, and deeply loved. Take a closer look at what makes it so special—from its fiber content and distinctive spin to its vast, nuanced palette—and explore our collection of Linen Quill knitting patterns for skeins, Minis, and creative combinations of both. Whether it’s your first Linen Quill project or your hundredth, join us in wishing this singular yarn a happy 10th birthday!

Meet Linen Quill

Inspired by traditional Andean yarns used for handweaving, we developed Linen Quill in close collaboration with a Fair Trade Certified mill in Peru, where every step of production reflects respect for people, care for the environment, and a heritage of craftsmanship. Its name evokes the soft elegance of a feather quill poised to write, and that same sense of quiet poetry runs through the yarn itself, each strand as graceful as a line of calligraphy.

Rustic yet refined, earthy and elemental, Linen Quill is truly a joy to knit, embodying a complex, handmade character and heartfelt integrity that come from generations of Andean textile tradition and the untamed beauty of natural fibers.

Natural Fibers In Perfect Balance

Fine highland wool, alpaca, and linen come together in Linen Quill, their combined natural qualities creating an earthy grace that is deeply satisfying to knit and wear. Each fiber plays a distinct role in the mix—essential to the yarn’s character, look, and feel—and each takes up the dye a little differently, giving every color a beautiful, heathered richness.

Linen Quill | 50% Fine Highland Wool, 35% Alpaca, 15% Linen | Fingering-Weight Yarn

Andean Highland Wool

Making up 50% of the mix, Andean highland wool is the warm heart of Linen Quill, grown by hardy sheep that live on the windswept Peruvian Altiplano at over 6,500 feet above sea level. Adapted to the challenging conditions of their high-altitude home, these Merino-Corriedale crossbreeds produce wonderfully insulating, durable wool with an appealing, unrefined quality. Highland wool’s long-staple fibers and defined crimp lend lightweight body, a smooth hand, and a springy bounce to the yarn. We use the finest, softest fibers from these sheep for a next-to-skin softness that belies Linen Quill’s rustic look.

Peruvian Alpaca

Making up 35% of Linen Quill’s fiber content, alpacas are indigenous to the Peruvian highlands and have been domesticated in the region for over 6,000 years—remarkable animals deeply connected with Peruvian textile traditions. Along with other camelids like llamas, they grow fibers with a hollow core that help insulate them against extreme temperatures, wind, and rain. Linen Quill’s alpaca comes from the Huacaya breed, which produces long, smooth, straight fibers that give fabrics a soft hand and lovely drape, along with a rich, light-catching luster.

European Linen

Linen may be just 15% of Linen Quill, but it more than earns its place in the name. This natural fiber comes from the stems of flax plants and has a quiet elegance paired with a robust, hardworking quality. The linen in Linen Quill comes primarily from France—and also Belgium and the Netherlands—regions where flax thrives in a cool, maritime climate. Linen is a dense, strong, and lustrous fiber, with a penchant for sprouting from the yarn strand in a very charming way!

These three fibers are in perfect balance in Linen Quill, creating a yarn that embodies the best qualities of each. You can learn more about these natural fibers and many others in our Complete Guide To Yarn article and discover how they bring endless variety to the world of yarn.

Spin + Weight

Slender and supple as a quill stroke, Linen Quill is a two-ply fingering-weight yarn that knits up beautifully across a wide range of gauges, a quiet pleasure in the hand and on the needles.

Our free Larkspur Bandana pattern in Linen Quill, knit on US 3 needles.

Fingering weight is a category of lightweight yarns that typically knit up at 6.75 to 8 stitches per inch (learn more in our complete guide to fingering-weight yarn). On US 2 or 3 needles, Linen Quill makes a lovely, fine fabric within that range and can also be knit at a sport weight gauge on US 4 or 5 needles for more drape. We have even gone up to US 8 needles for a very gauzy garter lace fabric.

Linen Quill knit in stockinette stitch on US 4 needles

Linen Quill’s remarkable flexibility comes from its fiber blend and construction. The yarn is made of two fine plies, spun together with a relatively loose twist that gives the yarn room to bloom with blocking. This ability to fill the spaces between stitches, combined with its expansive, harmonious color palette, makes it a dream for colorwork knitting.

Color With Depth + Dimension

Currently offered in 70 wild and wonderful colors, Linen Quill comes in more colors than any of our other yarn collections. The abundant palette feels drawn from the natural world—forests, deserts, oceans, and skies—reflecting nature’s grand gestures and quiet moments alike.

The free Tapestry Wrap pattern shows off five of Linen Quill’s dimensional colors in easy slip stitch colorwork.

Linen Quill’s palette is especially suited to colorwork, as unexpected pairings yield satisfying harmonies. Because each fiber takes up dye a little differently, the resulting colors have remarkable depth and nuance. The dye is applied to the unspun fiber, a technique known as “dyeing in the wool,” which brings rich color all the way to the center of the strand.

Wool soaks up dye most readily, creating clear, saturated color, while dyed alpaca yields slightly more muted yet naturally luminous tones. Linen—with its cellulose structure and protective coating—is the slowest to absorb dye, resulting in the warm, flaxen note that runs throughout the palette.

We launched Linen Quill 10 years ago with just a dozen colors, all inspired by the yarn’s Peruvian highland home—grasses and crags interrupted by an occasional wildflower pushing through the stony ground. When we experimented with more saturated colors, we were delighted to discover that even brights like Pink Pop retain the same earthy, organic quality we love, thanks to the interplay of absorbent highland wool, lustrous alpaca, and rustic linen.

Skeins + Minis: Two Ways To Knit With Linen Quill

We offer Linen Quill in two ways, each with its own appeal: generous 100-gram skeins and bundles of 25-gram Minis. Both put-ups invite a world of possibilities—even more so when you combine the two!

The original Linen Quill comes in skeins (also known as hanks), each a beautiful object in itself that allows you to truly experience the yarn before you even knit with it. Each 100-gram skein is a generous 439 yards of yarn, so just one or two are enough for many projects, with only a few more needed for a sweater.

If you want to play with all of Linen Quill’s most glorious colors, pick up a bundle of Linen Quill Minis. These Minis are the exact same yarn, packaged in 25-gram, 109-yard balls, ready to knit from with no winding needed. Our 40-color bundle gives you 4,360 yards—plenty of yarn to knit a full blanket—while our 20-color bundle is just right for a wrap or shawl.

Timeless Projects In Linen Quill

Linen Quill brings a rooted, earthy character to your needles, lending a natural elegance to everything you knit with it. Equally beautiful at a wide variety of gauges and held either single or double, it invites a rich range of projects—from everyday garments to cherished heirlooms—with endless opportunities for color, texture, and creative expression.

Free Pattern: Nature’s Palette Blanket, made with our Nature’s Palette Blanket Bundle

Free Pattern: Banner Scarf, made with one skein of Linen Quill

Océane LM’s Tidemark Pullover pattern in Linen Quill

Free Pattern: Quaking Aspen Wrap, made with our 20-color Linen Quill Minis bundle in the Beach Walk palette

End-To-End Pullover pattern in Linen Quill

Free Pattern: Mitered Corners Blanket, made with our Mitered Corners Blanket Bundle

Free Pattern: The Incredible Blanket, made with one 40-color Linen Quill Minis bundle

Free Pattern: Alpenglow Blanket, made with one 40-color Linen Quill Minis bundle

Free Pattern: Larkspur Bandana, made with one skein of Linen Quill

• Sweaters: Linen Quill is soft, elegant, and just the right weight for three-season sweaters and tees like Océane LM’s Tidemark Pullover and our End To End Pullover.
• Scarves + Shawls: Simple stitches and shapes shine in a yarn with this much depth, making Linen Quill ideal for scarves, shawls, and wraps, including the Banner Scarf, Larkspur Bandana, and Quaking Aspen Wrap, all free patterns.
• Blankets: The large scale of a blanket makes it the perfect project to explore Linen Quill’s wide range of color, with inspiring free patterns from our Nature’s Palette Blanket and Mitered Corner Blanket (both made with skeins) to The Incredible Blanket and Alpenglow Blanket (both made with Minis).

Ten years on, Linen Quill continues to draw knitters in—one more row, one more color, one more project. It’s a yarn you’ll return to again and again, for its grounded character, harmonious mix of fibers, and supple, satisfying spin. Explore our collection of Linen Quill knitting patterns for inspiration and discover the many possibilities of this beloved yarn and its Minis. Here’s to the decade behind us, and to all the beautiful knitting still to come!

Article written by Andrea Lotz for Purl Soho.

Looking for more inspiration? Explore all of our knitting patterns (including tons of free knitting patterns) and knitting tutorials, buy one of our many knitting kits and yarn bundles, and shop for beautiful yarn. We have over 35 gorgeous natural fiber yarns in 100’s of magnificent colors, designed to bring integrity, beauty, and joy to your next knitting project and only available at Purl Soho!