Simplify on Thursday
Preamble:
My work on Thursdays exhibited a few varying personalities. It began with other crafts I liked dabbling in, but then morphed into more of an eco-friendly-life-simplification attitude. This early post provides a great blending of those two aspects. I don’t do much dyeing and spinning these days, but it was great fun to flirt with as you’ll see in this life-experiment while we house-sat for friends in the Dublin mountains…yeah, I’m the one with the non-eco-friendly-brown-dyed-hair…
Eco-Fibre Experiment (originally published 6 August 2006)
Do ya think there’s internet access in West Cork? I’m kinda hoping not….
Friend-And-Lodge-Owner-Lucy took her computer on holiday. I’m rather hoping she’s not blog surfing as she may be surprised to learn that what was once her kitchen is now my fibre processing plant!
So….what do you do when you have a) lots of fibre to process, b) lots of space to process it, c) a constant heating source, aka lovely oh-so-quintessentially-country-style-AGA-range, d) time and energy? By golly, you get moving! And, how do I now marry one interest (fibre) with a new interest (eco-friendliness)? Thus, today’s playtime is an experiment in processing fibre with as little environmental impact as possible….
Soaking
With a way-cool Belfast sink to use, I could do the pre-dye soak on more fibre at a time using less water and vinegar overall. Also, because of having another little sink to drain, etc., I could keep the water/vinegar bath and use that same water for after-dyeing rinse as well. Quite pleased with resourcefulness.
Grade: A-
Dyeing
Used food colouring. I know it’s not organic and doubt it’s Fair Trade. Uh oh….and what about my beautiful cochineal colouring? Is it really made from crushed beetles? Okay, not good for PETA-enthusiasts, but on the plus side, it’s natural, not artificial. Not a lot of comfort for the beetles, I realise. I’ll call that one even.
Grade: C
Cooking
Since the AGA range is on all the time, I might as well be using it to cook up the dyed wool. Wouldn’t want that heat going to waste! Only question is which oven, as there are two to put it in? Broiling oven or simmering oven? No temperature gauges. Hmmmmm…..have to hazard a guess on that one. Picked the hotter of the two ovens….every now and then a little bit of ‘brownish-hued-overdone-wool-with-a-singed-twist’, but okay overall.
Grade: B
Water Extraction
During my other dyeing sessions, all two of them, I would fling out the excess water in the washing machine spin cycle. Think…..what is ‘off-the-grid’ alternative? Eureka! Child labour! Got the kids to create homemade centrifugal force by spinning the mesh bags of wool in ever dizzying circles. Also doubles as exercise for ‘em! Multi-tasking, a mother’s dream.
Grade: A
Drying
I don’t know who invented the Sheila Maid, but I’d like to shake his or her hand! This nifty clothing air dryer (or is that air clothing dryer?) is suspended with a rope and pulley system over the ever-heating AGA and since heat rises….voilá…..instant dryer! Of course you need to have rather high ceilings to avoid the cartoon-inspired-banging-of-head-incident.
Grade: B+
Extra points for added benefit of doubling as ‘twist-set-hanger’.
Spinning
As it’s run by foot power and sitting in the glass-enclosed conservatory for maximum lighting, I can spin until it gets dark (or my leg loses all sense of feeling!)
Grade: A
Well, I have to admit, not a bad overall grade for my eco-fibre experiment. But, how about sustainability (an important concept for eco-philes, as I’m learning…)? Well, as I see it, the options are:
Yep, you guessed it…..d).
well, you could have combined the aga with the hanging rack:)) we have a “stanley”, not the aga, and our ceiling is far lower, but if you put the rack over the aga and put a pulley on, it’s not easy to bang your head – unless of course you try to climb on the oven:)) or unless you put the oven into the middle of the room – which would be rather interesting to see!
another choice to stay eco-friendly while dyeing would be to put up solar boxes with large jars inside….
23 Apr 2009 at 9:03 am
Oh, I just love that last picture – the scenery is magnificent. But that brown hair – is that really you??
23 Apr 2009 at 9:41 am
You were one of my quit dyeing inspirations. I started going grey in high school and went natural last year. Since I am naturally lazy, I love it.
23 Apr 2009 at 10:26 am
love the eco challenge to you! Hubby laughs as i pull out the salad spinner whenever it comes to spinning the excess water out of knit/dye gear. We did not grow up with a phone, cable, furnace, microwave, computer, video games, dishwasher … .but it didn’t feel like we were lacking! We did puzzles, read, crafted and i loved it! So i still tend to do things the “long way” i guess.
23 Apr 2009 at 11:16 am