Knit, Hook, and Spin: A Kid's Activity Guide to Fiber Arts and Crafts
vi Here are a few tips for enjoying your fiber arts adventure Choose simple projects that don’t take a long time to finish Collect yarn cloth scraps felt and fiber stuff in a variety of colors and store them in a box so you have a stash to create with Don’t expect that your projects will be per fect every time If something doesn’t please you change it unravel it or take it apart and try something else Enjoy the items you make Wear the things you make Display them in your room Give them to people you care about Why Fiber Handcrafts Are Good for You You may not think that making things with yarn or fiber would make you smarter or keep you healthy but it can Working with fibers and yarn feels good to our sense of touch and the colors and patterns please the eye Our senses are sharpened and that makes us feel happier Doing handwork like knitting or cro cheting helps us relax It also helps us focus and pay attention better Because following written directions stretches our brain it’s good for our thinking skills And you can also make changes to a project that make it your own expressing your creativity Some people find that knitting or crocheting helps when they are ill or in pain Some find that it helps them sleep better at night Handcrafts take time and attention so we learn to be more patient and less restless You’ll also figure out how to solve problems when something doesn’t seem to be turning out as you thought it would But best of all when you are finished with a project you have a feeling of pride And lots of gifts to give your friends
vii Fiber is the basic ingredient in crafting sort of like flour for a baker and soil for a gardener Fibers are thin strands of plant stems linen fluff from seed pods cotton animal hair wool or tiny strands of plastic acrylic that are twisted together to make yarn Fiber can be as thin as sewing thread or as thick as rope But before fibers can be twisted together a lot of preparation must be done Fibers from plants or animals must be clipped washed fluffed combed and dyed Fibers create different types of finished projects Whether your project will be silky soft stretchy shiny or warm is determined by the type of fiber Some fibers can be scratchy like jute and are best for ropes or sacks Do you want something soft and luxurious Use angora rabbit Shiny Well that’s silk or mohair Washable and nonallergenic Try Know Your Fibers synthetics Warm and fireproof That’s a job for wool The more you know about fibers the easier it will be for you to match the right fiber to your project Plant Fibers People used plant fibers long before they discovered any of the others They plucked grassy stems strips of stringy tree bark and long skinny leaves from the natural world around them They did things to the pieces of bark or leaves to make them easier to bend and shape to suit what they wanted to make They were processing the fiber making it both easier to work with and longer lasting once a project was complete From those plant fibers people made nets and ropes that made it easier to catch fish birds and
viii small animals for food They made mats that they used as roofing on their homes and for sleeping pads Listed here are the plants most commonly used in fiber and fabric today COTTON Cotton is a fluffy fiber that comes from the boll or flower of the cotton plant It was grown in Egypt Asia and South America for 6,000 years It was grown by Native Americans in North America and became a valuable farming product in the southern United States about 200 years ago Northern Europe ans relied on sheep’s wool because cotton plants didn’t grow well in their cold climate People there called cot ton tree wool because the fluffy puffs of fiber looked like pieces of sheep’s wool stuck on a branch FLAX LINEN The fibers of the flax plant are used to make a fab ric called linen It is a lot of work to get flax ready to spin The full-grown plant is pulled from the earth with the roots hanging Then a rough comb is pulled through the stem to remove the seeds The stem part is soaked in water for a few weeks until it begins to rot Then it is dried in the sun Next the flax stems are beaten against a board and combed with metal combs Finally the strands can be separated from each other and spun into linen thread ready for knit ting or weaving Flax plants grow best in colder wetter climates such as northern Europe and Canada places where cotton doesn’t grow well HEMP Hemp plants have been grown for their fiber for about 10,000 years Hemp plants are processed like flax It is a rough but strong fiber that was used for fabric and ship sails in the past but is mostly used to make cord rope and sacks today Synthetic fibers have replaced most hemp use around the world JUTE Jute plants grow in wet warm areas with warm rains Most jute is grown in India and Bangladesh Jute plants don’t need fertilizer or insect spray and jute fiber is completely biodegradable Jute is used to make twine rope and sacks Jute sacks were very commonly used in the past for holding wheat beans and other farm products Today those sacks are made of plastic Jute strings are used as a backing for making carpeting but plastic is replacing it for that purpose too
ix SOYBEANS Soybeans are pressed and treated to make a yarn that is soft like silk Soybean plants are field crops grown in many parts of the world today BAMBOO Bamboo yarn is made from the cellulose fiber in the bamboo stalk Bamboo grows in wet tropical climates CORN Starches in corn are turned into sugars fermented and then separated into a paste that is pushed out a machine with tiny holes called a spinneret mak ing delicate strands Corn yarn feels a lot like cotton yarn but it melts very easily if it is ironed It hasn’t become popular yet Animal Fibers No one really knows when people began to use ani mal hair to make string rope and fabric People used animal hides and skins for most of their cloth ing and bedding for a long time Because hair rots away easily very little has been found in archaeo logical remains Below are some of the most common fibers made from animal hair In addition to the ani mals and insects mentioned below hair from alpacas camels llamas possums and yaks can be used to make fiber WOOL Wool made from the hair from sheep was probably the first fiber people used because they could eas ily gather it where it snagged on branches or fell on the ground That’s because sheep used to shed their hair every spring so for thousands of years people just walked around and gathered up wool where they could find it Wool gathering was done by children as they watched over the grazing flocks They would sometimes spin the wool into yarn right in the pas ture using a hand spindle Over the centuries metal working was developed and shears were invented That meant farmers began to select sheep that didn’t drop their hair and raised them instead of those that shed That’s because it was easier to gather all the wool at one time when the shearing was done Today sheep are shorn twice a year in spring and fall It doesn’t hurt them in fact having the large mass of thick hair taken off means they can run and move better It’s like getting a haircut over their whole body Shearing also keeps fleas and lice from
