Red Thread Studio: Slow Cloth, New Cloth, Art Cloth

The Odometer Rolls Over

I've had 10,000 page views on this blog since December. I realize that's peanuts to a lot of people in the big global Internet blogging world, but it sounds pretty good to me, especially since I've not yet made a custom banner, attached the blog to an easy URL, set up an RSS feed, a blogroll (which will be voluminous, and I have to figure out how to organize it properly) or any of that stuff. So I really want to thank everyone who has visited and especially everyone who has commented. I feel lucky to know you, and I do feel connected to a global community of extraordinarily creative and interesting people.

As far as I can tell, viewer #10,000 was someone googling for John Robshaw Textiles , a company I've written about.  I was just at that site the other day, wishing I could buy one his exquisite duvet covers and looking to see if they were hiring for any marketing/pr/global textile explorer positions. Sadly, they are not.

Meanwhile, I saw this week that the current issues of both Vogue Knitting and Vogue Patterns magazine have feature articles on sustainable and "green" materials and supplies. They're both good resource articles. Some of the hyperbole (i.e. bamboo, the perfect fiber) gives me a green headache and green fatigue -- weren't we all exhausted with Earth Day hype and ready to go smoke cigarettes and litter and boldly throw a glass jar in the regular trash by the time it was over this week? And tired of celebrities claiming that they've always been really green, for decades, and deeply concerned about the planet? Really? Anyway, it worries me that too many exaggerated claims will ultimately leave people disillusioned.

But most of the information in the VP and VK articles is very good, and I'm thrilled to see it in the knitting and sewing mainstream. I'm writing an article on organic and sustainable fabrics myself, for a new sewing magazine to be out this summer that I think will be very creative and inspiring.

I also received my review copy of Sustainable Fashion: Why Now?, a book of essays edited and conceived of by the brilliant Janet Hethorn, a professor at the University of Delaware (which offers a graduate certificate program in the business of sustainable fashion) and Connie Ulasewicz of San Francisco State University. This is intended as a textbook (with a big textbook price) but it looks very readable and very enlightening for anyone thinking about a clothing business or just a better understanding of clothing and textiles in our lives today. I will read and review.

Now, though, I'm going to go finish a skirt that's been on the worktable forever so I can move on. I have a long list of projects and need to complete some craft and make some art.

One more thing before I go -- I've been resisting watching The Last Lecture because, you know, it's become such a thing, and also I knew it would hit close to home -- my father was a scientist who died of cancer at 63, and we lived in Pittsburgh for a few years, though he didn't teach at Carnegie Mellon but at the University of Pittsburgh. This morning I read the transcript. It is, as everyone says, very poignant, sweet, funny and smart, and truly well worth viewing or reading. Share it with your kids and take the time to watch. I promise you will laugh and cry. Randy Pausch is still with us, and though his prognosis is still terminal, I hope he's here for a long time. Now go be well and follow your dreams.

Organic Knitting Yarns

Knitting with environmentally responsible yarns is quite the rage . . . it's the cover feature on the new issue of Vogue Knitting, and eco-knitting has been featured in most of the knitting magazines. Knitters have some choices now in organic wool and cotton, as well as other treats in the "sustainable" family like bamboo and recycled Tibetan or sari silk. (I always want to have an asterisk next to bamboo, since most of it doesn't really make the sustainability cut yet in my book -- the process of turning bamboo into soft fabric or yarn is very chemical- and water-intensive.) 

A quick review: organic has a specific legal meaning in the United States. In broad strokes, it means that no toxic or synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers are used. Genetically modified crops, animal growth hormones, and antibiotics are prohibited. Livestock must be fed organic feed and have access to pasture. All of these practices must be verified by an independent third-party certifier. And responsible manufacturers don't just use organic fiber; they also use recommended dyeing and finishing practices to maintain the integrity of the organic product. Bamboo, considered a wood product, does not have organic standards; though it doesn't require a lot of pesticides to grow and is highly renewable,  pesticides are sometimes used and the entire process has limited transparency, since most of the production takes place in China. And then there's the issue of the chemicals used to make this hard, brittle plant soft and fluffy.

That said  . . . ahhhh. There are some really lovely organic yarns that are not prohibitively expensive. The natural shades are always beautiful and classic; for those of us who live for color, there's plenty of that too.

• I am besotted with the heathery, clean colors of O-Wool Balance, 50 percent organic merino wool and 50 percent organic cotton. It's in a worsted gauge and may be the perfect yarn. A few of the colors are below. PurlSoho sells this yarn for $8/skein.
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• The Fibre Co. makes gorgeous artisan yarns. Organik is a blend of 70% organic wool with silk and baby alpaca in some amazing colors.
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• Also by The Fibre Co., Savannah is hand-dyed 20 percent organic cotton blended with merino wool, soy fiber and linen.
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• Blue Sky Alpacas has led the way with organic cotton knitting yarns, both undyed in naturally color-grown shades and dyed with low-impact dyes (below).
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• Rowan is offering naturally dyed organic cotton yarn in eight shades. 
• Tierra Wools is a cooperative in New Mexico making beautiful naturally dyed yarns for weavers and knitters using wool from organically raised sheep. This company has provided right livelihood for many people in this underserved region, allowing them to stay on the land and use time-honored artisan skills in their work.  It's a fascinating and lovely place; most definitely worth a visit if you're driving through New Mexico flying your cowgirl flag high.
  
• Finally, many small wool producers are using very responsible and humane practices even if not certified organic; these are often sold to small independent spinners and dyers and handpainters. Supporting these cottage industries is a great idea.
• Buy from a local yarn store if you can; there are also excellent yarn retailers online. I like Purl Soho, Jimmy Bean's Wool, and Yarnmarket, and there are many more. NearSeaNaturals sells both organic and sustainably produced yarns and fabrics.
  

Craft 2.0, Authentic and Slow, and Extreme Slow

I've been thinking a lot about the last post and thought I'd say a little more. This is a long post .

I have no problem with anybody who wants to knit crazy acrylic scarves on size 17 needles, or scrapbook, or do no-sew sewing, or any other activity with their hands and hearts. It's really different from the approach to art, craft and design that I'm calling Slow Cloth or Authentic Cloth. There's nothing wrong with the people who are doing it, and nothing inherently wrong with what they're doing if they enjoy it and nobody gets hurt; the thing that gets under some of our skins, I think, is the marketing and selling of it.

I'm not even sure what Craft 2.0 means, but I think it's what String or Nothing was talking about -- lots of crafts skewing very young, marketed as hip and trendy, and suggesting that you really don't need any skill or time or commitment. "Make a sweater in a weekend!" "It's not your mother's knitting!" "It's not your grandmother's beadwork!" (There are always unnecessary exclamation points involved.) Some of the results are beautiful and charming, some are okay, and some are really awful. But it doesn't serve anyone to suggest that there's no value in going past beginner-level skills and kits and throwaway materials. (There's also a lot of use of recycled materials in these crafts, and that's fantastic, yet it's still often marketed in silly ways.)

I think what's most appealing for young women is that there's a lot of community, both electronic and real, in this movement. They're discovering the amazing sense of belonging that happens when women get together to talk and stitch. The stitching adds a dimension and connection that is nourishing and regenerative. There's nothing new about this. From time immemorial -- quilting bees being the best-known example -- these talk-and-stitch gatherings have had power.

I discovered it around 1990, living in Chicago and working on weekends at The Weaving Workshop, then on Diversey. The store was owned then by Marilyn Murphy, now president of Interweave Press. Amazing women worked there and knitted there -- Stacy, Melissa, are you out there? Once a month we'd all get together for potluck and knitting. Coming from a family with three brothers, it was truly my first positive experience of a group of women supporting, liking, and encouraging each other, and sharing creative work. Yes, we irreverently referred to those evenings as "stitch 'n bitch" and we all understood how great those evenings were. We just never thought to MARKET the concept or turn it into a book or a zeitgeist, and the world wouldn't have been ready if we had.

My Chicago friends were incredibly skilled knitters, and generous with everything they knew. I learned so much from them. We used to talk about having a "no-brainer" project that didn't require much attention, and then a more challenging one for moments of full presence. In what's becoming the "craft industry" we see a lot of no-brainer projects and not much else. And our culture devalues taking time and can barely imagine or support doing an art or craft over a span of years, and not taking shortcuts (I don't mean every project has to take years, though as we know, some inadvertently do).

Next time you're in Santa Fe, visit the Tai Gallery on Canyon Road and spend some time with the bamboo baskets there, made by very old Japanese basketmakers. You'll forget every trivializing joke you've ever heard or made about basketweaving. These vessels have an integrity, a life force, and a beauty that is indescribable, because years of learning and relationship to the materials have gone into them. They are made mostly by men (traditionally the skills aren't taught to women, and that's one reason the art is dying). This is from the gallery's Web site:

There are now less than a hundred working bamboo artists in Japan. The young people who have taken up the call to learn bamboo basket making make a commitment of time that is hard for us as Westerners to comprehend. The first ten years are devoted to learning the basic techniques of cutting, dyeing, and plaiting bamboo. After this is mastered, another one or two decades are spent developing as an artist. Artists begin to gain full recognition as they come into their fifties and sixties. There are a number of basket makers who are still working in their eighties. It is an honor for our gallery to represent some of the top living bamboo artists of Japan.

I guess you could call this Extreme Slow art. Most textile artists and artisans today don't have this mindset or cultural support, and we should all be a part of our time and our world. But the reverence, the authenticity and the respect for the materials is so rich, and if you are open to it, these baskets have a depth and a vibration that feels profound and eternal.

Somewhere between these baskets and throwaway trendy projects is Authentic Cloth. And it's taken an eternity to read this, right? Thank you! Back soon with inspiration and links and more.

Athena's Web

I'd like to pay homage to some of the goddesses of textile blogging who have really inspired me, the well-worn bookmarks that set a standard for the rest. I don't really know what this blog will become, but these are some I look to for their focus, knowledge and warmth, and highly recommend as a core online library for the textile community.

• Dijanne Cevaal's blog, Musings of a Textile Itinerant, is a gorgeous showcase of her work, her multicultural inspiration, her thoughtful process, and her tenacious pursuit of the artist's life.
• Serena Fenton's Layers of Meaning is not updated as frequently as some others, but every entry is a gem of inspiration and beauty.
• Kay and Ann of Mason-Dixon Knitting have justifiably earned fame in the knitting and blogging world. Their wit and geniality is unsurpassed. Whatever they're drinking, I need some.
• Sharon B's In A Minute Ago is the mother of all textile blogs; Sharon is Australian, a crazy quilter, an educator by nature and a pioneer in creating a global Internet community and using the resources of the Web.