Sustainable wardrobe- Part 3- HEMP

A CASE FOR HEMP


Hemp is a fibre much like flax coming from the Cannabis family

Cannabis nowadays is mostly known for its element tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a narcotic substance found in about 10% Cannabis species .

Hemp was first cultivated around the Caspian Sea and can grow as far north as the Baltic Sea and it was used as a plant fiber for textiles and later  paper in China as early as 2700 B.C. Because of its connection to the narcotic element although not present in fiber hemp it is prohibited from cultivation in the USA and under severe restrictions in the EU.  Most hemp comes from China Fiber hemp, however, contains virtually no THC and usually comes from THC low strains of Cannabis sativa and not Cannabis indica plants. In 1883 US law banned all hemp production ostensibly because of its drug use but in truth cotton farmers lobbied against hemp farmers. Thinking of all the chemical elements present in cotton currently I see hemp as a viable alternative sustainable fabric for clothes.

Hemp is grown, harvested and processed much like flax. Hemp fabric is strong and durable though usually not as fine as linen. The word canvas derives from the Latin word cannapaceus (meaning:derived from hemp), and even in Roman times sails were made from hemp canvas.

Hemp is very environmental friendly since it requires almost no pesticides and no herbicides. It grows fast with a high yield. Hemp seed is used in food preparations, cosmetics and animal feeding. The straw is used as biodegradable animal bedding. Nowadays, hemp is mostly used for paper making and grows much faster than a tree as a sustainable resource.


A few facts about Hemp

• Used for ropes :The stalk grows over ten feet tall and has been used in the shipping industry for centuries.It provides a very strong, durable and rot resistant fiber..
• The short fibers of the stalk can be used in textiles as a replacement or blended with other fibers such as  cotton.
•  Hemp as similar fiber capacities as linen. It insulates the body against heat and keeps body
  warmth inside during colder spells. But it is more durable than linen or cotton.Hemp holds its shape and is very resistant to stretching.
• The more hemp fabric is used, worn, washed and ironed the better it wears the more
  comfortable it gets. Hemp wears in not out
•  It is resistant to mildew, mould and salt water.
•  It blocks UV-radiation effectively which means less fading of the fabric and effective protection of body in clothes against UV-radiation
•  Hemp-blends with silk, linen, wool and cotton prolong the life of the fabric while retaining its soft quality at the same time.
• The original Levi Strauss jeans were made from hemp canvas.

Hemp can be bought online in the UK here and there are a variety of products to choose from including hemp wool  and fiber to spin.( I can see I am getting carried away with possibilities).
Another source is The House of Hemp with more yarns and colours.

Making the summer top as my January project took a bit longer but time is not the issue here and it is still very cold.

Evaluating your wardrobe

Came across a valuable tool on Colletterie's blog offering a free spreadsheet to enable you to make an inventory of your wardrobe and what it is you need and may need to replace  I visit Colletterie blog regularly as the patterns she offers for items of clothing are classic vintage but it also has some useful tutorials should you wish to make your own clothes.

Going local

When considering a purchase, a need that we cannot make ourselves,there are conscious buying decisions we can weigh up :

• borrow the item
• advertise for it on freecycling
• check out Ebay
• is it available locally
• can I support a local enterprise?

In 2013 I am making an extra effort to buy British, meaning local within the British Isles not because I am patriotic but by doing so the miles the item has to travel to get to us are reduced and that is an important consideration in our buying criteria this year.

Here is a showcase of a small company making leather handbags. Hanson of London  Their philosophy is simple and they are reviving a skill that may have been lost to us forever.



What do you consider when purchasing an item apart from the pricetag? The price of this handbag is very high but reflects the craftsman's skills and the time it takes to make an individual item. Definitely the price is a barrier. Something to aspire to. Yes its expensive but durable and not guided by simply fashion. It would be hard to justify this item if you had it for just a season or on a whim, but if your aim is to have nothing but useful or beautiful items in your home then its worth the dream.

Domestic Art

Dear Gaia,

Just wondering if you are OK? The colours in the garden and the light are really lovely but it reminds me more of summer. Is October the new summer? Just asking as I could set my clock by the seasons as a child and now I am wondering trying to remember October. I remember rain, umbrellas and the wind heralding winter time to come. Not that I am complaining, you are creating a lovely landscape, in which the wasps get a bit drunker than usual on ripe fruit and where from time to time we can turn and feel the warmth of the sun on our back. So I went out and harvested some borlotti beans and quinces, walking over the wet grass with my feet, feeling the squidgy grass and creating a still life picture of Domestic Art as inspired by Jane Brocket of yarnstorm. Jane has just published her book The Gentle Art of Domesticity which has received a mix of receptions in the UK. I for one, love what she is writing about, not at all against the feministic movement but showing us that creativity can happen at home using the garden, the kitchen, capturing the colour that surrounds us. So thank you Jane for bringing art and still life back to the fore.

Autumn glow

The plums have been hanging and waiting a long time before being picked. The fact is that they were a bit passed their prime. Tzar is a cooking variety of plums and as where my DH was hoping he could measure their ripeness by their sweetness, it was no indication at all. We picked them together yesterday, separating good from bad and even ugly and what remained has been turned into jam, all 16 jars of it. It set incredibly well and has the most gorgeous dark red, plum colour. I only wish I could have used some of that colour to dye yarn with but that will be another year.

The autumn announces itself through changes in colour, texture and light. The evenings are cooler and the mornings ask for a little more covering than just a shirt and sandals. This is the time when summer leaves us ( the week we had) and we sense that autumn is around the corner. The sun shines a bit lower and the light is different, not darker but has a glow about it. Red, yellow and orange colours mingle with brown, dark greens and a spot of brightness so well captured in the Owen Thomas apples above.

Nature inspires me in different ways, I use the colour I see to create items that capture this and having taken the above picture, I painted a scarf with handdyed yarn. I dabble not in paints as such but by creating a palette in flowers in a marriage with nature. What results I think captures the autumn glow perfectly.

Rainy day activity

Not far from our cottage, the hills rise above on the horizon. At the start of spring, the moment when colour exploded into new greens of a variety of hues and depths, I explored the possibility of creating a shawl to capture the colour variations. I am working on creating fibre related items that reflect the place I live in, the local environment, using locally sourced fleeces.

The yarn is forest green handspun. The timescale for the project has been 8 hours spinning and 32 hours knitting. There will only be one of these, as I would not be able to absolutely recreate the exact pattern variations caused by the spun yarn. It has been untouched by robots and has been lovingly created in beautiful surroundings, feet up with cup of tea to the side, using time unavailable for gardening during the ' wet summer of 2007'.

Freecycling for sheep clothing

Freecycling is not just for dealing with items you may no longer want and wish to give them away for free. Freecycling can also work the other way; you can post a wanted add for the item on your wishlist and hope that someone is ready to gift it away.

I am a keen knitter and last year decided to start spinning and dying my own yarn. There were 2 reasons, I knit very fast and enjoy the process more than the end product, and secondly, it was one of those categories of spending that had to be curbed. Spinning and dying my own yarn reduced the amount I bought, and I spent more time doing something I really enjoy ( I know not everyone else has the same hobbies). The point is that I can create a sweater out of nothing by putting my time and effort into a creative process. I value the items a lot more.
Based on buying locally, I wanted to find out who produced fibre in my area. I already have a collection of fleeces from a local farmer but got interested in rare breeds. Farmers and small producers at the moment get less for a fleece than they have paid the person coming to shear it. So far I have identified producers of alpaca, shetland and jacobs fleece as above. I wanted to try a jacobs fleece as it is relatively soft and comes in 2 tones leaving room for possibilities, either using both colours individually or blended.
Posting a wanted add on freecycle produced not only 2 fleeces but I got to meet a new person in the community who runs a Forest School so that really made my day.
The free result has been, one new person met in the community, a fleece I wanted to spin for free and eventually free clothing. ( Free from monetary value, but probably very timeconsuming, priceless and unique)

Rain again

I can hear you, we british have an obsession with the weather. Its the first conversation point that happens when you do not know the person very well and as it varies on a regular basis provides a never ending variety of words to play with.
Recently, we have had just a few words to exchange and conversations have been scant, mainly because everyone hides in their house. It is meant to be midsummer and spirits are low...nights will be drawing in after the 21st June again and hey we are heading for winter.
The garden work has been halted and this weekend we had a rather soggy garden's open festival in our village. The village hall was packed with many digging into the village feast, talking not only about gardens but about the weather. I did not open my garden ( as unfortunately weeds are not allowed when you show your garden) but did partake in selling raffle tickets. I like village events like these because you get to meet everyone, talk about the weather and then move on to the news, who is where, what is happening etc. As not a lot happens in any event, the conversation ends with a moan about the weather.

I do no mind the rain as the alternative pushes me back in the house to fibre arts. Today I finished spinning the long job of rollo's fleece and ventured out in between showers to take the artistic shot. Rain or no rain, thats got to be my conversation point for today. I hope to take it out to Shirley soon and see if she is willing to give me a fleece later on in the year to turn into squishy, softness.

A new link

While talking about strawberries I wandered over to Girl number twenty. If you have a chance, go and say hello and enjoy her world.

That was my strawberry moment today!

DYING EGGS FOR EASTER

Dyed Easter Eggs are Arranged in a Circle

You may know that I dye yarn with natural dyes and many ingredients we have around the home can be used to dye eggs with for Easter.

At this time of the year you might well find kits in the shops to dye eggs in primary colours to decorate your home or do an easter egg hunt.
Last year, I used some housepaint that was left over in a variety of pastel shades but in the end these are neither edible or safe so have been looking at different ways to get colours in a natural way.

You need hard boiled eggs......? I guess you know how to boil an egg but if not here goes :
put the eggs in a pot with enough water to cover the eggs by 2.5 cm or 1 inch. Once the water boils, give it 10 mins for a hard boiled egg. Then remove from the heat and immeditately place the eggs in cold water. I run the cold water tap in the pan and let it overflow ( use it for washing up afterwards).

Once the egg is cold you can decide on how to colour it.

To make the dye:

Place 1 to 3 handfuls of the dyestuff in a saucepan . Add about 1 cup of water or about 2.5 cm above the dystuff. Bring to the boil, boil for 15 mins to an hour until you get the colour you like. Strain and put the liquid in a measuring cup. Add 2 to 3 teaspoons of vinegar to it. Put the warm dye in a pot tall enough to hide the eggs ( I use a large breakfast bowl and put it in the bottom aga oven. Leave the eggs in the pot until they have the colour you like. Lift them with a spoon and leave them on a rack to dry.

Now for the colours :

Pink/red - beetroot, cranberries, radishes and raspberries
orange - yellow onion skins
primrose yellow - orange and lemon peel, carrot tops, celery seed, ground cumin
dark yellow - turmeric ( use 2 tablespoons to make dye)
light green - spinach leaves
green-gold : apple peels
blue - red cabbage leaves
light brown to dark brown - strong brewed coffee
brown/ochre - dill seeds
orange-brown - chilli powder ( 2 tablespoons)


Or be creative and have a go with whatever else you have around the house that seems promising to dye with.

The dye liquid can be safely disposed off on the compost heap.

Easter goodies

Adding to the etsy shop today, 2 hanks of blue faced leicester 100% 4 ply yarn, handdyed with natural dyes. each hank will make a pair of socks or both together would make a lovely shawl. the colours will fade slightly over time as they are completely natural dyes.

Also added, a pair of ladies socks, would fit UK size 7 ( length of foot 23.5cm). These were knitted in Colinette's jitterbug. Perfect for the Easter Egg hunt in the garden.
Am having a spinning day today...although the garden beckons.

peace- deep peace

I am off for a residential weekend with my course which will be centring on the transpersonal and spiritual aspects of our lives. For many people this will be a personal relationship with their spiritual leader in one form or another, a relationship with their beloved.
In today’s society where speed and technology reign, it can be difficult to find a moment of quiet in which we can access that ‘ peace that passes understanding’. I have made full use of knitting as a pain relief method and I do believe that when I knit, all my senses are engaged and my thinking process is disengaged and can have a peaceful moment. I can get quiet in my mind, I can drift off with lovely soft yarn in my hands, following a rhythmic noise of clicking needles or the whirring of the spinning wheel. It could be on a similar par with meditation and mantras.

I do believe that the resurgence of knitting and the addiction to yarn and making our own clothing stems from a desire deep within to access that connection to our creativity, to earth and to that spiritual part of us that no mobile phone has access to.
Breathe deeply, relax and cast on.

the sweater bee project

Its raining, again, but having visited a yarn shop yesterday and having chosen his colours, B has designed his colour scheme and all that is left to do is to get on with the design.
The colours are personal to him. I drew the shape and he used the tape measure to figure out how long he wanted his custom sweater to be. He got the colouring pencils out and coloured in the space. I have told him that if we run out of green I reserve the right to change the stripe effect of the sleeves but he understood and has told me that its OK I can use blue if I run out.
After that we wound the hanks of yarn into balls ( grenades to him) and his arm was aching.
DS 2 also bought some yarn and has started knitting a scarf today, it will be brown and brown and have a space for his MP3 player in it somewhere in a hidden pocket.
I do believe they are taking some pride in their fashion design and although it is basic it is giving them the opportunity to find out what they like and to make their own clothes which is going great to share.

Freedom

Over the last few weeks I have settled down to do what comes effortlessly. Having been poorly and with a household in the same way needing a bit of TLC has left very little time for my craft activities. It is still very cold out there and I am sitting contentedly with my spinningwheel, whurring away working at Rollo's blanket. The photo shows about 6 oz of spun fibre in a colour that is between cream and butterscoth streaks. Its is very soft and will be very warm. These are pilot skeins as I am seeing how I work with this fibre. All is well only a small allergic reaction that makes breathing a bit laborious so maybe will need to stick to wool in the future. We shall see, maybe spinning in the open air may alleviate some of the discomfort.

The sun is shining today with a cracking blue sky. Very cold and I am looking forward to looking at the stars tonight. No light pollution in the country does enable us to look regularly up and see whether we can make out what star is wish.

At times when the simplicity of life is simply effortless I feel blessed that I have the time, the resources and the energy to enjoy all that surrounds me.

A Blanket of alpaca

Its been the most amazing weekend. First the kindness of strangers, then someone very kindly came to cut the tree down into logsized pieces and my friend took me to visit someone who has alpacas in the garden. I started spinning to increase mobility in my legs after an ilness and have enjoyed it ever since. I have experimented with dying yarn and made my DH a handspun, handknitted sweater for Christmas ( its the only sweater with the right size sleeves), which he loves.
So I have come home with a blanket of alpaca fleece which will keep me busy for ...about 6 months of spinning.
Also home is a poorly child who needs a lot of TLC so am being brief today.