Ignoring Shiny Objects

     I tried to hold the line on my crafting to-do list this week, despite temptation.
     I had to buy some fructose from Maiwa to replace some old stuff.  I also wanted to buy a scarf.  I was out for a walk the other day when the temperature was just above freezing and I thought, a scarf would be nice.
     So I added fructose to my cart, and then the linen scarf I've had my eye on for dyeing with indigo, and then a white wool scarf for shibori dyeing with weld and indigo because a pattern of white, yellow, blue, and green would be interesting, and then a jar of weld because I'm out, and then a natural grey wool scarf because I'm on a synthetic dye diet and the picture looks beautiful, and then a small jar of walnut powder to qualify for free shipping, and then a stack of wool scarves on sale with bulk discount.
     I've long thought that of all the knitters, weavers, handspinners, and dyers that sell their goods, dyers are the ones making sales and earning a profit.  Certainly I know a couple of knitters and a weaver who sell their work but not in the same volume as dyers.
     After loading up the cart online, I thought about my budget, my long to-do list, and the cold weather that prevents me from dyeing with indigo outside.  Outside is the only place I'd want to dye with indigo because the dyed stuff has to be spread out to oxidize when it comes out of the vat.  It's messy.  With all these considerations in mind, I removed everything from the cart except the fructose and grey scarf, and went through checkout.
     It is awkward to set a limit, to deny myself the joy of stash acquisition and project planning.  However, I've already said yes to a lot of other things that I should get around to finishing.
     I did say yes to one new thing: I backed the Electric Eel Wheel Mini 2 Kickstarter campaign.  The cost of being a backer is affordable given the product category and when I receive the e-spinner, many months from now, I hope to discover whether I can get used to spinning yarn with a flyer instead of a spindle.  When I spin yarn with my drop spindles, I stand up.  Sitting with an e-spinner might be a nice change.
     When I first looked at the campaign, I decided against participating because an e-spinner would add to my to-do list.  I'd have the task of learning to use the thing, and the "spin yarn" part of my existing to-do list would become more pressing in general.  When I got a second email about the campaign I took another look and discovered that a quarter of a million dollars had been raised already.  My change of heart may have been tinged with FOMO.
     I have been bent over bench and anvil making stuff with silver, bronze, and copper this month rather than with wool.  I made a sterling silver circle shawl pin and bronze weaving shuttle earrings.  I also made a pair of silver earrings that have nothing to do with fiber arts but are made with the proportions of Fibonacci numbers, which I think are quite harmonious.  If you can use Fibonacci numbers in your knitting and weaving, I say do it.

Red Språng Sash

     I made a red sash using a lace pattern for språng taken from a Coptic turban in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection.  The warp was circular, and the meeting line was woven in two places then cut.  It took two balls of Knit Picks Shine Worsted yarn, which is a blend of cotton and Modal which is like rayon.
     The curl is strong and as you can see I held it in place with pins to show the pattern.
     When I did a språng program at the weavers guild recently, I said that while officers wore språng military sashes to indicate rank and pregnant Greek women wore språng sashes for religious reasons (at least according to Wikipedia), it is possible that they also wore them for back support.  Everyone said, oh, yes, of course.  I still think somebody needs to test this idea.  It is tempting to assume that språng acts like a tensor bandage, which Americans call an Ace bandage, putting compression on an area by stretching in width and length.  However, språng only stretches in width.  If you wore this sash, it would feel like an ordinary belt when you tied it.
     A friend put it on and remarked on this fact, as well as how soft the fabric was compared to a tablet-woven belt.  It drapes.  She knew that there was a Medieval drawstring made of språng and worn by Bishop Timothy, so she had been curious as to what it might have been like.
     I showed the sash around at a fiber festival.  Most people asked if it was knitted.  This reaction has only happened with this lace piece, not with the other pieces I've done in plain interlinking.
     I made the sash because I wanted a lace sample of språng for the program.  I told the weavers it was a good thing I love them, or I wouldn't have made the thing.  I like a pattern where you do the same thing all the way across a row, the opposite of lace.  Fortunately, with enough repetition I got used to following the pattern and making the holes.  I even think I could tackle the språng chicken pattern in Herborg Wahl's book Nytt liv i gamle sprangmonstre.  It's hilarious to look at and name.

It's Been Ten Years Now

     It's been ten years this weekend since I first tried a spinning wheel at an old-timey festival and changed the course of my life.
     To mark the occasion, I spent time today at the same festival.  This time I was the one demonstrating handspinning with a drop spindle.  A lot of people just walked by, rubbernecking at the windmill, the country music singers, and the cannon fire.  A few stopped to talk which was great.
     I had some time before and after my demo to walk around and see other demonstrators.  I talked about språng with some re-enactors for the American Revolutionary War period, because språng was used for officers' sashes.  Would have been a whole lot more impactful if I'd finished the small sash I have half-warped on my loom and had it on hand for show and tell.  Oh, well.
     Talked with a chip carver about spinning wheel chairs and Northern European distaffs, because those items were chip carved.
     If you get this post through email, for some reason Google did not send you the posts I wrote during the past several months.  You can catch up at thesojourningspinner.blogspot.com.  Thanks for subscribing.

Hemp Dish Cloth in Seed Stitch

     You may be interested in Twist Collective's article about hemp, "High Fiber," www.twistcollective.com/collection/107-articles/2601-high-fiber.
     I prefer the idea of 100% hemp yarn rather than a blend of hemp with wool but that's me.
     I knitted another dish cloth out of hemp, using seed stitch.  I had to make the dimensions quite wide and stubby because of the way the first one shrank.  It looked ridiculously ill-proportioned when I was knitting it but you can see that it shrank to pretty much square.
     I was hoping that seed stitch would provide a better drape than garter stitch but it doesn't.

Maiwa Podcast : "Field Notes in the Colour Garden"

I enjoyed the recent Maiwa podcast, "Field Notes in the Colour Garden," with Michel Garcia, posted on July 16, 2018.  It was interesting to hear all the things people have been asking him to do for them regarding natural dyes and what things they've been doing with plant dyes in France.

Information Compulsion and Språng

     I encountered a nice bit of information compulsion the other day.
     Information compulsion is a theory by Tom Wolfe.  Wolfe says that "the best weapon journalists have is what I call information compulsion.  People are dying to tell you things that you don't know."   I first learned about information compulsion from my friend TJ who writes a blog over at https://www.lean6life.com.  And then I found this clip:



     Anyway, back to the story.  I ran into someone I knew and told her that I am scheduled to do two programs on språng this fall for the handspinners guild and the weavers guild.  I briefly described what språng is.
     And then, up piped someone who was listening: "Språng is very old!"
     I was proud of her.
     During the språng programs, I plan to keep my own information compulsion down to a minimum.  Not like last time.

How to print prepaid postage on a 4 x 6 inch self-adhesive label using a laser or inkjet printer

how to print postage on a 4 x 6 label with a regular printer

     I took a screen printing class (which was quite fun), and realized I could take the concept of registering a print and adapt it in order to print prepaid postage on a self-adhesive 4 x 6 inch label using a regular printer, either laser or inkjet, not a dedicated thermal printer.  Looks very pleasing, better than paper taped to a box, and less initial outlay than a thermal printer.  Registering a print in screen printing is figuring out where the ink will land, and marking on the work surface where the sheet of paper (or piece of cloth) should be positioned.

To print prepaid postage on a 4 x 6" self-adhesive label with a regular printer

1. select "buy postage" on your platform.  It gives an 8.5 x 11 pdf to print out on ordinary paper and use to mail an order
2. print the pdf
3. lay a blank sheet of paper over top and draw register marks (little corners) where you see the corners of the ink rectangle showing through the paper.  You could use the original copy but then you'd have a buyer's personal information sitting around, a privacy issue.
4. buy a package of individual 4 x 6 self-adhesive labels, Avery 5292, from an office supply store  
5. take the sheet of paper with the marks, lay down some double-stick tape (or tape formed into rings to make it double stick), and stick down a blank self-adhesive 4 x 6 label inside the corners. 
6. put the whole contraption into the manual feed tray, being sure to have it the right way up.  Print the label, selecting manual feed in the menu.  
7. peel the label off the plastic backing and use it on the package.  
8. Leave the plastic backing stuck on the paper, and store the paper for next time.

     That's it.
     At my post office there is a big drop box into which you can put prepaid parcels with domestic addresses, if they fit.  It is meant for people using the automated kiosk.  The clerk said it is fine to put parcels in there that have postage paid at home.
     USPS will also pick up parcels, from your mail box during regular pickup if the weight is under the restrictions, or from your home by appointment.
     I'm not sure how international postage would work since you need to add customs information.
     The clerk said it is fine to put a 4 x 6 label sideways on a box and mail it.  USPS just prefers that the whole label is on the top.
     What if you send a lot of parcels and want cheap labels?

To get 4 x 6" self-adhesive labels cheaply  

1. buy a large package of full sheet, 8.5 x 11 inch shipping labels 
2. got to a print shop with a machine that cuts paper to size  
3. give them a cutting diagram like this that shows how to get three 4 x 6 inch labels per full sheet label, in five cuts marked A, B, C, D, and E.  The shop should charge per cut.

how to cut a full sheet label into three 4 x 6 inch labels

     What if you just a need to send a personal parcel once in a while, and want to know how to print USPS prepaid postage on a 4 x 6" self-adhesive label using a regular printer?

To print USPS prepaid postage on a 4 x 6" self-adhesive label with a regular printer

1. get postage through USPS' Click-N-Ship online service
2. use the same trick above
3. when making your registration marks, ignore the USPS brand name at the top and aim to keep the "electronic rate approved" number at the bottom so the postage fits on the label

The clerk said this placement is fine.
     Both Click-N-Ship lets a seller get postage for USPS flat rate shipping and use a standard flat rate box.  Click-N-Ship does not offer first class postage.  
     You could use 4 x 6 inch labels, a word processor, and this printing trick to make yourself fancy self-adhesive bookplates.

To make fancy self-adhesive bookplates

1. open a new document  
2. insert a table with one row and one column 
3. go to table properties and specify a row height of 6 inches and column width of 4 inches 
4. fill in your rectangle with words, fancy font characters, a photo cropped to 4 x 6", or an image  
5. use the printing trick above to print the bookplate 

     As for how it would affect the book, I'm not sure how the adhesive would hold up over time or whether a label is acid-free for long-term storage.
     But we were talking about postage.

To print a small (1 x 2 5/8 inch) self-adhesive label 

and pay for postage at the post office

1. take an 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of Avery labels style 8160, which is covered in small labels.  
2. go into your word processor, select Tools, then the Label function 
3. select "single label, row 1 column 1" for one address 
4. type the address in the field 
5. look for Avery style 8160 to select the right label format 
6. create your document 
7. print your document on the label sheet using manual feed 
8. delete the address in the document  
9. save the blank document for reuse 

     The next time you need to print an address, open the document, type the new address into one of the blank spots (a spot for which you have a corresponding label on the sheet that isn't used yet), then print the sheet using manual feed.  You can use the sheet repeatedly for just one address at a time.  Put your own return address on a full sheet of Avery labels 5267/8167.

     To address a Number 10 paper envelope right on the paper 

without any need for a self-adhesive label  

1. open your word processor
2. select tools, then envelopes 
3. select your size 
4. get the right format for the address by searching for it on the USPS site under zip code search
5. put the address in the big field on the document, then add your return address
6. put the envelope in the manual feed tray with the flap to the left on the underside
7. run the envelope through the printer using manual feed 
8. check to see if the address printed right side up or upside down, and next time be sure to place the envelope in manual feed correctly 

     I print envelopes this way when I mail expense receipts or membership cheques to treasurers of fibre arts guilds.  I think a printed envelope goes through the postal system faster than an envelope with a handwritten address.
     Hope you find this helpful.

Update: I hear that some people use a similar trick to print on PostIt notes.

How to Shop for Vegetarian and Vegan Yarn

     If you are a vegetarian or vegan knitter or a knitter concerned with animal welfare, you may wonder how to shop for vegetarian friendly yarn or vegan friendly yarn.  How to get what you want without pestering producers or middlemen and putting them on the defensive.  Anyone who sells yarn would love for you to tell them what you are looking for and ask if they offer anything like that.
     Be specific about what standards of animal care you would find acceptable, and just say, "Do you offer that in your products?"  Then they say just yes, they do or no, they don't.  No debating about the merits or ethics (unless you really feel the need).  Just, "This is what I am ready to pay good money for, how about it?"
     You may be interested in a previous blog post of mine about A Greener World's certification of humanely-raised fibre.  It mostly concerns wool.  Wool is not a vegan product because it comes from an animal.  The wool certified by AGW is not required to be vegetarian, that is, the flocks are not no-kill.
     You should be able to do an Internet search for wool yarn sellers who claim their yarn comes from no-kill flocks.  Juniper Moon Farm says that their Yarn and Fiber CSA products come from their own animals which "live out their natural lives on our farm" and are "never eaten."  Note that their other lines of yarn come from other flocks, flocks they don't manage and don't make any claims for.  Someone on Instagram said that Hooligan Yarns had yarn from a no-kill flock but I didn't find any claims on their site.  I did find them with Thistle Cove Farms.  Izzy Lane advertises wool clothing from the owner's no-kill flock of sheep.
     Be sure to verify for yourself what the seller means by no-kill.  The shepherd could be breeding lambs and selling them to shepherds without a no-kill policy.  The shepherd could mean that the main flock is no-kill but the resulting lambs are not.  They could mean that they still cull the flock to improve the breeding strain.  To cull a flock is to select animals that do not conform to breed standards or that do not display desirable qualities such as high fertility, and slaughter them to take them out of the gene pool.  They have breed standards not only for looks but also to ensure an animal's health; for example, to make sure you don't get animals with horns that curl too close to the jaw.
     From what I understand, it is challenging for shepherds to run a profitable flock on just the sales of wool alone.  Be prepared to support their premium product with higher prices.
     Or turn to yarn that doesn't come from animals.
     Even when buying cotton yarn, you may be indirectly participating in the meat and dairy industry because cotton seed meal is cattle feed.  Not sure about seed from flax and hemp grown for cloth.
     I like the linen yarn from Catnip Yarns and the hemp yarn from Hemp Basics.  I like Quince & Co.'s cotton yarn and linen yarn, with the Sparrow's structure more to my liking than Kestrel's.  These yarns are all considerably finer than a typical wool worsted knitting yarn or a common cotton yarn meant for knitting dish cloths.  Thus they take longer to knit with.

     You may find it helpful to read Amy R. Singer's book, No Sheep for You: knit happy with cotton, silk, linen, hemp, bamboo & other delights.  Armed with the information in the book, you can knit vegan or vegetarian.  You can commission a knitter to make you something that will meet your needs.  You can use the book to assess labels on ready-to-wear clothing.  

     Singer presents the general facts on fibre qualities, substitution, and yarn use, and she provides knitting patterns.  She doesn't talk much about the why of forgoing wool, whether your reason is an aversion to animal products, a concern for humane treatment of animals, an allergy or sensitivity, preference, or curiosity.  

     Her information on hemp production laws is out of date.  Production is now restricted and regulated in select states and prohibited in others, rather than universally prohibited in the United States as it was at the time of publication.  

     She considers bamboo yarn to be environmentally sustainable because the source material is renewable.  However, some would take issue with this since bamboo yarn is chemically processed.  

     Singer talks briefly about "peace" silk, where the silk worm gets to live out its natural life.  She does not give sources for buying it.  "Peace" silk is sometimes marketed to vegans but I don't know how suitable a vegan would find it for their needs if they do not use animal products, period.  Singer makes the distinction between Tussah silk, from the breed, and "peace" silk, from a process.  I don't think you can expect all Tussah silk to be "peace" silk, only what is labeled as such.  Singer points out that while Tussah silk worms are not hand-fed and kept inside like Bombyx silk worms, they are still farmed.
     What about claims that genetically-modified cotton kills butterflies?  I've heard those claims.  When I traced back to the study, I found that the research was done on BT corn, not BT cotton.  I'm not sure whether the same thing happens with BT cotton or if there were subsequent studies done on cotton.
     I am not vegetarian or vegan myself.  But I believe strongly in accurate informative labels (truth in advertising), an educated buying public, and voting with your dollars for what you want in the world.  

Yarn that's Certified Animal Welfare Approved by A Greener World

     A Greener World (AGW) has a directory of products that are Certified Animal Welfare Approved, certified by them.  According to their site, "It is the only label in the U.S. to require audited, high-welfare production, transport and slaughter practices."  They put an emphasis on animals being on pasture or range their entire lives.
     The categories in the directory include fibre for handspinning into yarn.  The directory allows you to search by proximity, if local fibre matters to you, or you can search the entire thing.  The listings I saw only referred to fibre or wool, they didn't specify forms such as yarn or roving.  I believe only one offered online shopping.  It sells yarn.  The rest provided a physical address.  Presumably you could write to to inquire about mail order, though you're probably meant to go to their farm gate to shop.
     If you know of a fibre farmer whose work meets the criteria, and who isn't certified and in the directory already, you can suggest her name to AGW here.  AGW also has other categories of vendors, such as farmers' markets.
     AGW's standards for sheep are here.  Mulesing is prohibited, and "The primary methods of preventing parasite infestations must be pasture management or rotation and bedding management and removal."  The standards prohibit tail docking, dehorning, disbudding, and ear marking by cutting or notching.  They prohibit any trap but a live trap for predators, with lethal control of predators as a last resort.  They prohibit the use of hot prods or electric shocks.  (I don't think this applies to electric fences.)
     I think the standards mean a flock of wethers is out: "Ram lambs may only be castrated when uncontrolled breeding cannot be prevented by any other management."  From what I've heard, ram lambs are often sent to slaughter while ewe lambs are kept for breeding.  I've also heard that traditionally wethers' wool was considered prized, as the wool is less pungent than rams' wool and in better condition than ewes' wool.  Ewes go through stress from lambing and their wool shows the results of that stress.  The one exception to the traditional preference for wethers' wool that I've read about was where ram's wool traditionally was kept for a certain purpose, I can't remember what, for some reason such as durability, but again I can't remember what.  I think that was in a Nordic country and might have been for nalbinding or rya rugs.  Anyway.  Notwithstanding traditional practices regarding wool production, and notwithstanding that a ram might rather be a wether than lunch, I guess AGW considers castration of rams something to be avoided.
     This bit was interesting: "14.0.6 Animals must not be displayed or offered for sale or transfer at farmers markets, swap meets or similar venues.  Note: Delivery or exchange of animals at a farmers market or similar venue when the sale or transfer has been pre-arranged may be acceptable."  Never would have occurred to me that anyone would try to sell a sheep at a farmers' market.  I have heard of people arranging for delivery of fibre animals in odd locations.

The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel. - Proverbs 12:10 NIV

Fibershed Interview on Conscious Chatter Podcast

     Kestrel Jenkin's Conscious Chatter podcast has an interview with Rebecca Burgess, director of Fibershed.  S03, episode 118, "Fibershed + Regenerative Textile Systems," June 12, 2018, http://consciouschatter.com/podcast/2018/06/11/s03-episode-118-fibershed-regenerative-textile-systems.  Available on iTunes.
     Good stories, technical details, and the issues around the making of small batch, traceable, community-based, natural textiles, as always.
     Fibershed serves two groups: producers and buyers.  This podcast is focussed mostly on the production side of local cloth and leaves recommendations for buyers until the last several minutes.  Unless I missed it, Burgess did not cover options such as taking yarn from a farm and either making clothes yourself or commissioning a weaver or knitter to make you clothing with it.  It was more about looking for local ready-to-wear, wearing clothes longer and mending them, and recirculating used clothing.
     This is an interesting choice considering the success Burgess had with the Fibershed wardrobe she commissioned for herself.  In the YouTube video, "150 mile wardrobe: local fiber, real color, P2P economy," she says she never wants to go back to conventional clothes.  I'm not sure why she omitted the option to commission work.  Perhaps she considered the amount of time and money involved to be too much to ask.  She was able to fund the wardrobe through Kickstarter, through her Funding Fibershed - One Year-150 Miles campaign in 2010.
     Burgess is a weaver and natural dyer with a spinning wheel.  In the YouTube interview she says she commissioned the Fibershed wardrobe because she didn't have the time to make it herself, which is understandable.  Furthermore, she wanted the wardrobe made in order to build relationships with the ranchers, cotton breeders, felters, knitters, and mills in her region.

My Taste in Yarn

     I had this on my profile on Ravelry, but got to thinking it was a bit long.  So I copied it here and trimmed what I have on Ravelry.

     I'm Canadian, from Vancouver Island, B.C. and since I'm far from home and expect I'll eventually move back, I'm trying to keep the amount of equipment and fibre I collect to a minimum.  What, did you just laugh?

     I also try to limit my WIPs, and focus on finishing.  

     I am a handspinner first, other crafts come second.  I use drop spindles to spin yarn, not a spinning wheel.  I have rarely bought yarn for knitting but that is starting to change.  I like to weave with handspun wool or commercial linen yarn.  I can do an obscure technique with yarn called språng (braiding on stretched threads).  I adore the process, the product, and the research aspect.  Many of the YouTube videos I've posted are about how to do språng.

     I like to choose breed-specific wool and make the yarn's structure suit the project.  The look of lustrous long-staple wool appeals to me most.  It's too bad longwools are often scratchy and hard to find or expensive in yarn form.  I try to buy breed-specific wool or yarn that is traceable to a region or flock.  My exception (and my favourite breed) is Blueface Leicester wool, which is usually imported in bulk. 

     I really love linen cloth, whether woven or knitted.  I would wear linen everything if I could.  I am not sure I will ever get around to learning how to spin flax.  Not keen on cotton, silk, or short stapled fibres like cashmere or merino.  I use a bit of hemp yarn for dish cloths.  

     I admire Kathryn Alexander's use of energized singles in woven cloth.

     I like knitting stockinette in the round on double points, and I like the way stockinette looks.  I dislike the look of garter stitch.  I think embossed exchange patterns are very pretty, such as in Svetlana Volkova's Anemone for example.  I like to follow patterns I can memorize and do without much concentration, whether knitting, weaving, or doing språng.  

     I care more for texture and structure than I care for colour.  I do like colour.  I like royal blue, electric blue, ice blue, fuchsia, scarlet, hot pink, emerald, lemon yellow, dark grey, pure white, burgundy, teal, clear turquoise, British racing green, and sapphire.  

     I consider myself to be on a synthetic dye diet.  I wear as much un-dyed or naturally-dyed clothing as I can and I work primarily with un-dyed or naturally-dyed yarn.  I make exceptions for gift items.  I've stocked up on naturally-coloured wool to spin and yarn to knit, and I've increased my plant-based dyeing skills and knowledge.  

     I admire Rebecca Burgess' original fibreshed project.  For a year Burgess wore only clothes made of undyed, naturally-coloured, and naturally-dyed fibres from her area.  All the labour came from her area too.  The criteria for fibreshed (and the tagline of her Fibershed organization and its affiliates) is local fibre, local dyes, local labour.  Here is an interview about Burgess' original wardrobe project:

     I love the guilds and group I belong to.  I joined my handspinning guild near the end of 2008 and they got me from the ground up.  The members taught me how to spin, knit, dye, and shop for supplies and tools.  They fed me how-to books and videos.  I took weaving classes from one of the members.  My Ravelry projects page has some embarrassingly basic and lumpy stuff, the yarn equivalent of baby pictures.  Språng I learned by myself from books.  

     I inform, advise, and encourage people as they begin to use drop spindles.  At festivals and guild meetings, friends send aspirants my way.  It's great!  I enjoy giving people useful information about handspinning and språng.

Teal & Co. English hand wool combs

     I was pleased the other day to have been in the same room as a set of four pitch English hand wool combs made by Teal & Co.  Never really took to combing wool myself, but I consider Peter Teal's book, Hand Woolcombing and Spinning, to be a great read.

Teal & Co. English hand wool combs

     Speaking of wool combing, let me also show you the fancy diz I made with copper and jade:

copper and jade diz for wool combs

Linen Handkerchiefs and Entropy

handsewn linen handkerchiefs

     The linen handkerchiefs, the ones I sewed six years ago, are just starting to get holes in them.  That's good, especially considering how thin the material is.
     One hankie hitched a ride in a t-shirt I was taking to a dye workshop, so it went into the indigo vat.  So very pretty and yet so very wrong.  Handkerchiefs should be white.

Video Interviews about Guild Membership and Handspinning Flax

     Every so often I record a fibre arts conversation with someone and post it on YouTube.  (I'm not all språng how-to videos!)
     Here is Cindy, talking about her homegrown clothing, the wheel she was given, and how to spin flax into yarn.



     Here is Monica talking about the benefits she has gotten from membership in her local handspinners guild.

Excited for PNW Fibershed's System Map

     Well, this is exciting!  Pacific Northwest Fibershed now has a map of producers of local fibre, local dyes, and local labour at www.bit.ly/Fibershed-crowdmap.  It's called Mapping the Domestic Fiber System, and it's on Google.  It's done in partnership with Ecotrust.
     While Pacific Northwest Fibershed is primarily concerned with producers in its own region, it appears that the map is meant to cover the whole United States.  At least, there are entries from other places.
     Appears that to qualify for a producer listing, you don't need to fall into an official Fibershed affiliate area or need membership in an affiliate.  This is a boon to regions like mine which are only partially covered and lack a producer program.  But, as they say on Air Farce, I'm not bitter.
     Do you produce Fibershed goods or services?  The map is crowd-sourced, so you can add your listing.
     Do you buy local fibre, local dyes, local milling and spinning services, local patterns, local tools, local knitting, weaving, dyeing, or design services, local seeds for dyes or fibre, local fibre arts books, or local fibre arts instruction?  Please give the link to your sources and urge them to add a listing.
     I am still trying to clothe myself with pieces made with natural fibre, plant-based dyes (or naturally-coloured fibre), and fair labour in order to make my life more eco-friendly, beautiful, comfortable, and interesting.  Traceable local materials or labour are a bonus.  So if you're on the map, I might buy from you.  My stack of real indigo J.Crew tees are getting a little faded and shabby.

Somebody Set Up Fibershed Virginia, Please

     I've been talking to shepherds who raise fibre and small business owners who serve fibre artists, and I think there is a need in Virginia for a non-profit or a business to help connect sellers and buyers, and support both.  Have a look at Fibershed's Producer Program and their publicity work and education events.  I wish someone would set up an affiliate Fibershed here.  There is a Fibershed affiliate that covers part of Virginia but I've heard it does not have a producer program, only an education program.
     I think there is consumer demand for textile products that are exceptionally beautiful and functional, raised humanely, produced and delivered in an environmentally-friendly way, presented so that the customer can connect emotionally with the producer, and sold in a way that makes it easy for the customer to buy and use the product.  It probably means e-commerce and in-person sales at public markets.
     Additionally, the products and services should let people be themselves but more so, in an area they deem important to them personally.  I've seen wool let people be generous, be connected with peers, be connected with charismatic stars, show love to family, show their fandom or taste or profession, be a nature lover, be a mentor, be a planner, be a collector, be a savvy shopper, be thrifty, be extravagant or self-indulgent, be a patron, be interesting, and (of course) be a maker.  And in some cases, whatever their thing was, that was their life.  Honestly.  Marry that with a product of remarkable beauty from a seller they know, like, and trust, and people quit caring about the price tag and just buy.
     E-commerce can be tough for producers to arrange.  In my shopping experience, shepherds and mills are open for business but often it is difficult to see and buy their current stock of goods and services.  Right now as a customer you have to be in the know and making a real effort.  Producers will put up a static webpage (often outdated, saying things like "we're really excited about the sheep shearer coming in Spring 2014!") and expect customers to phone them and inquire.  It's like asking people to click.  Chances are they won't.  Or they are focussed on selling breeding stock or milling services, and missing the person who wants to buy yarn or a fleece.  Also, most fiber websites have poor graphic design.  In contrast, the Fibershed website is gorgeous.  Fibre buyers are highly attuned to colour and design.
     Production challenges are an issue that the Northern California Fibershed supports.  I don't know if that is so much of a need in Virginia in the sense of wool going to waste because no one is there to mill it like in Northern California.  Money is leaving the region: I know two or three Virginia-based yarn merchants who send their wool out of state for milling, and I know of another yarn merchant that does its own milling but sends materials out of state for washing.  I once heard from a shepherd who was having trouble finding breeding stock for a rare breed.
     Customer education is needed.  I believe there are buyers out there willing to pay for beautiful textiles they can feel good about, who have no clue what to ask for, how to ask, where to ask, or how much to pay.  Or even that these things exist.  In my experience demonstrating handspinning in public, they have the most basic of questions.  Ten years ago I was like them myself.  A middleman could help.  In the Northern California Fibershed, they've been able to connect some pretty big corporate clients with producers.
     There is also an appetite for education from sophisticated buyers and from producers.  I know handspinners and weavers that travel out of state to hear speakers and take workshops, and they buy books and DVDs.  Rita Buchanan (A Weaver's Garden) is the only fibre arts author I know that wrote in Virginia.  Oh, and Max Hamrick (Organic Fiber Dyeing: The Colonial Williamsburg Method).  Equipment and materials too, the majority of the stuff used by the dozens of handspinners, weavers, dyers, and knitters I know comes from out of state.  And I see a lot of money being spent, these people have disposable income and time.  I can think of one nationally-known manufacturer of equipment in Virginia, Strauch Fiber Equipment Co.
     Some of the functions of such an organization are covered in our region by local guilds, fibre festivals, and breed-specific sheep breeder associations and the Virginia Sheep Producers Association.  Other resources include

• the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services' Virginia Grown program 
• the Virginia Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network
• local chapters of SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), which provides business mentoring
• the Retail Merchants association (RMA) in Richmond
• Business First Greater Richmond
• Thrive Mentor Network at the Greater Richmond Small Business Development Center
• your city or county economic development office or finance office
• your Chamber of Commerce
• U.S. Small Business Administration
• IRS Small Business and Self-Employed Tax Center
• Virginia Cooperative Extension
• Local Harvest, a national e-commerce platform for agricultural products
• Agrilicious, which plans to start a national e-commerce platform for agricultural products
• Etsy, an international e-commerce platform for handmade items, vintage items, and supplies
• Ravelry, which sells advertising placements to reach knitters
• the MidAtlantic Fiber Association (MAFA), for grants
• the Virginia Commission for the Arts, for grants

     What actions can you take, assuming you agree but you're not going to set up Fibershed Virginia yourself?  Write to VDACS to tell them about the Fibershed model, say you think there is an underserved market in Virginia, and tell them specific stories of why this is true.  Tell them why it's important, relating this to their mandates for conservation, economic development, etc.
     Wear beautiful traceable textiles in your daily life, and be prepared to do show and tell and make referrals to your sources.  Throw some work their way.  Distribute brochures for fibre festivals.  Spin yarn, knit, or weave in public.
     Talk to young people about the possibility of finding work in the fibre arts, and about the small scale production equipment available such as mechanized carding machines, e-spinners, knitting machines, floor looms, and mini mills from a company like Belfast Mini Mills.  Consider a Kickstarter campaign to buy a young person equipment and training to set them up in business.  Connect young people who need work experience with fibre small businesses who need services like graphic design, web design, photography, marketing, and social media tutorials.
     Send shepherds encouraging notes, maybe with photographs of them at events that they can use for publicity, and ask them how it's going.  Tell personal fibre stories on social media.  Help a guild or an arts centre apply for a grant.  Refurbish old wheels and looms to keep them in service.  Run a seminar or workshop for the public to show them the possibilities of fibre arts.  Develop and publish educational materials like handouts or booklets.  Pray (or whatever you do instead of praying) for take-charge people to get involved and carry through.  I'm sure you'll think of something.  Thanks.
     I plan to order some cloth reusable shopping bags to dye with indigo, walnut, and madder, to use as a conversation starter when I shop.  I plan to demonstrate handspinning at a farmers' market next weekend, knit in public for WWKIP day the week after, and demonstrate either handspinning or språng at a museum the week after that.
     And you?

Till the Dye Runs Clear

     Once there was a handspinner who went to an indigo dye workshop, and came home and applied what she learned to some wool.  But the indigo rubbed off on skin and spindle.
     You don't want indigo to be rubbing off on your skin and turning your hands blue.
     Off into the reference book and cyberspace went the handspinner in search of a solution.  Into some very hot water and Synthrapol went the rest of the wool.  Many, many basins of wash water later, the handspinner resolved not to dye any more wool with indigo.  Even though the colour was so very, very beautiful, it just wasn't working out.  When the roving dried out, it was so felted, it could not be spun.  Again, not good.
     Now, linen or cotton cloth, I would still dye that with indigo because it can go in the washing machine with Synthrapol.  It is possible to take wool fabric, full it, dye it, and full it again in the washer, but the amount of washing I went through would probably push the fabric past the useable point.

     I recently interviewed a few shepherds and posted the videos on YouTube.  In one interview near the end, Kim Harrison talks about fulling her handwoven fabric from her flock.



     Dyers accept that some natural dyes are not colourfast, but almost everyone else in the Western World expects all dyes should be colourfast, whether natural and synthetic.
     You may be wondering why I got blindsided by that much crocking.  The answer is, the original rinse water was pretty clear.  However, that was washing with regular dish soap and that wasn't good enough.  I just didn't know.
     I've read in a couple of places that indigo crocking is a result of improper dyeing.  I followed the recipe properly.  I have also followed the recipe for a fructose vat and hardly got any colour.  Perhaps I need new fructose.  That problem, as the French say, is another pair of sleeves.  Indigo has that variable ratio reinforcement thing going, it keeps you engaged.

Areas where I try to be Eco-friendly

     Fibershed, which is one of the influences on my work, has changed over the years to put more emphasis on pollution reduction, specifically carbon sequestration through grazing of sheep.  I am still stuck on the natural dyes part which was more Fibershed's earlier message.  And it's not even the environment impact of dyes* that gets me, though I appreciate that aspect.  Natural dyes give such a beautiful result.  And I think they are, as founder Burgess claims, healthier to wear than synthetic dyes.  Can't prove it.  But I think so.
     In my work with the fibre arts, I don't know if there's much more that I do besides what I've already mentioned.  I suppose I consciously limit how much I buy, no S.A.B.L.E. for me.  I try to buy North American products.  I try to buy used equipment.  The only dye made from wood that I would ever use would be osage orange because the trees are considered too abundant in nature.  I've dyed with local black walnut hulls which are a waste product here in Virginia.  I rarely use silk but that's more out of concern for the working conditions in silk factories than anything environmental.  One day I'd like to get some secondhand silk clothing and dye it.  However, I have other things to get through before that.  I'm not used to having this long a to-do list, really.
     In other news around here, the språng demonstration went well last week.  The pillow I stuffed with shredded natural latex worked out well and only took 2.5 pounds of fill.  The indigo-dyed cotton pillow slip looks excellent.  I got more linen in my life by buying a stack of imperfectly-printed tea towels from a local artist's store, Pat Cully Illustrations.
   

*it's not just about water pollution, there's the possibility of taking invasive plant species and using them for dye.  Which I've done, with Scotch broom.

The Princess and the Pea, Right Here

     If you ever get the urge to stuff a pillow with 8 pounds of organic buckwheat hulls, don't.  Well, you might, but I found the result too firm.  Plus it's noisy when you move it.  If anyone has any suggestions for using the buckwheat hulls for something else, please let me know.
     I am going to try again with 4.5 pounds of organic natural shredded latex rubber, stuffing a pillow protector and a pillow slip that I threw into one of the indigo vats I ran this week.  I did a colour remover vat and a Spectralite vat following Jenny Dean's directions for the hydrosulfite indigo vat.  The Spectralite vat gave less colour.
     Will be demonstrating språng today at a local fibre festival.
     The handspinning demonstration, at a local museum last week, went well.  I used my spindle and gave away a lot of 8 inch-ish pieces of handspun wool yarn, mostly to children.

     Update: the latex pillow worked out very well.  It only took about 2.5 pounds of shredded latex.

Jacquard SolarFast Dye Fail

Jacquard SolarFast Dye on a tote bag

     I think I can fix the problems with this tote bag I dyed with Jacquard SolarFast dye.  The dye bled and it is too dark.  The image looks like it is positioned too low when the bag is full, even though the image is centred.  There is blue discolouration: it should be solid black but instead the dye is breaking apart in spots.  It was a warm day and there was some condensation under the glass and negative.  According to the manufacturer's FAQs (helpfully sent to me by the supplier Dharma Trading Co.), the discolouration is probably due to too much dye.
     It's pretty cool even with its faults.
     The sheep in the picture are local Gulf Coast Native sheep, and the picture is from an original photo I took.
     The bag is stuffed with some inexpensive drop spindles I made, and some wool, for a handspinning demonstration I'm going to today.

Building a Fort

     Metalwork still has me in its grip, and I attempted nålbinding again.  I tried the nice simple Oslo stitch, sitting with a friend and Viking re-enactor who knows how to do it.  Then I took it home and the pixies must have got hold of the piece when I wasn't watching, as it's not looking like it should.  Un-looping a few stitches hasn't helped me figure out how to start again.
     My other yarn projects are no more complicated than a hemp seed stitch dish cloth.  I quite like how that's coming out.  Much better drape than the garter stitch ones I did a few years ago.  Less stretchy.  Also, I like being able to leave the project sitting out beside my chair overnight without worrying that moths will break in and steal.*
     I guess I did make something since I last blogged, a språng bag to give as a gift.  I broke my synthetic dye diet for that.  The colour was the polar opposite of my taste, too.  Anyway, it was a cute little bag.  Operative word being little, it came out half the size I was expecting two skeins to give.  I did one of my favourite patterns, the one from Skrydstrup, Denmark.  I like patterns I don't have to think much about when I'm doing them.  With the hemp knitted dish cloth, actually, I tried linen stitch and just couldn't hack it.  Strange because there's not much to the directions but that's how it is.

språng bag in Skrydstrup pattern

     The two wool sweaters are still unfinished and the Quince & Co. Sparrow swatches for the linen sweater have been abandoned, but only because I have switched yarns.  I got a couple of one pound cones from Catnip Yarns.  Isn't that a great shop name?  The owner specializes in undyed yarn, which is cool.
     With that and the two cones of hemp yarn from Hemp Basics, and all the one kilogram containers of dyes and additives from Maiwa (for my shop, dye kits are back in stock), I'm thinking of building a fort with it all.
     But yeah, the metalwork.  The planning.  The watching of old Craftsy classes plus a few new ones.  The ambition to try new techniques.  The signing up for local classes.  The careful choosing of materials.  Oh, the materials.  It's like buying wool.  I knew I had it bad when my Internet browser started to automatically fill in the URL with Rio Grande when I typed www.  I finally got together my sterling silver scraps from lost wax casting and sent them in to Rio Grande to get money out of them to buy silver sheet and wire.  Sort of like tossing the stash.
     I wish someone had told the Craftsy instructors how to pronounce Rio Grande properly.  Rhymes with Monday.  Everybody gets it wrong except Mark Nelson, which is no surprise since he works for the company.


*wee Bible joke: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Matthew 6:19-21 KJV
The pixies were a joke, too.

Natural Dye Shopping List

     I thought I'd give you a shopping list of dyes for Maiwa, my supplier.  It gives a well-rounded assortment.

• Gallnut Extract 100g (3.6 oz.)
• Fructose - 250g (8.82 oz.)
• Calcium Carbonate 250g (8.82 oz)
• Potassium Alum Sulfate 100g (3.6 oz.)
• Weld 100g (3.6 oz.)
• Walnut Husks Ground 100g (3.6 oz.)
• Madder 100g (3.6 oz.)
• Calcium Hydroxide (Calx) 60g (2.1 oz)
• Indigo Natural 30g (1.1 oz.)

     If you are wondering how to dye with natural dyes, Maiwa has informational guides about natural dyes at https://maiwa.com/pages/instructions including The Maiwa Guide to Natural Dyes: What They Are and How to Use Them, Indigo and Woad: Natural and Synthetic, and The Organic Vat.  The last one is also about indigo and includes the fructose vat, which is what the shopping list is meant to give.
     In other news, I have made headway in my effort to have more linen in my life.  I bought a pair of linen socks from Rawganique.  They look like sports socks but they are linen instead of cotton, and they are undyed which goes well with my synthetic dye diet.  Wearing the socks feels as good as wading in the ocean barefoot.  Really.  And I very much like wading in the ocean.
     I haven't totally given up on the plan to knit a linen sweater.  We shall see.  Maybe a linen språng pullover like the wool one I did.  That would be amazing.