On 14 September, the "Journée de la Laine" (or "Wool Day") was organized as part of the ParckDesign festival here in Brussels. I saw the notice on the good old Stitch'n'Bitch facebook group and it sounded really interesting, especially because the festival focuses on sustainability and eco-friendliness so I was quite intrigued. I read an article in the Guardian recently which suggested that 99.9 % of wool produced in the UK is a by-product of the meat industry - that certainly gave me something to think about. It also made me wonder about the mass produced yarn that I usually buy and that the sheep who provided the wool were probably not happy on a green pasture somewhere but in all likelihood already transformed into stew. It had actually never crossed my mind before.
The ParckDesign festival thus looked like a good start to explore better alternatives! The idea was to show different stages of wool production and processing in a simple way, including the carding, spinning and dyeing processes. The little farm that was established within the framework of the festival actually had some real sheep, too, but I doubt that they contributed the raw material (it looked like they were more of a petting zoo).
The people that organized the different workshops were super friendly and patiently answered all of my questions. Of course I know a thing or two about knitting but I did not really know much about how the yarn is being produced. This was all very small scale and to be honest, it looked like it's doable - even though you need some extra equipment such as the carding machine or the spinning wheel if you want to do it properly. It surely takes some time and practice to master the arts of spinning a regular thread and dyeing seems to be yet another step on the professional ladder but it would be worth trying. For the time being (and lacking the proper equipment) I have decided that I will start by trying to buy more ethically sourced yarn. I haven't done much research on this but if I have some recommendations I will certainly post them here!
Festival impressions:
(1) The park (2) Dyeing yarn with natural dyes (3) Walnut skin dye (4) Spinning with drop spindle (5) Weaving demonstration
The ParckDesign festival thus looked like a good start to explore better alternatives! The idea was to show different stages of wool production and processing in a simple way, including the carding, spinning and dyeing processes. The little farm that was established within the framework of the festival actually had some real sheep, too, but I doubt that they contributed the raw material (it looked like they were more of a petting zoo).
The people that organized the different workshops were super friendly and patiently answered all of my questions. Of course I know a thing or two about knitting but I did not really know much about how the yarn is being produced. This was all very small scale and to be honest, it looked like it's doable - even though you need some extra equipment such as the carding machine or the spinning wheel if you want to do it properly. It surely takes some time and practice to master the arts of spinning a regular thread and dyeing seems to be yet another step on the professional ladder but it would be worth trying. For the time being (and lacking the proper equipment) I have decided that I will start by trying to buy more ethically sourced yarn. I haven't done much research on this but if I have some recommendations I will certainly post them here!
Festival impressions:
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