Knit, Hook, and Spin: A Kid's Activity Guide to Fiber Arts and Crafts
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
x making a home on their skin The hair that is cut off is called fleece The fleece is covered with a natural body oil called lanolin which keeps water from wetting the hair Sheep can graze comfortably in the rain because the lanolin coating on their hair keeps their skin dry In the past fishermen’s sweaters were made from unwashed wool and were never laun dered The natural lanolin coating on the yarn made the sweaters waterproof and kept men dry during storms at sea Some said it helped the sweater float like a life preserver if the man fell overboard Wool is washed today and the lanolin that is removed is used in making hand cream soap hair condition ers and many other items Check the labels on your products and you’ll probably see that you’ve been using sheep’s lanolin a by-product from the wool industry Wool hairs have tiny scales on their sides that open up like little umbrellas They also help keep the sheep dry during rainstorms When wool fiber gets wet the fibers swell and the ends of the scales push out and open up If the wet fibers are pressed and rubbed together the open scales get tangled and the fibers stick together The matted material is then called felt If you use hot water and add soap the scales open up and slide together They link together and when you add pressure or rub the fibers they lock together and won’t come apart Plant fibers don’t have scales so they don’t mat to make felt Synthetic felt which is sold in craft stores is made by pressing and heating petroleum based fiber such as polyester Synthetic felt won’t unravel but it also won’t shrink or mold into shape like wool felt MOHAIR Mohair comes from mohair goats also called Angora goats They are a special breed of goat that are nearly completely covered in long curly hair that brushes the ground They originated in Turkey Today most mohair goats are raised in South Africa and Texas Mohair is shiny soft and warmer and stronger than wool CASHMERE Cashmere comes from cashmere goats A cashmere hair is very fine only one-third as thick as a human hair It is very soft Cashmere goats aren’t sheared their hair is combed off the animal by hand Some hairs are short and some are long and combing it off helps separate the hairs Cashmere goats originated in the Himalaya mountains of today’s northern India
xi Today most cashmere goats are raised in Mongolia and China ANGORA Angora is the very delicate and soft fiber that is combed off special rabbits Angora fiber is eight times warmer than wool It can keep you warm even when it’s wet An Angora rabbit produces about eight ounces of fiber a year That much fiber weighs about the same as two cubes of butter It is very light and fluffy however so that small amount is enough to make a woman’s sweater SILK Silk farming started about 4,600 years ago in China It was a very secret and profitable industry for China for centuries Silk is made from fibroin which is made of digested leaves that the silkworm eats then spits out Farmed silkworms eat only mulberry tree leaves They make silk fiber that is pure white called Bombyx silk Wild silkworms eat cherry leaves oak leaves or mulberry leaves and their silk is darker from ivory to light brown It’s called Tussah silk Silkworms are caterpillars that eat leaves con stantly for 30 days growing 10,000 times their hatchling size Then the caterpillar finally stops eating and begins spinning its cocoon It spits out the fibroin as it rotates its body about 200,000 times ending up wrapped in 800 yards of fibroin thread The completed cocoon is about the size of a peanut shell Silk farmers gather the cocoons and boil them to prevent the moth from developing inside Then the silk fiber is pulled out of the cocoon in a long continu ous thread and wound on a bobbin Silk is one of the strongest fibers on the planet Yes you could say that silk one of the finest fibers is made of worm spit Check the website www wormspit com for more information about silkworms For thousands of years the Chinese government wouldn’t sell silkworms or eggs to outsiders only cloth or yarn Eventually some silkworm eggs and mul berry tree seeds were smuggled to India hidden in a Chinese princess’s headdress Two centuries later Persian missionaries smuggled silkworm eggs hidden in walking canes from China to the Roman Empire Eventually everyone figured out how silk was made But it’s so much work and the silkworms can only be fed mulberry leaves so it didn’t take hold in very many new areas There are wild silk moths in some forested areas such as the Pacific Northwest in the United States but no industry has developed there
