I aim to care for the environment and look after our precious planet in everything I do in my personal life. My practices within ‘Mille R\u00eaves en Laine’ are no exception. Water Saving Energy Saving Th nylon ‘Problem’ My continued use of wool\/nylons blends is a bit of a concern for me, but I believe that crafters who use hand-dyed wool\/nylon blends very rarely, if ever,<\/em> send their creations off to landfill.
\nWool ‘production’ has a high carbon footprint compared to some other materials used to create fabric, so I take various measures to avoid adding to it.
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\nTransport Emissions<\/strong>
\nIn an effort to care for the environment:
\n– I keep transport emissions to the minimum I can by buying most of my undyed yarn from one large supplier who ships to me here in France directly from their European base. I also buy French wool from a group of local French farmers who work together to produce wool for hand-dyers.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>My hand dyeing process involves a lot of thought about the amount of water I use and how my practices can help me care for the environment:
\n– The soaking water I use to soak the wool or yarn before I dye it, is re-used for the next batch.
\n– When the wool or yarn comes out of the dye bath and is then cool enough to be rinsed, I use a series of bowls of water, rather than using an open tap.- I use the most eco-friendly professional-grade dyes I can find.
\n– Only food-grade<\/em> citric acid or white vinegar is used to fix the dye to the yarn. Both chemicals evaporate from the water during the dye process.
\n– I re-use any water I’ve used that still has any dye remnants to water my garden.
\n– I re-use clear water in the next dye bath.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>– My home studio here in France is never heated – I wrap up warmly on cold days!
\n– I dry all of my hand dyed wool and yarn naturally outside in the warm air,
\n– The tissue paper and boxes you receive your purchases wrapped in are all made from recycled materials and can themselves be recycled.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>I have a ‘bee in my bonnet’ about nylon! Because nylon doesn’t biodegrade, I aim<\/em> to move away from using wool\/nylon blends over time.
\nHowever…
\n– There is high demand, from sock knitters, for me to hand dye wool\/nylon blends. I’m trying to encourage sock knitters to use pure BFL wool instead – while soft and beautiful enough to knit jumpers, cardigans, shawls, etc, it’s strong and durable enough to knit socks – no nylon needed! <\/em>I still have some BFL wool\/nylon yarn, but when I’ve hand dyed all of that, I will only be hand dyeing pure BFL wool – I just don’t believe there is a good reason to blend nylon with BFL!
\n– I do hand dye Merino wool\/nylon yarns. Merino is a fine wool and is strengthened by the addition of nylon. This makes it suitable for sock knitting, although I don’t use merino wool\/nylon blends to knit my<\/em> socks anymore because I’ve noticed, after 9 years of knitting socks, that they don’t last as long as my pure BFL wool ones – none of which have yet worn out.<\/p>\n
\n– These creations, whether knitted, crocheted or woven, are made with love and take hours of hard work to make.
\n– Hand dyed wool\/nylon blends cost a lot more to buy than commercially dyed and processed wool\/nylon blends.
\nMaybe I shouldn’t worry so much about nylon?<\/p>\n