Friends are great, aren’t they? You can laugh with them, you can knit/crochet with them, you can share life’s ups and downs, and you can provide each other with alibis when needed. (Just for the record, my friend Alice was definitely here at my house knitting at 3.30am on Saturday night. She would be aghast at the merest suggestion that she was anywhere near the yarn heist that went down that night.)
The other good thing about friends is that you can shamelessly mine their lives for material to use in your blog. What?! Is that not perfectly normal behaviour? Oh well, let’s do it anyway. For example, my friend Jo is quite adventurous when it comes to knitting/crocheting – I’ll just call it yarning – with things that are not conventionally regarded as yarn. I have three examples to show you, and I am most definitely saving the best for last. The first is actually a yarn that she once gave me:-
Yup, it’s made from old newspaper, tightly rolled. How cool is that?
My plan for it was to make a bowl, which I’d then seal with PVA glue. I tried crochet first but, well, this yarn and I had a little argument. Actually, it was a big argument. Things got ugly. There was flouncing. So I switched to knitting this stuff, and there was hope, until it broke again…
It is a tricky knit, because this yarn is even more breaky than Rowan Felted Tweed, but I am learning to work each stitch extremely gently whilst murmuring to it in a soothing voice, and RESISTING THE URGE TO YELL OBSCENITIES OR SET FIRE TO THE BLIGHTER. If I can finish the job without too many yarn breakages, it’ll be beautiful. I will keep you posted on my progress. But let’s just say that I don’t think anyone will be getting knitted newspaper socks for Christmas this year.
At the other end of the breakability scale is Kevlar, and that’s what Jo’s been crocheting with lately. Yes, I am talking about that super-strong fibre that puts the ‘bombproof’ in ‘bombproof vest’.
I’m not sure how Jo came to be in possession of a cone of Kevlar fibre but don’t worry, it wasn’t an alibi-needing situation. She set to work with her crochet hook. Here’s her progress so far. Neat, delicate-looking, and very, very, strong:-
In case you’ve never had the pleasure, Kevlar fibre feels just a bit harder and rougher than cotton thread. You wouldn’t want to knit a snuggly cardigan out of this yarn. But hey, at least it’d be a bombproof snuggly cardigan… that wasn’t very snuggly.
Anyway, Jo showed me her progress. She certainly won’t be breaking the yarn by hand when she’s finished… or if she does, then I will make a mental note never, ever, to engage her in an arm-wrestling contest.
I’m not sure what the finished piece is going to be, but Jo has small children, so I can only assume that her plan is to replace all household textiles with alternatives that might genuinely be childproof. I reckon this idea could catch on.
Did I mention that I was saving the best for last? Look at this wonderful little bowl, also crocheted by Jo:-
Want to guess what it’s made from? Oh, you read the title of this blog post, so you know already: seaweed. Specifically, sea spaghetti, which grows rampantly around the UK’s south coast and which can, I’m told, be cooked and eaten.
Being a dedicated yarn-addict, Jo evaluates most things she comes across as to their knitting potential. (We’re already on a mission to make nettle yarn together.) All I can say is that if she comes round to your house, you’ll need to keep a close eye on your shoelaces. And your spaghetti. Also, your charging cables. Anyway, Jo was on holiday beside the sea, and given a paucity of decent yarn shops near to where she was staying, she cast her eye around for possibilities. And that’s when she noticed the sheer quantity of sea spaghetti that was growing in the shallow waters. Long, thin, flexible sea spaghetti…
Jo harvested some of the weed. (NO, AUTOCORRECT, I DID NOT MEAN TO WRITE ‘DEAD’. JO HAS NEVER, TO MY KNOWLEDGE, HARVESTED THE DEAD.) And then she washed it and laid it out to dry.
Apparently crocheting this stuff wasn’t too difficult, but was… aromatic. She made a small bowl, which she then left to dry completely, moulded over an upturned cup. Isn’t it fabulous? I think she should keep seashells in it.
So I have to ask because I’m a nosy blighter, what’s the most unconventional type of fibre that you’ve used for your crochet/knitting?
Also, has anybody seen my shoelaces? I swear I left them in my shoes…
Ooh! Nettle yarn? When I lived in Fressingfield, our yard (garden) was overrun with them; specifically, the side yard where the heating oil tank lived. I felt sorry for the delivery men! I think nettle yarn sounds a lot like Willy Wonka’s experimental exploding candy – great for your enemies! Love Jo’s sense of adventure when it comes to using alternate materials.
I’ve definitely had a try with fine noodles and chopsticks in an Asian restaurant (was it Wagamama??) but noodles break very easily. You could try soba noodles, but then there’s the length…
This Easter, I was hanging around at a Welsh castle waiting for the kids to stop courting certain death by hurling themselves down very steep escarpments and over various curtain walls, and found myself siting next to some dead winter grasses, and there were tufts of sheeps wool too. I found myself plying them together – they looked eminently knittable, and I managed to cast on to some sticks and get a couple of rows done.
Then I left it hanging in a nearby tree in the hope that someone would discover it and think it was some sort of witchy shamble or hex. ;-D It was sort of a mess.
By the way, nettle fibre (bast fibre) makes rather silky, linen-like yarn that should take dye quite nicely. The rotting down, soaking and plying would be a bit of a bind, though. I’ve made very short lengths of green nettle cord at Wood festival, which is fun.
Have fun with the nettle yarn but make sure to rett it outside as it is like making weed tea for the garden and stinks to high heavens. I remember watching Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall pee on some wool once when he and some ladies were dyeing it and thinking “hmmm, I don’t think I would want to wear anything made out of that…well I don’t think I would wear anything made out of compost tea either 😉 You can spin newspaper. There are tutorials online for how to do it and now that you are a spinner you could make your own and make it as strong as you like using thinner strips. The Australian aboriginals made bags out of seaweed so your friend Jo is definitely onto a primitive thing there with her natural fibre investigations. Try grasses etc. They can be fun. I haven’t crocheted with it but I have hooked it into a crochet dolls head, “human hair” from a friend who had her head shaved for raising money for cancer research and I regularly crochet and knit with dog hair but that’s just because it’s all over my yarn when I hook/knit up my projects 😉
There’s an old story about some young men who were turned into swans. Their sister had to spin and weave (or it could be knit) nettle fibres into jackets for them to break the enchantment. To add spice (or peril) the nettles had to be gathered from churchyards at night.
Naturally she got into trouble and was accused of being a witch. Fortunately her captors allowed her to keep her nettle-fibre project, which she continued to work on right up to the point of her intended execution.
At which point her brothers flew in, she threw the finished and part finished jackets over them and they all turned back into humans, though one still had a wing as she hadn’t been able to finish a sleeve!
Which kinda provided confirmation of her story (back then people, read ‘the men in charge’ never listened to what women had to say, and didn’t believe them on some twisted principle.) So she wasn’t executed for witchcraft, or anything else, and they all lived happily ever after (or something like that.)
Mind you, if I come across some of that sea spaghetti on our local beaches . . . Sounds potentially much less painful than collection your own nettles for yarnery.
I’ve tried knitting with fine gauge jewelry wire, with beads, to make some piece of jewelry. It didn’t look too nice and I didn’t really want to practice all that much, so nothing came of it.
I’ve been saving bailing string from my hay bales for years but haven’t yet knitted with it. I bought some “yarn” made out of paper once…but there are too many beautiful wools that keep distracting me.
My grandma used nettles for food and clothing and told me “to pick nettles safely do it when they are flowering as the sting is reduced so bees can pollinate”. I haven’t tried it as nettles are a bit scarce here in Australia.
Thank you for the “to pick nettles safely” tip. One day years ago when we were living in Switzerland, I was walking through the woods on a path to my daughter’s kindergarten class to collect her. On the side of a path was a very elderly woman picking something and putting it in a bag. She beckoned to me, and said in Berne Deutsch that I should also harvest some and put it in the bag she thrust towards me. Ok, I thought why not? I asked what it is used for, and she said, “Tea.” So, I picked the soft velvety plant leaves and then continued down the path towards the school. It wasn’t long before my hands were burning, and I thought that maybe I had suddenly been in an old fairy tail and was now hexed (if that’s a word.). I stood outside the school, waiting for my daughter and wondering what to do. A nice Swiss mother, when I told her what happened, smiled and told me what to put on my hands when I got back home…I don’t remember what it was, but the burning finally subsided. I haven’t been near nettles since but I will experiment cautiously when they are flowerinng.
Yikes! Yes, those stings can be nasty.
At the weld and downland museum many years ago There was a lady demonstrating spinning- she was spinning her alsatian doag’s hair prior to knitting a jumper with it.
I’ve been running a little experiment on the use of plant-based fibres: nettle (ramie), mint, rose, flax, hemp etc. I enjoyed working with flax and hemp the most and a friend and I are considering growing some, we thought we might get in trouble with hemp if we chose the wrong kind! Love the idea of seaweed and it’s very tasty … honest! You might want to look up the Wildflower Weaver Izzy Middleton who is based at Farfield Mill in Sedbergh Cumbria and uses plant fibres and wools from slaughter-free herds she also runs workshops (www.wildflowerweaver.co.uk). Happy crafting. Moke
http://www.janethaslettonline.com/sculptures-and-installations.php
My sister is an artist and she knits painted canvas. Some of her pieces are here. I remember first seeing the huge canvases on the ground about to be painted and not really getting how she was going to knit them.
I live in Torquay where we have the famous Torbay palm trees. These constantly drop their long leaves which then start to disintegrate leaving long fibres. I have often wondered if they could be turned into yarn. These trees originate in Australia, so maybe the native people there used them? I would love to know.
Nettle is fantastic to work with just like flax, there’s a whole clothing line etc in it. Rather expensive cause to make the thread there’s a delicate process beforehand. You just can buy the yarn. Since marijuana’s, which is a nettle family, is legal in most part of the States and Europe for medical use I’m waiting for the first yarn to arrive.I haven’t tried Kevlar and seaweed though. But grass, newspapers and animal hair like cat is always fun for little projects with children.Did I turned the world upside down for most? Because here it’s normal to try all. News is that my oldest son knitted with glass and crocheted with huge metal cables as an art project. It’s out there some were. So join the club with your friend Jo of knitters and crocheters with strange materials XD
That is some fabulously inventive stuff going on right there! Alas, I have only ever used wool or cotton for my knitting, although now I’m wondering if you could knit with weeds because I have an awful lot of those at the moment.
That’s cool!
You are a persevering bunch of knitters and crocheters. I am not sure I could be so patient with newspaper yarn that breaks or the other tough yarn which isn’t smooth either. I once tried a yarn which was high in linen and it made my hands so sore! Well done for keeping on going. I guess the ‘harder’ the yarn’ the firmer the completed item, eg a bowl.
I’m not nearly as creative as you and your group of friends, but I used work with a gal that crocheted her dog and cats’s fur into her pieces. To each there own as they say. You always leave my smiling!