I should have a contest and have you guess what all these are. Non-wool spinning fibers seems to be a theme this last week or so. I’ve received the one above in a trade with DudleySpinner. This looks a bit like a blond wig doesn’t it? It feels more like very coarse dog hair. It is neither. It’s hemp. I know you are probably wondering the same thing I am, why do I want to spin twine? There are a lot things that are worth trying at least once. And it was essentially free. When I’m done spinning I should have enough two ply yarn to make a strong, antimicrobial market bag such as the Ilene pattern (Ravelry link).
The following fibers came last week in a trade with FuzzyBunnyFibers. The one on the left is made from milk protein! Imagine that? Makes me feel like I need to knit them with my casein needles, casein is a plastic also made from milk protein. And the other fiber is bamboo. Both are quite soft and the two together should be enough to make a pair of soft but durable, moisture wicking lace footies for summer wear. I’ll probably do some experimenting with dyeing these fibers. The acid dyes that I use on wool and silk will also be ideal for dyeing the milk protein. The bamboo will best be dyed with fiber reactive dyes, the same ones Jan and I use to tie-dye cotton and occasionally hemp although I like the natural color of the hemp fiber so that will likely not get dyed.
Tags: fiber
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Hemp. Wow. I thought it would look more like burlap. You could make hair weaves with this. ……….wondering if you can sell weaves on Etsy. jan
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Enjoy spinning the hemp. In my opinion it is the fabric we should all be wearing instead of cotton. I once had a job where I sold farm chemicals and cotton takes more chemicals to grow than any other fiber crop. Remember agent orange? Agent Orange is known as paraquat. That is the defoliant that is required to harvest cotton. All the leaves need to die off before they can mechanically pick the bolls. Hemp is a natural fiber plant that requires no chemicals to grow, helps the soil and is a renewable resource that we don’t use because it is labeled a drug. William Randolph Hearst is one of the major reasons it is illegal. He owned a number of newspapers, also a pulp and paper factory so keeping hemp illegal was in his vested interest. Hemp also makes great paper.
Deb
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