Green for Earth Day
Did you know that cotton grows in natural green and brown colors? Believe it or not, the roving on the right is the natural color of the cotton (I know it doesn't look green... it is). This was yet another cool thing I learned because I took up spinning. I'd always thought that cotton only came in off-white. Another cool think about the natural colors: when you boil the cotton, the color gets darker and deeper. God, I love spinning!
The fiber on the left is 50/50 cotton/wool called... wait for it... Golden Fleece! (Spinning and Greek mythology... two of my faves!) Okay, so now that I have this lovely cotton, I have to figure out how to spin it. Cotton has a reputation for being difficult to spin. The staple length is about half an inch which is MUCH shorter than wool. I'm trying to talk myself out of taking up weaving. So far I'm succeeding... mostly because I can't afford to buy a rigid heddle loom right now. But if I fail, some cotton yarn would be nice to weave with.
golden fleece - how cool! let me know when your spinning them if the feel creeps you out - theres something about the feel of cotton that makes my skin crawl - thats why i hardly knit with it.
Posted by:val | April 23, 2008 at 09:23 AM