**Oh, Y’ALL! I never published this! I was adding tags and noticed the word ‘draft’. (I wrote it December 7)**
Our November winner according to random.org is Comment #44 left by Pam of Northstar Knits! Many congratulations! The yarn and pattern were sent on their way this morning.
Y’all stick around. December is our Grand Finale! While there are many wonderful, fabulous and simply splendid yarns in this world, I feel pretty good about telling you that I saved the best for last.
See you in a weekish for the last of the Mindful Fiber series.
Back in September, we learned how to separate sheep and wool. In August it was cotton. There was also linen, bamboo, alpaca, angora and on and on. But then what? How does that mass of matty, filthy, greasy, smelly fiber transform into clean, tidy, brilliantly colored yarn?
I bet you thought you’d never find out. This article only hits the highlights – what I left out could fill a library!
The basic steps in fiber processing are the same for any natural fiber:
Wash – Fiber comes from outdoors. Outdoors is filthy.
Pick – Separate the fiber so it’s loose and not clumpy. Larger bits of nature are removed. Commercial yarns are typically ‘scoured’ as well; they are treated with a chemical that burns out any organic material.
Card – Brush brush comb comb. Lines up the individual fibers.
Roving – Roll the fiber into a fluffy, loose, soft rope.
Spin – Twist up that roving! Spinning adds firmness and stability. Strands are twisted together for additional structure, different weights and appearance. Each individual strand is called a ‘ply’. The more plys – the sturdier the yarn. The number of plys does not necessarily indicate the weight of the yarn!
Wind/Skein/Ball – Yarn is put into a usable amount and workable format.
In the case of large yarn companies, these steps may all happen in a different places – possibly in different locations around the globe. There are also smaller spinneries who do everything in-house and provide custom services (Ohio Valley Natural Fibers), local spinneries that combine and process all the fleece (or whatever) in their general area (Green Mountain Spinnery), certified organic spinneries (Vermont Organic Fiber Co.), wind-powered fiber mills (Hope Spinnery) and on and on. In the past few years, it seems like there are more small local mills than ever. I think it has to do with the internet. These unique yarns have been given a broader marketplace than a fiber festival and have become more financially viable. And of course, fiber can be processed and spun by hand!
Commercial processing uses lots of chemicals to condition, bleach, soften or moth-proof the fiber as well as make it easer to process. Commercial processing is also heavy on water use. Organic processing uses different combinations of organic agents and biodegradable soaps to limit environmental impact. ‘Natural processing’ also indicates that less chemicals are used (sometimes only soap). So if you want an environmentally friendly yarn look for: organic, minimally processed, mills that use alternative power sources and are conscious about water use (clean it, treat it, recycle it). For a yarn to be labeled as ‘organic’ after processing, it must be grown and processed, dyed to organic standards and have the paperwork to go with it. A yarn labeled as ‘organically-grown’ or ‘organically-processed’ is only that – it could be dyed with anything. If you purchase hand-processed yarn, there may be little bits of grass and stuff spun in. This indicates that the yarn has not been chemically scoured (a good thing) just pick it out as you knit.
For a closer look at fiber processing in a mill setting, the following is a really great video from Autumn Mist Alpaca Farm in New York. It’s almost 15 minutes long but worth it if you’ve got the time.
She does indeed say that she’s de-hairing dog fur.
Now, dyeing. Every type of fiber responds to color differently. Every type of dye reacts differently to fiber. There are acid dyes, basic dyes, reactive dyes, sulfer dyes, vegetable dyes, people even dye yarn with Kool-Aid. Natural dyes (made from plants) take a lot a LOT longer than the chemical type and the colors aren’t as vibrant. Some yarns sit in their nautral dye baths for days or weeks to achieve the desired saturation. There are many variables that affect the color during the process: water temperature, age of the dye, agitation, fiber type, preparation, time in the dye, colorant to water to fiber ratio and on and on. There are also many many many ways of getting dye onto the fiber: squirt bottles, spray bottles, dipping, dunking, boiling, microwave, paint brushes. But there are only two basic times during processing sequence that dye is applied: after the yarn is spun (dyed in the yarn) or while the fiber is still, well, fiber (dyed in the wool).
The immersion method of dying is the most widely used method of dyeing ‘in the yarn’. Basically, hanks of yarn are dunked in vats of dye. There are dozens of different ways to dunk the yarn (by machine or by hand) and an infinite number of sizes of vat. The ‘lot’ is how many skeins fit into the vat at one time. On an industrial scale, immersion lots dyed with acid dyes stay intense and true in color from one skein to the next. Hand-processed lots vary more within the lot.
Same color, different lots. (vegetable dye)
To ‘dye in the wool,’ the raw and fluffy fleecy poof is treated with dye before it’s ever spun. Some crazy things can be done with color: heathered yarns, blending red and yellow fiber to make orange, spots, stripes, unique and unrepeatable variations. Look for yarns labeled ‘dyed in the wool’, ‘fleece dyed’ or ‘stock-dyed.’
Roger’s yarn is dyed as roving, spun and then plied with another strand.
Interestingly: when you buy yarn from a small hand-dyed yarn company – particularly one-person operations – their undyed, millspun yarn typically comes from the same yarn suppliers as everyone else’s (ie Henry’s Attic, Louet). Because of that, the dyer’s eye for color, application and type of dye is the differentiator.
**This giveaway is closed! Be sure to come back closer to the end December for the grand finale of Mindful Fiber!**
If you want something entirely unique, look for yarns that are hand spun and hand dyed. Myrtille of SpinSpanSpun creates exactly that. I found Myrtille when I was looking for a custom heavy-weight yarn for C is for Cat and I have drooled over her wares ever since! SpinSpanSpun carries a great mix of mill and hand spun yarns a large chunk of which is organic wool from the French Alps. When superior materials and Myrtille’s talent for color are combined, the result is simply marvelous. Myrtille lives in France, so it takes a bit for the yarn to make it from her door to mine but every moment is worth it. Just ask her Ravelry group and her Etsy customers. For our giveaway this month, I have eleven of Myrtille’s miniskeins!
Mill spun organic merino sock weight dyed with eco-friendly dyes.
The yarn will come (from Alabama, not France) by Priority Mail and the pattern by Ravelry gift (you don’t have to Ravel). If colorwork (or Christmas) isn’t your thing, you can get four hexi-puffs out of each skein.
Whatever you choose to make, comment on this post with all haste! Since it worked so well last time, extra entries for those who post, retweet, pin or whatever! Please leave another comment for counting purposes. We’ll leave this giveaway open for just one week – until December 4, 2012 so that the winner has time to make ornaments!
They’re small. And I am sure y’all can knit like the wind.
**This giveaway is closed! Be sure to come back closer to the end December for the grand finale of Mindful Fiber!**
One million thanks to everyone who played along! And thank you another million for all of the promotion. Mindful fiber is to raise awareness, and you really helped me out with that this time around.
The Random Number Generator picked lucky number 50! Which means that big congratulations go to Sanguine (you can find her on Ravelry if you’d like to ask what she plans to get)! She’s got a lot of alpaca in her future!
Incidentally, if you are looking at a blend, try the one with Cormo wool. My stars. Unbelievably soft (mine came yesterday).
Everyone else, stay tuned for November! I’ll start that post the moment the yarn arrives – I want the winner to have a chance to make the recommended pattern in time for the holidays. Or a lot of hexipuffs.
**THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED. COME BACK LATER IN NOVEMBER FOR MORE MINDFUL FIBER!**
Alpacas are amazing! I didn’t realize just how much I didn’t know about them until I started doing research for this month’s Mindful Fiber! I was going to compare alpaca husbandry in the Americas, but let’s have a lesson about the animals instead.
Things I knew about alpacas before I started doing the research for this article:
They ‘pronk’ when they are happy. I’m not kidding, here’s a baby:
(Pronking is a little bouncy happy dance.)
Things I know about alpacas now:
There are two types of alpacas: Suri (long, silky locks of hair) and Huacaya (crinkly, dense fuzz). About 90% of the world’s population are Huacaya. Both have coarse hairs (‘guard’ hairs) that have to be removed before spinning the soft wooly fiber. There’s a machine for that, although my source (see below) says in many cases the guard hairs can be separated by hand.
Alpacas have been domesticated since 4,000BC, so there is no such thing as a ‘wild’ alpaca. Their closest wild cousins are vicuñas.
Alpacas are social animals. They prefer to live in family groups consisting of an alpha male, females and their young. Alpacas make a ton of sounds to communicate: humms, grunts, clicks and a Fearsome squeaky, gaspy, donkey-like noise when threatened.
Gold star if you can tell me Suri or Huacaya!
They are tidy critters who specify a latrine area that the entire group uses.
They have paddy feet and toes with toenails – not hooves (neither do camels and llamas so that’s something I should have known). And can spit (that is, vomit grass in projectile fashion) like all camelids. AND only have teeth on the bottom! Food chewing is done by grinding the bottom teeth on an upper plate (hence the sort of figure-8 mouth movement).
Alpacas do not make lanolin! So even if you’ve got a wool sensitivity, alpaca fiber is still worth a try. There is plenty to try: there are 22 naturally occurring colors of alpaca fleece.
The vast majority of commercially available alpaca fiber is still grown in South America – nearly all (like 99%) of the world’s alpaca population is found in the highlands of Peru, Chile and Bolivia. The species was domesticated in the Andes mountains thousands of years ago, and export to other countries has been tightly controlled. It wasn’t until the mid-1980s that the alpaca moved to the U.S. as an industry. And when I say industry, it’s not the fiber that U.S. investors are interested in – it’s the animals themselves! Since the import of alpacas is still limited, an average breeding female can sell for anywhere between $1000 and $30,000. In the U.S., the alpaca industry remains relatively small with few reports of the abuses often seen in the wool industry. But (as with anything) as it grows there will be more potential for neglect and misconduct.
Which is why I gravitate towards small farms for my fiber wants. Small farms with respect for their animals. Small farms like North Star Alpacas.
Maple’s goal is to never have to mow the grass. There’s been a lot of clever fence building with that in mind.
Maple is the self-declared #1 pooper scooper in the North Star barn. She also washes, dyes, picks, cards, and spins the fleece her alpacas grow. The farm is strictly a fiber-farm these days and hosts a herd of 22 alpaca, 2 horses, 2 dogs, 2 barn cats, and 1 house cat. There are four new boys arriving this weekend to bring the herd size up to 26! The North Star Alpacas blog is closed, but I had a wonderful time exploring the archives and learning about life among the hairy. In her own words, “I’m lucky to be doing something that I love that actually pays for itself.”
For the month of October, I have a $50 gift certificate to North Star Alpacas’ Etsy shop. You can use it to buy all of this:
If you don’t knit (or if you are feeling lazy), Maple has hats and scarves already made! Shop for Christmas presents for friends (or presents for yourself).
**THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED. COME BACK LATER IN NOVEMBER FOR MORE MINDFUL FIBER!**
Since we’re almost out of October, this is a short short giveaway and will close on Wednesday, October 31, 2012. Don’t waste time – leave a comment on this post to be entered in the drawing. The random number generator will take care of the rest. Since it is a short short short giveaway, I’ll offer extra entries if you promote this on your social media outlet of choice (Ravelry, Twitter, Facebook, etc.)! Please leave a second comment with a link to the post/tweet/whathaveyou for accounting purposes.
You can find North Star Alpacas on Facebook, in PhatFiber boxes, and (of course) on Etsy.
Unless otherwise noted, Maple Smith holds the copyright to all the still pictures used in this article. They are used with permission
**THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED. COME BACK LATER IN NOVEMBER FOR MORE MINDFUL FIBER!**
Wild breeds of sheep naturally shed their wool when the weather warms. There are still a few ‘primative’ North American breeds that have more hair than wool (like dogs and their undercoats), and ‘heirloom’ breeds like Shetlands shed their wool due to a natural break in fiber growth in the spring. However, most breeds were domesticated long, long ago. Commodity and continuous growth won out over sheepy independence and ‘commercial’ sheep breeds require some form of human involvement to loose that wool.
This guy (photographed by McBadger) has evaded the shearers. One New Zealand ram managed to dodge shearing for 6 years – his fleece weighed 60 pounds when he was finally caught.
Farm Sanctuary, a domestic farm animal rescue organization in California, has an excellent article about the necessities of sheep shearing. For today, we’ll focus on the process.
So how does it happen? How does one separate the wool from the wool bearer? Well, it takes some kind of clippers. And a lot of strength. In this video from Plumpton College, the basic method of shearing a sheep is demonstrated.
Certainly looks uncomfortable for the sheep, but he’s keeping her still and stretching her skin to prevent cuts.
Large wool operations have specialized sheds and hire a team of professionals and their electric clippers at shearing time. Machine shears were developed in the 1880s and were in widespread use by the 1940s. A flock can be shorn in a few days to a week or so depending on the number of animals. Many professional shearing groups take pride in how quickly they can work their way through a flock. There are competitions, awards and prestige associated with speed. While this may be good for the workers (who are paid by the critter), it isn’t necessarily good for the sheep.
When numbers or farming practices don’t call for machine shearing (or folks are feeling traditional), blade shearing is used.
She also talks about the ‘whys’ of the process.
There are obvious advantages to blade shearing, particularly in colder climates. The inch or so of wool left behind protects of sheep from cold and sunburn, reduces stress on sheep, reduces how much they need to eat after shearing, and results in heavier birth weight of lambs.
Sheep are typically shorn in spring, preferably before lambing (there is more room in the barn and it’s easier for the lambs to nurse without all that wool). Because of demand and the high price of wool, some flocks are shorn twice a year. An estimated one million sheep die of exposure each year because of practices like this.
Morehouse Farm in New York shears their Merino sheep once a year. Merino sheep are a special case for shearers. One of the oldest breeds of sheep with some of the softest fiber, Merinos are also covered in wrinkly folds of skin. Because of the folds, going at them with clippers is a scary business. It takes two or three days to shear the entire Morehouse flock. The resulting fleece is also processed, spun and dyed in the US. From Morehouse Farm’s FAQ:
Are your Merino sheep happy sheep?
Our sheep are well cared for and we treat them with kindness.
For the September giveaway, I’ve got a whole cardigan!
Charmeuse!
It seems to be the perfect weight for a seasonal transition sweater and probably goes with anything. There is enough yarn there to make the largest size and after perusal of the pattern, it seems like a nice relaxing project. For a chance to win this kit, just leave a comment on this post!
If you hate the color (I was going for elegant and neutral), I’ll include the receipt so you can request an exchange. There’s a really pretty pink…if you like pink.
You can find Morehouse Farm on Facebook, Twitter, and their website (which is where you order the yarn and fleece).
Best of luck – the giveaway will close September 30th so comment early (but in this case, not often)!
I’ll point out that all the sheep in these videos and pictures have their tails docked. The link claims that this is necessary for the health of the sheep. Many animal welfare organizations disagree.
As a curiosity: In 1994, Australian scientists invented a way of removing the wool from sheep without shearing. They inject the sheep with a protein that causes a break in the wool growth, then wrap them in a jackety net. A few weeks later, the fleece peels right off. I also read somewhere that Australian scientists have developed a robot for shearing sheep.
My Hiatus Dish Rag has been in in the sink this week, and I’m a little surprised at how much I like the 2nd Time Cotton. It really keeps it’s shape even after being scrubbed around. I think it would be great for a gift cloth since it won’t look chewed on after use. I hope our August winners enjoy their recycled cotton as much as I have!
Ellie has selected winners this month: “Number three and that last one you said.” Big congratulations to Stephanie and KT! I’ve emailed you for addresses and (if you’re very lucky, just ask last month’s winners) I’ll get your yarn in the mail this weekend.
Rainy Day Update: There’s been more rain and wind yesterday afternoon and last night than the rest of the time. Before that there was a couple inches of rain in the gauge (I haven’t been out to check this morning). Thanks for all the good, dry thoughts!
All the cotton pictures are courtesy of my darling sister, Anna Elizabeth McCloud. I’ve reserved her rights.
This isn’t even a little surprising: cotton fulfills about half of the world’s fiber needs. It is also one of the most chemically dependent crops since 16-25% (depending on who is doing the reporting) of the world’s insecticides -more than any other major crop- are used in production. As much as 1/4 of a pound of chemicals are used to produce enough cotton fiber to create a single t-shirt. That’s hard on the environment, rough for the farm workers and not especially healthy for the wearer of the t-shirt.
In response to consumer concerns, the conventional cotton industry claims to have spent the past 50 years making a concerted effort to improve sustainability and increase crop yield without destroying the environment*. According to mainstream industry publications, research and technology has made it possible to reduce the amount of pesticide use by as much as 50% while increasing yield by the same percentage. As biodiversity and modern farming techniques (contour plowing, planting trees to prevent soil erosion, soil profiles) become more widespread, the carbon footprint of cotton crops will be reduced.
But what does that really mean? The 50% reduction in pesticide use only refers to the amount of chemicals used on the plants themselves. It does not speak to the toxicity of the chemicals or whether the farms have reduced the amount on the fields because they practice ‘area-wide’ pest control. If the increase in yield is thanks to growing 75% of the world’s cotton from genetically modified* seeds, is that really helping anything in the long run? Happily, there is another choice: organic cotton is grown without the use of toxic or persistent pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. This means that organic production depends on its ability to replenish and maintain soil fertility as well as build biologically diverse agriculture. Federal regulation prohibits the use of genetically engineered seed for organic farming. All cotton sold as organic in the United States must meet federal regulations regarding how the cotton is grown.
Whether organic or not, cotton fiber is processed with the same basic steps: harvest, clean, spin, do something with the yarn (I’m sure you’ve all heard about Eli Whitney and the cotton gin, and have a basic understanding of how fiber is spun into yarn.). The difference is that organic cotton is not bleached or chemically treated during processing and, if you pick a color-grown shade, it’s not even dyed. With conventional cotton, only the spinning process is devoid of chemicals. Formaldehyde, chlorine, and assorted anti-wrinkling agents are just a few of the things avoided when organic cotton is purchased. Organic cotton does have a premium price tag in most cases. Some of that is due to trend, but there is a higher cost in production that must be weighed against the long-term cost that conventional farming has on the environment when selecting a yarn.
But wait, there is another option that is both planet and pocket friendly! Recycled Cotton!
Featured Yarn: 2nd Time Cotton from K1C2
Cotton is recycled by collecting the waste, scraps and excess yarn that is left over during clothing production. The bits and pieces are shredded down to fibers, sorted by color and then spun into ‘new’ yarn. The recycled cotton fibers are often plied with another fiber for added strength. In my experience this secondary fiber is typically acrylic, but that is often derived from recycled sources as well. Recycling takes less time and money and avoids a large chunk of the environmentally harmful aspects of cotton by skipping over growing and dyeing. Recycled cotton is used as polishing and wiper cloths in industry and has been made into paper – the fibers are used as stuffing for cushions! But who cares about that? We’re knitters. We like yarn.
For August, I’ve got a pattern for everyone and yarn for a few.
That’s Hiatus, the dish rag for while you are waiting for the Return of Dish Rag Tag. It’s not designed for speed. It’s designed for pretty. And relaxation. A delightful change. Hiatus is available as a freebie on Ravelry and will be on my free patterns page as soon as I remember how to make that happen. As for the yarn, I’ve got a skein of 2nd Time Cotton (see above) from Knit 1 Crochet Too for two winners drawn at random from the comments AND for the first two people to knit through the Hiatus pattern and send me notes! Congratulations to C.C. and Jenipurr, the first two knitters through the pattern! That was so fast you made my head spin! As near as I can tell, a skein of 2nd Time Cotton is enough for three dish cloths – or a larger project of your choosing. It’s actually got a real nice hand. I’m not usually a fan of acrylic content, but in this application it makes a nice addition. Also? Made in the U.S.A. You don’t get that often in a yarn.
Get to commenting! Get to knitting! This giveaway will be closed on August 28, so leave a comment on this post before then for your chance to win. If you can’t wait to order some cotton of your own, Green Sheep Shop is offering 20% off on all cotton and cotton-blend yarns for August. Coincidence is a crazy thing.
*Interestingly, until about 50 years ago, the majority of the world’s cotton crops were still produced with sustainable, traditional farming practices. Practices that already included crop rotation, natural fertilizers and satisfaction with the plant’s built in ability to withstand drought and tolerance of less than pure water.
**It’s not that I have a problem with better living through science. It’s that I have a problem with Monsanto. I have a problem any company that has a choke-hold on congress and wants to hold the world’s food supply hostage with lawsuits.
My Random Number Generators (one is more random than the other) have chosen 14 and 23 as the numbers this month! Counting down and skipping my own comment, our winners are
Your Quince&Co. Sparrow will be in flight this week! Thanks so much to everyone for making this so much fun for me, and many thanks to Quince&Co. for putting such thought into their yarns.
We’ve got one more month of summer and one more warm-weather yarn! Stick around for August and more Mindful Fiber!
