Ep 56: Consumption is Complicated

A little knitting and crochet progress, and a lot of discussion about the complicated topic of consumption. Climate beneficial wool cloth, thrift store finds, supporting local farmers and small dyers, and (gasp!) knitting from stash for a year are all part of the conversation.

Marsha has many things in progress (remember when she was a monogamous knitter?) but has been working exclusively on her Rodeo Drive Poncho. She loves the Berocco Ultra Alpaca yarn and is enjoying the simple but elegant construction of the pattern by Staci Perry.

Kelly worked on socks while recording, but other than that the only other project has been some negative crochet. Ugh! Due to a mistake that she still needs to figure out, she did the second half of the back panel and the second front both inside out. The shell pattern is markedly different on these new pieces of the cardigan--until you turn them over and look at the back. But no one wants a sweater with two right fronts! Ripping out has occurred so the offending pieces can be redone. The sweater is her Curious Cobalt Cardigan, made using a Michele DuNaier pattern.

The closest Kelly has come to a Poncho Adventure is to wind one of her three skeins. Stay tuned--she hopes to have more poncho progress for next episode.

Kelly talks about her experience at the Fibershed Wool Symposium 2016. There is enough material for a regular segment on the podcast for quite a few more episodes.

The mission of Fibershed is to "develop regional fiber systems that build soil and protect the health of our biosphere." The Symposium followed a "soil to skin" framework and had panels of speakers from shepherds to clothing designers.

One of the current projects is the climate beneficial wool Fabric CSA. The wool is grown in CA, woven in CA by Huston Textile Co., and being offered for pre-sale. Kelly bought some and will be receiving it in April. She will have to do the wet finishing of the cloth since that part of the supply chain isn't available in the state. That makes her a "prosumer" of the cloth, participating in the production, as well as purchasing the product.

The project is one of three farm-to-fabric projects that Fibershed has completed in their work to identify supply chains for a local textile economy.

The conversation led the Two Ewes to a discussion about consumption, consumer culture, the "buy local" movement, and a group of San Francisco residents that several years ago decided to give up purchases (other than food and other necessities) for a year. The verdict? It's complicated!

At Fibershed Kelly found out about an interesting KAL that they are hosting. The pattern is Radiata by Emily Cunetto. It is designed to be knit in any gauge of yarn that is local to the knitter, in other words, from their fibershed.

Another event coming next weekend (Dec. 11, 2016) is a natural dyeing workshop using mycopigments from mycoflora. That's mushrooms! The teacher is Alissa Allen and it is being held in Santa Cruz, CA in conjunction with the Santa Cruz Mycoflora Foray.

Kelly's family got an additional dog on the day after Thanksgiving. Nash is a yellow lab whose owner died. He is 10 years old and is very well mannered. He is fitting into the household very well.

Marsha shopped for a rain jacket for Enzo so she could continue to take long walks with him in the Northwest rain.