Know Your Fibres
Textiles and ultimately clothing start with fibres
Know Your Fibres
Fibres are short fine hairs that can be twisted or spun into longer thread or yarn. This may be woven or knitted into fabric.
Fibres (and then yarns and ultimately fabrics) can be can be natural, synthetic or chemically produced hybrid called regenerated fibres.
Natural fibres Are derived from plants like cotton or animals like wool and silk,
Synthetic fibres are man-made from chemicals many of which are petroleum derived.
Regenerated Fibres The base material is cellulose that can be obtained from a range of sources. It is then converted through a chemical process into fibres.
Read more HERE
Guest Post
Thanks to Jen for this introduction to natural yarns…
Knitting and crochet are very popular hobbies these days and you can find yarn in almost every craft shop. The trouble is that, whilst the common term for it is “wool”, a lot of what you will find is actually plastic, often in the form of acrylic (which, incidentally, isn’t made in the UK). Care is, therefore, needed when you go shopping.
Acrylic yarn is cheap and can be washed in the washing machine, in addition it’s available in a huge range of colours, so it’s a very common choice. However, it sheds large numbers of fibres (and all that machine washing does nothing to reduce this) and it doesn’t maintain its look and shape like real wool does. If you want to avoid plastic for your knitting and crochet there are, however, a range of options:
Wool: Probably the most obvious alternative is real wool – you know, the stuff that comes from sheep. Wool is a very accommodating yarn to work with as it has some stretch. Here in the UK it is easy to buy British Wool: check the ball bands and look got 100% wool not a wool/manmade fibre blend. I’m not going to list brands or suppliers, because there are so many, but you can buy wool from a wide range of sources, from large companies through to individual farms. Take a look at Woolsack for a comprehensive list of British wool sources and stockists. You can buy generic or breed-specific wool. Different sheep breeds produce different sorts of wool with different properties, so if you have a specific set of requirements, it’s best to do some research first: soft Blue-faced Leicester, for example, is somewhat different to lustrous Wensleydale. You can find information on-line (here, for example), but it’s best to go to your local yarn shop and feel the wool… and ask questions. Whilst it’s easy enough to buy online, it’s much better to have personal experience rather than relying on a written description. It’s also worth noting that there are those who rave only about Merino wool; however, very little is produced in Britain and there are great local alternatives such as Blue-faced Leicester. If you are looking for machine-washable wool, then you can buy ‘Superwash’ wool, but it is actually plastic-coated (the chemical used is polyamide-epichlorohydrin, known commercially as Hercosett 125). I prefer to wash my woollies in a no-rinse wool wash, such as Eucalan which just requires soaking followed by gentle wringing or pressing between a couple of towels.
Other mammal fibres: It’s possible to produce yarn from a whole range of fluffy critters: goats, rabbits, camels, alpaca, yak and many others. The fibre from each has different characteristics, and, in general, they are relatively expensive. Again, it’s best to get up close to them before you decide which is the yarn for you.
Cotton: There’s plenty of cotton yarn available and there are no issues with plastics here, unless it’s a blend (which is not uncommon). Cotton, however, is a crop that uses huge amounts of water and (unless it is organic) to which huge amounts of pesticides are applied, so whilst you’re avoiding plastic, you might want to consider other environmental issues. Of course, no cotton is grown in the UK, but there are some recycled cotton yarns available. In terms of knitting and crochet, cotton has no stretch to it and it can be rather unforgiving to work with.
Other plant fibres: Some plants, like flax and nettle, contain fibres that can be removed by a process called retting (basically rotting away the soft bits and leaving the long fibres) and then spinning these. Linen, hemp and nettle HEREyarns are made this way; indeed ‘linen’ is sometimes used as a generic term to describe this sort of fibre. Like cotton, these yarns tend not to be stretchy and so can be more difficult to knit or crochet than wool/mammal fibres.
Silk: Silk comes from insects: most commonly the mulberry silkworm. It’s sometimes available as a pure yarn, but it’s often included in a mix with other fibres to provide lustre and strength. Like the plant fibres, it isn’t stretchy.
© Jan Martin 2018
thesnailofhappiness.com
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This post was written by the contributor.
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It took me about six weeks from start to finish (I crochet quickly), and I have a beautiful creation, 100% British Wool, that is completely plastic-free, and which should last a lifetime. I feel strongly that if I am going to put many, many hours into a piece of work, I owe it to myself and the planet to use good quality materials that won’t have negative impacts in the years during which it will be used and enjoyed.
While in Spain I visited Lidles and I came across a set of festive biscuit cutters in a cardboard box. They might have them in the UK.
