I watched this while darning a pair of my partner's socks. They are really hard on their socks, but I am diligently keeping them in rotation for as long as possible.
Your grandmother must have been so impressed with what you have accomplished, the journey your crafting has taken you on so far, and so very proud of you. 😊
I nearly missed my photo being featured lol I was away to go toggling to check out the others when I saw something that looked familiar, so I checked and sure enough it was my tiny turkish spindle lol Thanks for the mention :) T x
Hi Jente, I hope you're OK xx ❣️❣️❣️ Thankyou so much for sharing this video podcast 😊😊😊 I hope you're having a Wonderful TDF🚲🐑🥰. I only have a 1 yd Niddy Noddy, so it looks like I've not done much Spinning, but I've done almost 250 yds. While I've not done many yds, I've managed to perfect my 2ply Handspun Yarns. Done my 1st Striped Chain Plyed Yarn. I'm hoping to Spin another 100yds (sorry, that I don't metres). Then I shall treat myself to something Fibre related.🐑🐑🐑 I've taken things slowly so that I don't suffer from " Burn out" which has happened before, during TDF. 🎡🚲🐑 I wish Everyone luck on the last Week✨️🌟. Happy Spinning and TDF Fibre Friends🎡🚲🐑🐑🥰 Take care and stay safe Lots of love and Huge Hugs Jen xxxx❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🎡🐑🐑🎡🚲🚲🐑🐑
@MijnWolden, Hi Jente, I hope you're OK xx ❣️❣️❣️❣️ Thankyou so much for the Heart ♥ Sending Heart ♥ back to you ❤️💞 Happy Spinning and TDF Fibre Friend 🎡🚲🐑🥰🐑🥰 Take care and stay safe Lots of love and Big Hugs Jen xxxx ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🐑🐑🐑
@Mijn Wolden, Hi Jente, I hope you and Dries are both OK xx ❣️❣️❣️❣️ Thankyou so much for sharing your video podcasts and your expertise, them and you are very much appreciated .✨️🌟🔆🌞 Happy Spinning and TDF Fibre Friend🎡🚲🐑🥰🐑🥰 Take care and stay safe Lots of love and Big Hugs to you both...Jen xxxx ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🐑🐑🐑
my fibre arts to anti-capitalist pipeline goes something like this: in Australia we have entire cities that were based on wool production. we have some of the most sought after wools in the world (for some reason. okay lets be honest, because capitalism and they're all some kind of merino variant here) and yet 90% of our wool is exported directly to China, which has lead to many of our yarn companies and wool processing mills to either close down or move overseas. I grew up in the state of Queensland. there is a yarn brand called the Queensland Company, which is inexplicably an American brand, even though its main line is called "Perth" and all the colourways are still named after Australian things. We have so many more breeds in Australia than just Corriedale, Polwarth and merino, and yet even as a spinner its tough to find texel or dorper fleece because those animals are mainly bred for meat so the wool just gets wasted because everything is commercial in our sheep industry, and nobody's buying texel or dorper fleeces for mass production of fabrics.
When I was a child my step-cousins lived on a mixed farm in the Mallee region of 640 acres. My step uncle and step aunt worked hard, they had sheep, they alternated between growing wheat and barley, they had quite a lot of free range hens (the hen run would have been about the size of the average suburban block, and the maximum number of hens was typically around about 120). There was a cow for milk and butter for the family, and a bull to service the cow (my uncle specialised in unusually tame bulls!) and there was a milk goat as one of my cousins was lactose-intolerant and there were two or three pigs, and some turkeys. My aunt grew some vegetables, if I remember correctly. When the youngest child turned about 5 my aunt went to work at the local school as a teacher. The lactose intolerant cousin caught quite a lot of rabbits, there were lots of those. Their sheep were (if I remember correctly) border Leister merino crosses (other than the merino that wandered in from a neighbouring farm and was a pet sheep for some years). The sheep were shorn during the spring school holiday, they hired shearers, as there were quite a lot of sheep. One of the shearers was a real joker and went on to have a career as a comedian. We kids (I was visiting during said school holidays) helped out with the shearing by jumping on the fleeces in the bales, to fit as much into a bale as possible. We may have done some minimalist skirting, I do remember fleeces being expertly tossed by the shearers or my uncle onto a skirting table and we might have pulled off a few dags. The thing was, my uncle and aunt were able to give their family a decent standard of living, including being able to send all four children to private boarding schools for their high schooling. The first signs that things were going downhill for small producers were already there in the mid 1970s, small scale egg producers were already being pressured out of business. The egg board accepted or rejected suppliers' eggs and suddenly my uncle and aunt were being told that large numbers of their eggs were broken or rotten, despite the production and transportation methods for said eggs being unchanged. My uncle had a bit of a win one time when he was able to prove that none of the eggs was broken when they got to the egg packing factory but that was probably a moral victory, rather than an on-going one. Another friend grew up on a small dairy farm in the Adelaide hills. They were some of the earliest dairy farmers to be pushed out by larger producers. Her parents did earn money from working off the farm as well as on it but, even so, it wasn't enough for them to be able to hang onto the farm. The loss of the farm may well have been a factor in her parents getting divorced. My impression is that, a generation earlier, people were able to make a respectable living on that farm, and my friend's description of her earliest years suggests that they lived well, if not lavishly. So I've definitely seen smaller producers being pushed out by larger producers (often with less than ethical methods). Fast forward another twenty five years or so and a lot of smaller retailers were pushed out of business by big franchises.
@@resourcedragon yep. It's been really nasty. I have family from Bogan Shire NSW, specifically around Nyngan. They were farmers and my second cousin was a shearer. As far as I know it was a similar thing for them, hence my second cousin becoming a professional shearer instead of working the family farm.
I’m sorry for your loss! My grandmother died from COVID-19 complications at the age of 95. She always thought she would outlive her mother, died at the age of 102 after being dropped on her head at a nursing home. My great-grandmother did a lot of sewing and hand crafts. My grandmother used to tell stories of growing up in the Great Depression, and how her mom made all her clothes. If grandma’s clothes got holes, her mother would mend them. She even made my grandmother’s wedding dress out of her brother’s World War Two parachute!
My grandmom was a babyboomer, so literally born after WWII. But she made my mom's christening gown out of her own wedding dress, as was customary here :)
Since I was a child, living in Puerto Rico on a farm, my grandmother sew our clothes. I rarely ever had new clothing from a store. Most of my clothes were handmade or handmedowns from my sister and cousins. After I came to the United States, I made very little money, while I went to school. I bought clothes from the 2nd hand stores. Today, I have the means to buy new things, but most of my clothes, fabrics, yarn, furniture, and dishes are handmade or thrifted. I'm a spinner, but I'm allergic to wool. I spin alpaca, silk, bamboo, and cotton. I don't live near any Alpaca farms. I buy the fibers on Etsy. I love hearing that other people upcycling, reusing, and repurposing fabrics instead of buying new ones. I love the yarn you're making it is beautiful. Love your channel. ❤❤
"Radicalize me even more!" While I can't say fiber arts specifically radicalized me, they definitely sat along the trajectory I set myself upon when I developed IBS over a decade ago. I was barely out of college, but it radicalized me in how the modern production of food in agriculture is so... removed from not only healthy produce but a model which encourages starvation and greed, as well as the mass usage of chemicals and pollutants that ultimately destroy our planet and agricultural foundations rather than sustain it. I started my own gardens ten years ago and have never looked back. I supported small businesses in clothing up until I developed chronic illnesses which left me housebound, upon which I took up knitting (my ultimate therapy!) and now spinning. Pretty much ALL of these things sort of cascades into the overall understanding of how much we have lost in 'modernizing' our lives for the sake of 'ease' - where we compromise health and wellbeing of not only ourselves, but the surrounding flora and fauna and natural ecosystems - of which we are very much a part of - for the sake of 'convenience'. I am lucky enough to live in an area where local farms can still operate but it is heartbreaking to see a lot of the standard crops and businesses that have been around for centuries start to collapse under capitalism. I am so happy to hear you talk about your own journey and views on this and hope more people can align with sustainable living habits and living within the means of the world around them, not the world that is 'offered' to them for convenience.
Oh yes, all of it! We buy our produce from a cooperation of local farmers, where they themselves can put prices on their wares. And where vegetables and fruit aren't picked underripe to store in vaults for big supermarkets. We're glad we can support our local farmers like this, and we get so much better vegetables, fruits and meat in return than we can ever find in store.
"sheep straight to the face" is the best therapy! Spinning is also very good though, especially with nice smooth, clean fibre that you can just spin without stopping to pluck out knots or dirt. I found the walking wheel I tried out recently even more meditative, as it's a process that involves your whole body. It's kind of like a flowy yoga session, but you get yarn at the end of it! For me the fibre arts (including sewing) have also been the thing that has been slowly driving me away from fast fashion (and flying). It just makes you so accutely aware of how much work goes into an item of clothing when you have made some yourself.
My dream project is to grow flax, spin that into linen, likely dye that with something I've grown in my garden, and then make something from that. I'm building up my dye plants and we're slowly working on turning more of our lawn into garden, so the only thing I haven't gotten a start on is learning to spin! It's coming soon. Soooooon!
Yes I agree! The more into fiber arts I get the further I get from wanting store bought clothes and new things. I have always loved thrifting as it's affordable, but now it is the main way I get my clothing other than crafting. Second hand things honestly feel more valuable to me because I have to hunt around to find things that I like and that don't bother my sensory issues! Very exited whenever I find linen or wool at the thrift store 🐑✨️
i spun a couple of skeins last week ...but now i am working on my braided rugs again. next knitting socks! then there is the big garden! its that time of year! lovely days!
Yeah, I started the descent down the pipeline when I learned how to crochet and was happily crocheting my little heart out for years, and then one day saw crochet bags for sale in (I think) H&M or somewhere, thought, "ooh, I wonder how they're made (and if I can just make one myself... 😏) and then saw they were selling them for like £12. When I worked out how long it would take me to make it, and what I would want to sell it for, suddenly my eyes were opened to the fact that not only were there like 20 of these on the rail, they had been made in and shipped from Vietnam and for those shipping costs to be worth it to sell at such a low price must mean that the workers are not being paid fairly... and then it's been all downhill from there. I do buy new clothes still as my sewing is not good and charity shops don't seem to ever have my size, but it's pretty rare now, and I am much choosier about where I'm buying my clothes from.
This is what worries me about the recent explosion in popularity of crocheted items. Unlike knitting, crochet can't be done by a machine so everything you see in a store was produced by a person. If that item is only $12, how much do you think the person who crocheted it made? Not very much at all. And just think of how many hours per day they would have to work to make enough items for the mass market?
Have you seen the Sarah dippity skirt by Sarah Swett? There are a bunch of them on Ravelry. It’s fun combining panels of knit with woven fabric. The sky is the limit!
Your chungus skeins have inspired me to finally get a jumbo flyer/bobbins for my ashford traditional. I am so tired of making little 40-50 gram skeins and splicing them together :( I have also totally gotten radicalized through fiber arts, though it's been a long long process. First was becoming very picky about fiber content of clothes, and now I try to only buy things secondhand (including the materials I make with) or I'm very picky about new things.
I did some knitting while watching this video, instead of my own spinning/fibre prep as I have been doing while watching the earlier tdf vlogs. I finished plying a big project last night. Later I will do some spinning on my spindle or some plying of various leftovers that have been accumulating on my bobbins. I was also taught to knit by my grandmother, as well as some other crafts. While I didn't really pick it up in earnest until a few years before she died, when her dementia was quite bad, I know she was and would be proud of me, and I love feeling connected to her across time by our shared live of fibre arts. Miss you Nan 💞
My radicalization started when I participated in the Shave 'em to Save 'em program that is run by the US organization the Livestock Conservancy. The purpose is to promote the use of fiber from heritage sheep breeds that we are in danger of losing. These breeds are not used in mass production for many reasons (the most egregious, IMO, being that they aren't Merino which has been so heavily marketed that people actually think it's the only real wool out there) such as they aren't perfectly white so dyes aren't perfectly, and boringly, consistent, and often don't have perfectly consistent lock structure, or are *gasp* double coated and don't work well with the machinery big mills use among others. Losing that genetic diversity means that we are losing potential. One important example is the Jacob breed, my favorite. Industry doesn't like it because it is multi-colored and multi-horned so it is everything industry hates. It is also the only species we have found, other than humans, that carries the Tay-Sachs gene. Tay-Sachs is a genetic disorder largely carried in the Jewish population that causes children with it to die at a young age. Before the discovery of the mutation in Jacob sheep, it was very difficult to study the disorder and experiment to find possible therapies because of the ethics of experimentation on humans. Now, this does get into the realm of the ethics of animal experimentation, which is fraught itself. However, just as there is very little people can do to eliminate all environmental impact, I believe that the sacrifice of a few sheep with the intent of keeping children from dying is an acceptable trade off. This is just one example of how important genetic diversity is. If fiber artists like me didn't make use of these breeds, they would fade away just because they aren't up to industrial standards.
You talk about combing vs drum carding. You should try both. I have an 18" hackle for my combs I card a batt and then I lash the batt onto my hackle. I use the comb for a few quick passes to even out the hackle and then I dizz off from the hackle. You get the speed of carding and combed top fibre faster than combs alone
While I do buy a fair bit of new clothing, it does tend to be from other makers. I’m planning on buying about a dozen new linen dresses from a vendor in the Sca (historical reenactment group-and often really cool people) but I’m buying new ones because I’ve had three die in the right armpit this year and they are pushing a decade old and worn about four days out of seven in a week. I can work with that. I don’t know anything about the providence of the linen she uses, but it certainly better than T-shirts. One of the things that it’s important to remember is making steps forward does not mean 100% abandonment of modern fabrics and garments cold turkey. If I actually wear out enough of my underwear that I need to buy more, I’m going to buy modern underwear. Same with socks, but I haven’t needed to buy replacement socks in a long, long time. I need to buy a different shape sock that I didn’t already own because of reasons. do I sometimes buy a thing that I think looks pretty? Of course I do. I’m a 3X and it makes it very hard to find good thriftable clothing. Though occasionally I find a brilliant haul, and make out like a bandit. I will probably buy the next pair of blue jeans that I need, but given that I’ve owned a combined total of less than five pairs since elementary school, I don’t think that’s a big deal. I think it’s more important to make it a commitment to improve rather than full on radically, take that dive. But I definitely agree that a lot of the making it by hand, the legitimate making it by hand, not the a sticker on a blank from China and call it handmade, does lead one to a more radical point of view. even when we do buy new, we tend to buy local or buy from other makers. We talk with our money in a more direct way than many people are conscious of doing. It’s one of the beautiful parts of being a maker.
Being conscious about what you buy is really important, but yes thriftstores aren't always very size inclusive, and sizing has changed so wildly over the last 20 or so years...
First castle was Burg Montfort, built in 1240 and named after the family von Montfort. The second castle was burg Fürstenberg, from 1243 and actually a UNESCO world heritage site! You'll find more information in a couple of weeks on @thehistoryhikers
I cannot recommend anything other than what I have, which is the Woolmakers Giant. Woolmakers are the budget version of Louët. So it's nice enough, but made out of MDF instead of solid wood. So sometimes I get frustrated with it almost flying off the table if there is just a smidge too much wool on it.
"Eastern uncrossed way" knitting, is that what nowadays is called continental knitting? Maybe when grandmother grew up, it was called Eastern uncrossed. I mean, if it came from countries east of Belgium, it was eastern, but those countries aren't situated in Eastern Europe.
No, actually it is not :) Continental also has the yarn in the left hand, but eastern uncrossed works through the back loop als the leading leg of the work, while continental works through the front leg. It's called "grandmothers' style" in a lot of Eastern European countries and the Baltics. It might also have been 'the original' way people started knitting thousands of years ago, as their needles actually had hooks on them, and then we're no longer speaking of Eastern Europe, but also the Middle East and North Africa.
Check out the Marina Skua podcast. She spun her yarn, wove the yarn into fabric on a rigid heddle loom, and sewed a skirt from the fabric. You can do this, too! harpingJanet
"The Crowing Hen" also has a series of 3 videos in which she spins the yarn and then weaves it and then sews it into a cape. I think the finished result is gorgeous. I don't have a loom, I'm not quite sure where I'd put a loom but I look at some of my hand spun hanks and wonder about making a cloak... Would take me forever, I am a slow spinner.
bonjour ma petitte dame j'aime beaucoup vos video vous etes du nord moi du sude de la belgique mais je constate que plus d'une chose nous reunisses j'ause esperer q'un jour nos chemain ce croise
I have 3 prs of handwoven trousers. I did not spin that yarn but my sweater is part woven and part knitted and all drop spindle spun. I have to replace it now since a laundering error wrecked it. The new sweater is handspun alpaca/wool blend and nearly done. Now hoe to use the sweater fabric? Hmmmmmmm
I have a Woolmakers Giant, the discount brand of Louet kind of. It's nice enough, does the job, but might not be as sturdy as it is made out of mdf in stead of solid wood.
I greatly enjoy your videos. Have to ask though,since you are anti-capitalist, did you make your glasses? Are you growing all of your own food? You drove to Germany, I am assuming, so you had to buy gas. Did you drill for and process the oil to make the gas? You can be environmentally conscious and want to support local in any way you can, reduce your carbon footprint, without being anti-capitalist. I will take living in a capitalist society, where I can buy what I need to, be able to say and think what I want, over living in a socialist society, where everyone has the same stuff, because that is what the government tells you, you can have. Not trying to be a downer, as I do watch all of your vlogs and greatly enjoy your sense of humor. Just wanted to let you know that not everything about capitalism is bad.
Jente, please forgive me if I am spoiling the vibe of this lovely video. @roxannbannach4920: You are ascribing a lot of qualities to capitalism that it simply doesn't have. You can only buy the things you need/want under capitalism if you have the money to do so. Extreme capitalism will let you starve to death without giving a tinker's cuss. One definition of capitalism is, "an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit." _Laissez faire_ capitalism means that there is little to no control over what traders and industrialists do, so forget woke garbage |s> like health and safety laws that reduce the likelihood of workers being killed on the job, or laws that require workers to be paid adequately, or consumer protection laws, "What? You mean I can't put stuff contaminated with insecticide in baby formula?". True capitalism inevitably leads to monopolies (as competition gradually eliminates all but one competitor), so you end up with a single supplier who can charge as much as they want, and they may or may not choose to manufacture and sell something at all. (So there goes your "where I can buy what I need to.") We're not quite at the stage of having only monopolies at present but we are down to a lot of sets of just 3 or 4 corporations providing virtually all the products or services in a certain area, e.g. in Australia we have two supermarket chains that sell about 80% of all groceries. Even 30 years ago I remember there being lots of independent retailers. A hell of a lot of them have been pushed out of business in the intervening decades. I miss those independent retailers, it meant that you got far more variety as a consumer, it meant that each shop had its own atmosphere, I think it made shopping a lot more fun than it is now. During the 20th century capitalism was sort of loosely linked to democracy, indeed, at one stage the theory in the West was that if China's forays into capitalism were encouraged the Chinese people would enjoy a greater level of democracy than they had. We can now see that China is the perfect example of a country that is largely capitalist (there are lots of millionaires these days and many people do enjoy a better _standard_ of living) but, in terms of political freedom, they are as badly off as ever. Your particular defence of capitalism suggests to me that you are in the US. The US is no longer a democracy, it's often listed as an anocracy. Other descriptions include oligarchy or kleptocracy. You have a country where 1% of the population owns 26.5% of the wealth. You have a political system where there is welfare for big corporations and "user pays"/"pull yourself up by your bootstraps"/"F you" for the poorer sections of the community. You have a political system where many women have lost a significant amount of control over their bodies and there are lots of plans (such as Project 2025) that intend to take it much, much further, with things like bans on contraception and no-fault divorce.
You are very much forgiven, as I wanted to write a similar reaction. (And I am still going to, because I feel really strongly about this) Being anti-capitalist does not mean being inherently anti-commerce or trade. That would be just downright silly, because humans are social beings that interact and help each other out. Living isolated and self sufficient is not what is in our nature. People have been making stuff and trading/selling it for millenia, while capitalism only found widespread acceptance in the 19th and 20th century. Capitalism is only one economic ideology, and one that only goes for profit and will turn people into wage-slaves to gain even more profit. The assumption that communism is the only alternative to capitalism is also false. We have had many economic systems before capitalism. Not that I'm advocating for for example feudalism in any way shape or form. But we can and must dream of and work towards a system wherein we respect the boundaries of our planet, give workers agency and a compensation that is equal to the work they produce, make sure nobody is being exploited just so some CEO can make a million more in profits. When my husband and I buy our vegetables and meat, we do so from a cooperation of local farmers that this way are allowed/able to price their goods at a fair rating. 90% goes to the farmers and 10% to the working of the cooperation. Why do farmers have to give their produce for pennies to big monopolies so that they can be sold in fancy supermarkets where only the prettiest of tomatoes make it to the shelves? Also, there is already so much stuff in the world that the coming seven generations would be clothed and would be able to furnish their houses comfortably. Why are we still producing ever more and more to the detriment of our fellow people and our planet? So I am very much a fan of degrowth. Oh and a particular thing, because my glasses were pointed out: I am immensely annoyed by the way capitalism has made my disability aid into a "fashion item" that corporations now charge so much money for, because the design is "special", yet they fall apart after a couple years of wearing (my previous pair only lasted me 4 years; by then the lenses were all scratched up and the frame felt so fragile it might just fall apart any moment). I get marketing ads every three months how you should change your glasses with the season... no. It is first and foremost a disability aid, for I would not be able to move around in the world without it. End of rant. (Unless anyone wants me to rant more).
UPDATE: Captions should be live now!
One of my recent videos I had to rerecord a whole section that didn't record. Technical difficulties love me.
I watched this while darning a pair of my partner's socks. They are really hard on their socks, but I am diligently keeping them in rotation for as long as possible.
Yes, darning is great!
Your grandmother must have been so impressed with what you have accomplished, the journey your crafting has taken you on so far, and so very proud of you. 😊
I think she would be. She really liked the finished objects anyway. And even in her dementia she could still discern handknit sweaters from miles away
I nearly missed my photo being featured lol I was away to go toggling to check out the others when I saw something that looked familiar, so I checked and sure enough it was my tiny turkish spindle lol Thanks for the mention :) T x
I saw that Turkish spindle and thought, "Someone's done a lovely job of spinning there."
@@resourcedragon aww thank you, that is nice of you to say T x
Hi Jente, I hope you're OK xx ❣️❣️❣️
Thankyou so much for sharing this video podcast 😊😊😊
I hope you're having a Wonderful TDF🚲🐑🥰.
I only have a 1 yd Niddy Noddy, so it looks like I've not done much Spinning, but I've done almost 250 yds. While I've not done many yds, I've managed to perfect my 2ply Handspun Yarns.
Done my 1st Striped Chain Plyed Yarn.
I'm hoping to Spin another 100yds (sorry, that I don't metres). Then I shall treat myself to something Fibre related.🐑🐑🐑
I've taken things slowly so that I don't suffer from " Burn out" which has happened before, during TDF. 🎡🚲🐑
I wish Everyone luck on the last Week✨️🌟.
Happy Spinning and TDF Fibre Friends🎡🚲🐑🐑🥰
Take care and stay safe
Lots of love and Huge Hugs Jen xxxx❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🎡🐑🐑🎡🚲🚲🐑🐑
@MijnWolden, Hi Jente, I hope you're OK xx ❣️❣️❣️❣️
Thankyou so much for the Heart ♥
Sending Heart ♥ back to you ❤️💞
Happy Spinning and TDF Fibre Friend 🎡🚲🐑🥰🐑🥰
Take care and stay safe
Lots of love and Big Hugs Jen xxxx ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🐑🐑🐑
@Mijn Wolden, Hi Jente, I hope you and Dries are both OK xx ❣️❣️❣️❣️
Thankyou so much for sharing your video podcasts and your expertise, them and you are very much appreciated .✨️🌟🔆🌞
Happy Spinning and TDF Fibre Friend🎡🚲🐑🥰🐑🥰
Take care and stay safe
Lots of love and Big Hugs to you both...Jen xxxx ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🐑🐑🐑
my fibre arts to anti-capitalist pipeline goes something like this: in Australia we have entire cities that were based on wool production. we have some of the most sought after wools in the world (for some reason. okay lets be honest, because capitalism and they're all some kind of merino variant here) and yet 90% of our wool is exported directly to China, which has lead to many of our yarn companies and wool processing mills to either close down or move overseas. I grew up in the state of Queensland. there is a yarn brand called the Queensland Company, which is inexplicably an American brand, even though its main line is called "Perth" and all the colourways are still named after Australian things. We have so many more breeds in Australia than just Corriedale, Polwarth and merino, and yet even as a spinner its tough to find texel or dorper fleece because those animals are mainly bred for meat so the wool just gets wasted because everything is commercial in our sheep industry, and nobody's buying texel or dorper fleeces for mass production of fabrics.
When I was a child my step-cousins lived on a mixed farm in the Mallee region of 640 acres. My step uncle and step aunt worked hard, they had sheep, they alternated between growing wheat and barley, they had quite a lot of free range hens (the hen run would have been about the size of the average suburban block, and the maximum number of hens was typically around about 120). There was a cow for milk and butter for the family, and a bull to service the cow (my uncle specialised in unusually tame bulls!) and there was a milk goat as one of my cousins was lactose-intolerant and there were two or three pigs, and some turkeys. My aunt grew some vegetables, if I remember correctly. When the youngest child turned about 5 my aunt went to work at the local school as a teacher. The lactose intolerant cousin caught quite a lot of rabbits, there were lots of those.
Their sheep were (if I remember correctly) border Leister merino crosses (other than the merino that wandered in from a neighbouring farm and was a pet sheep for some years). The sheep were shorn during the spring school holiday, they hired shearers, as there were quite a lot of sheep. One of the shearers was a real joker and went on to have a career as a comedian. We kids (I was visiting during said school holidays) helped out with the shearing by jumping on the fleeces in the bales, to fit as much into a bale as possible. We may have done some minimalist skirting, I do remember fleeces being expertly tossed by the shearers or my uncle onto a skirting table and we might have pulled off a few dags.
The thing was, my uncle and aunt were able to give their family a decent standard of living, including being able to send all four children to private boarding schools for their high schooling. The first signs that things were going downhill for small producers were already there in the mid 1970s, small scale egg producers were already being pressured out of business. The egg board accepted or rejected suppliers' eggs and suddenly my uncle and aunt were being told that large numbers of their eggs were broken or rotten, despite the production and transportation methods for said eggs being unchanged. My uncle had a bit of a win one time when he was able to prove that none of the eggs was broken when they got to the egg packing factory but that was probably a moral victory, rather than an on-going one.
Another friend grew up on a small dairy farm in the Adelaide hills. They were some of the earliest dairy farmers to be pushed out by larger producers. Her parents did earn money from working off the farm as well as on it but, even so, it wasn't enough for them to be able to hang onto the farm. The loss of the farm may well have been a factor in her parents getting divorced. My impression is that, a generation earlier, people were able to make a respectable living on that farm, and my friend's description of her earliest years suggests that they lived well, if not lavishly.
So I've definitely seen smaller producers being pushed out by larger producers (often with less than ethical methods). Fast forward another twenty five years or so and a lot of smaller retailers were pushed out of business by big franchises.
@@resourcedragon yep. It's been really nasty. I have family from Bogan Shire NSW, specifically around Nyngan. They were farmers and my second cousin was a shearer. As far as I know it was a similar thing for them, hence my second cousin becoming a professional shearer instead of working the family farm.
I’m sorry for your loss! My grandmother died from COVID-19 complications at the age of 95. She always thought she would outlive her mother, died at the age of 102 after being dropped on her head at a nursing home. My great-grandmother did a lot of sewing and hand crafts. My grandmother used to tell stories of growing up in the Great Depression, and how her mom made all her clothes. If grandma’s clothes got holes, her mother would mend them. She even made my grandmother’s wedding dress out of her brother’s World War Two parachute!
My grandmom was a babyboomer, so literally born after WWII. But she made my mom's christening gown out of her own wedding dress, as was customary here :)
I knit Eastern uncrossed too , but I taught myself. Both grandmother's taught me to crochet. Thanks for sharing your inspirational stories.
Grandmothers sharing their wisdom is best
Since I was a child, living in Puerto Rico on a farm, my grandmother sew our clothes. I rarely ever had new clothing from a store. Most of my clothes were handmade or handmedowns from my sister and cousins. After I came to the United States, I made very little money, while I went to school. I bought clothes from the 2nd hand stores. Today, I have the means to buy new things, but most of my clothes, fabrics, yarn, furniture, and dishes are handmade or thrifted. I'm a spinner, but I'm allergic to wool. I spin alpaca, silk, bamboo, and cotton. I don't live near any Alpaca farms. I buy the fibers on Etsy. I love hearing that other people upcycling, reusing, and repurposing fabrics instead of buying new ones. I love the yarn you're making it is beautiful. Love your channel. ❤❤
Handmade or thrifted love!
spinning in a castle ruin is another level of awesome :D
Too bad you don't have as much castles near you, because I do this at least a couple of times a year :)
"Radicalize me even more!"
While I can't say fiber arts specifically radicalized me, they definitely sat along the trajectory I set myself upon when I developed IBS over a decade ago. I was barely out of college, but it radicalized me in how the modern production of food in agriculture is so... removed from not only healthy produce but a model which encourages starvation and greed, as well as the mass usage of chemicals and pollutants that ultimately destroy our planet and agricultural foundations rather than sustain it. I started my own gardens ten years ago and have never looked back. I supported small businesses in clothing up until I developed chronic illnesses which left me housebound, upon which I took up knitting (my ultimate therapy!) and now spinning.
Pretty much ALL of these things sort of cascades into the overall understanding of how much we have lost in 'modernizing' our lives for the sake of 'ease' - where we compromise health and wellbeing of not only ourselves, but the surrounding flora and fauna and natural ecosystems - of which we are very much a part of - for the sake of 'convenience'.
I am lucky enough to live in an area where local farms can still operate but it is heartbreaking to see a lot of the standard crops and businesses that have been around for centuries start to collapse under capitalism. I am so happy to hear you talk about your own journey and views on this and hope more people can align with sustainable living habits and living within the means of the world around them, not the world that is 'offered' to them for convenience.
Oh yes, all of it! We buy our produce from a cooperation of local farmers, where they themselves can put prices on their wares. And where vegetables and fruit aren't picked underripe to store in vaults for big supermarkets. We're glad we can support our local farmers like this, and we get so much better vegetables, fruits and meat in return than we can ever find in store.
"sheep straight to the face" is the best therapy! Spinning is also very good though, especially with nice smooth, clean fibre that you can just spin without stopping to pluck out knots or dirt. I found the walking wheel I tried out recently even more meditative, as it's a process that involves your whole body. It's kind of like a flowy yoga session, but you get yarn at the end of it!
For me the fibre arts (including sewing) have also been the thing that has been slowly driving me away from fast fashion (and flying). It just makes you so accutely aware of how much work goes into an item of clothing when you have made some yourself.
Exactly! All of it :D
My dream project is to grow flax, spin that into linen, likely dye that with something I've grown in my garden, and then make something from that. I'm building up my dye plants and we're slowly working on turning more of our lawn into garden, so the only thing I haven't gotten a start on is learning to spin! It's coming soon. Soooooon!
Soooon!
Oh my goodness! I just noticed we have the same spinning wheel! ❤
Louet S71 love! (Unless you meant one of my others)
Yes I agree! The more into fiber arts I get the further I get from wanting store bought clothes and new things. I have always loved thrifting as it's affordable, but now it is the main way I get my clothing other than crafting. Second hand things honestly feel more valuable to me because I have to hunt around to find things that I like and that don't bother my sensory issues! Very exited whenever I find linen or wool at the thrift store 🐑✨️
Yes, I'm always looking at the tags for wool and linen too :D
i spun a couple of skeins last week ...but now i am working on my braided rugs again. next knitting socks! then there is the big garden! its that time of year! lovely days!
Lovely days indeed!
Yeah, I started the descent down the pipeline when I learned how to crochet and was happily crocheting my little heart out for years, and then one day saw crochet bags for sale in (I think) H&M or somewhere, thought, "ooh, I wonder how they're made (and if I can just make one myself... 😏) and then saw they were selling them for like £12. When I worked out how long it would take me to make it, and what I would want to sell it for, suddenly my eyes were opened to the fact that not only were there like 20 of these on the rail, they had been made in and shipped from Vietnam and for those shipping costs to be worth it to sell at such a low price must mean that the workers are not being paid fairly... and then it's been all downhill from there. I do buy new clothes still as my sewing is not good and charity shops don't seem to ever have my size, but it's pretty rare now, and I am much choosier about where I'm buying my clothes from.
Sizing is a tricky hurdle to overcome, but being conscious about what you buy is a great step!
This is what worries me about the recent explosion in popularity of crocheted items. Unlike knitting, crochet can't be done by a machine so everything you see in a store was produced by a person. If that item is only $12, how much do you think the person who crocheted it made? Not very much at all. And just think of how many hours per day they would have to work to make enough items for the mass market?
Loving your videos!!!
Thank you!
There are so many goblins! That was a decent photo montage
I am amazed at how many goblins!
Have you seen the Sarah dippity skirt by Sarah Swett? There are a bunch of them on Ravelry. It’s fun combining panels of knit with woven fabric. The sky is the limit!
I haven't, but I'll check it out now!
Your chungus skeins have inspired me to finally get a jumbo flyer/bobbins for my ashford traditional. I am so tired of making little 40-50 gram skeins and splicing them together :( I have also totally gotten radicalized through fiber arts, though it's been a long long process. First was becoming very picky about fiber content of clothes, and now I try to only buy things secondhand (including the materials I make with) or I'm very picky about new things.
Jumbo flyers are awesome. My wheel only came with that one, and I've never felt the need to get a standard one...
I did some knitting while watching this video, instead of my own spinning/fibre prep as I have been doing while watching the earlier tdf vlogs. I finished plying a big project last night. Later I will do some spinning on my spindle or some plying of various leftovers that have been accumulating on my bobbins.
I was also taught to knit by my grandmother, as well as some other crafts. While I didn't really pick it up in earnest until a few years before she died, when her dementia was quite bad, I know she was and would be proud of me, and I love feeling connected to her across time by our shared live of fibre arts. Miss you Nan 💞
That's the magic of fiber arts, it connects us to so many ancestors, both those we know and accutely miss, and those that came before
My radicalization started when I participated in the Shave 'em to Save 'em program that is run by the US organization the Livestock Conservancy. The purpose is to promote the use of fiber from heritage sheep breeds that we are in danger of losing. These breeds are not used in mass production for many reasons (the most egregious, IMO, being that they aren't Merino which has been so heavily marketed that people actually think it's the only real wool out there) such as they aren't perfectly white so dyes aren't perfectly, and boringly, consistent, and often don't have perfectly consistent lock structure, or are *gasp* double coated and don't work well with the machinery big mills use among others.
Losing that genetic diversity means that we are losing potential. One important example is the Jacob breed, my favorite. Industry doesn't like it because it is multi-colored and multi-horned so it is everything industry hates. It is also the only species we have found, other than humans, that carries the Tay-Sachs gene. Tay-Sachs is a genetic disorder largely carried in the Jewish population that causes children with it to die at a young age. Before the discovery of the mutation in Jacob sheep, it was very difficult to study the disorder and experiment to find possible therapies because of the ethics of experimentation on humans.
Now, this does get into the realm of the ethics of animal experimentation, which is fraught itself. However, just as there is very little people can do to eliminate all environmental impact, I believe that the sacrifice of a few sheep with the intent of keeping children from dying is an acceptable trade off.
This is just one example of how important genetic diversity is. If fiber artists like me didn't make use of these breeds, they would fade away just because they aren't up to industrial standards.
You talk about combing vs drum carding. You should try both. I have an 18" hackle for my combs I card a batt and then I lash the batt onto my hackle. I use the comb for a few quick passes to even out the hackle and then I dizz off from the hackle. You get the speed of carding and combed top fibre faster than combs alone
I'll rhink of that next time I want a more worsted prep :D
I am thoroughly enjoying Tour de Fleece via your videos! I have even got some spinning done.
Go you!
While I do buy a fair bit of new clothing, it does tend to be from other makers. I’m planning on buying about a dozen new linen dresses from a vendor in the Sca (historical reenactment group-and often really cool people) but I’m buying new ones because I’ve had three die in the right armpit this year and they are pushing a decade old and worn about four days out of seven in a week. I can work with that. I don’t know anything about the providence of the linen she uses, but it certainly better than T-shirts. One of the things that it’s important to remember is making steps forward does not mean 100% abandonment of modern fabrics and garments cold turkey. If I actually wear out enough of my underwear that I need to buy more, I’m going to buy modern underwear. Same with socks, but I haven’t needed to buy replacement socks in a long, long time. I need to buy a different shape sock that I didn’t already own because of reasons. do I sometimes buy a thing that I think looks pretty? Of course I do. I’m a 3X and it makes it very hard to find good thriftable clothing. Though occasionally I find a brilliant haul, and make out like a bandit. I will probably buy the next pair of blue jeans that I need, but given that I’ve owned a combined total of less than five pairs since elementary school, I don’t think that’s a big deal. I think it’s more important to make it a commitment to improve rather than full on radically, take that dive. But I definitely agree that a lot of the making it by hand, the legitimate making it by hand, not the a sticker on a blank from China and call it handmade, does lead one to a more radical point of view. even when we do buy new, we tend to buy local or buy from other makers. We talk with our money in a more direct way than many people are conscious of doing. It’s one of the beautiful parts of being a maker.
Being conscious about what you buy is really important, but yes thriftstores aren't always very size inclusive, and sizing has changed so wildly over the last 20 or so years...
❤
I enjoyed your spinning by the castle ruins with a sea shell! So unique! What is the history of the castle. When was it built?
First castle was Burg Montfort, built in 1240 and named after the family von Montfort. The second castle was burg Fürstenberg, from 1243 and actually a UNESCO world heritage site! You'll find more information in a couple of weeks on @thehistoryhikers
@@MijnWolden thank you!
Honestly, I don't even know what way I knit, I just care about if my piece turns out how it's supposed to.
Personally, same. But I know my late grandmother well enough to know she would care 😂
YOUR GRANDMOTHER
I cannot recommend anything other than what I have, which is the Woolmakers Giant. Woolmakers are the budget version of Louët. So it's nice enough, but made out of MDF instead of solid wood. So sometimes I get frustrated with it almost flying off the table if there is just a smidge too much wool on it.
"Eastern uncrossed way" knitting, is that what nowadays is called continental knitting? Maybe when grandmother grew up, it was called Eastern uncrossed. I mean, if it came from countries east of Belgium, it was eastern, but those countries aren't situated in Eastern Europe.
No, actually it is not :) Continental also has the yarn in the left hand, but eastern uncrossed works through the back loop als the leading leg of the work, while continental works through the front leg. It's called "grandmothers' style" in a lot of Eastern European countries and the Baltics. It might also have been 'the original' way people started knitting thousands of years ago, as their needles actually had hooks on them, and then we're no longer speaking of Eastern Europe, but also the Middle East and North Africa.
@@MijnWolden thank you! Very interresting! I will have to try that someday.
Lol growing up in the non-French part of Canada I know exactly how it is with knowing French, yet having abysmal grammar 😅
Why do they have such silly grammar rules and make their sentences so weird? haha
Check out the Marina Skua podcast. She spun her yarn, wove the yarn into fabric on a rigid heddle loom, and sewed a skirt from the fabric. You can do this, too! harpingJanet
"The Crowing Hen" also has a series of 3 videos in which she spins the yarn and then weaves it and then sews it into a cape. I think the finished result is gorgeous.
I don't have a loom, I'm not quite sure where I'd put a loom but I look at some of my hand spun hanks and wonder about making a cloak... Would take me forever, I am a slow spinner.
I saw it, and was much inspired by it!
It's a pity Crowing Hen doesn't make much videos anymore, I really enjoyed her style of narration
bonjour ma petitte dame j'aime beaucoup vos video vous etes du nord moi du sude de la belgique mais je constate que plus d'une chose nous reunisses j'ause esperer q'un jour nos chemain ce croise
Bonjour, quelle surprise de rencontrer un autre Belge ici!
Is that a spinning drone shot I see 👀
Yes, filmed by my friend Orca FPV
In Australia many of us can barely speak our own language haha
haha wow that sounds a bit harsh haha
@MijnWolden yeah, didn't mean for it to sound harsh. Many of us just don't seem to be worried about perfect language skills, we speak a lot of slang.
I have 3 prs of handwoven trousers. I did not spin that yarn but my sweater is part woven and part knitted and all drop spindle spun. I have to replace it now since a laundering error wrecked it. The new sweater is handspun alpaca/wool blend and nearly done. Now hoe to use the sweater fabric? Hmmmmmmm
I'm sorry for the laundering error, but now you have many new crafting opportunities
Which kind of drum carder are you using? I thought about buying one to card some local fleece :) but I‘m not sure which I could choose
I have a Woolmakers Giant, the discount brand of Louet kind of. It's nice enough, does the job, but might not be as sturdy as it is made out of mdf in stead of solid wood.
@@MijnWolden thank you for your answer
@@saladmoss5547 yep! For I'm mostly carding medium wools on this :)
@@MijnWolden thank you!
I greatly enjoy your videos. Have to ask though,since you are anti-capitalist, did you make your glasses? Are you growing all of your own food? You drove to Germany, I am assuming, so you had to buy gas. Did you drill for and process the oil to make the gas? You can be environmentally conscious and want to support local in any way you can, reduce your carbon footprint, without being anti-capitalist. I will take living in a capitalist society, where I can buy what I need to, be able to say and think what I want, over living in a socialist society, where everyone has the same stuff, because that is what the government tells you, you can have. Not trying to be a downer, as I do watch all of your vlogs and greatly enjoy your sense of humor. Just wanted to let you know that not everything about capitalism is bad.
Jente, please forgive me if I am spoiling the vibe of this lovely video.
@roxannbannach4920: You are ascribing a lot of qualities to capitalism that it simply doesn't have.
You can only buy the things you need/want under capitalism if you have the money to do so. Extreme capitalism will let you starve to death without giving a tinker's cuss.
One definition of capitalism is, "an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit." _Laissez faire_ capitalism means that there is little to no control over what traders and industrialists do, so forget woke garbage |s> like health and safety laws that reduce the likelihood of workers being killed on the job, or laws that require workers to be paid adequately, or consumer protection laws, "What? You mean I can't put stuff contaminated with insecticide in baby formula?".
True capitalism inevitably leads to monopolies (as competition gradually eliminates all but one competitor), so you end up with a single supplier who can charge as much as they want, and they may or may not choose to manufacture and sell something at all. (So there goes your "where I can buy what I need to.") We're not quite at the stage of having only monopolies at present but we are down to a lot of sets of just 3 or 4 corporations providing virtually all the products or services in a certain area, e.g. in Australia we have two supermarket chains that sell about 80% of all groceries. Even 30 years ago I remember there being lots of independent retailers. A hell of a lot of them have been pushed out of business in the intervening decades. I miss those independent retailers, it meant that you got far more variety as a consumer, it meant that each shop had its own atmosphere, I think it made shopping a lot more fun than it is now.
During the 20th century capitalism was sort of loosely linked to democracy, indeed, at one stage the theory in the West was that if China's forays into capitalism were encouraged the Chinese people would enjoy a greater level of democracy than they had. We can now see that China is the perfect example of a country that is largely capitalist (there are lots of millionaires these days and many people do enjoy a better _standard_ of living) but, in terms of political freedom, they are as badly off as ever.
Your particular defence of capitalism suggests to me that you are in the US. The US is no longer a democracy, it's often listed as an anocracy. Other descriptions include oligarchy or kleptocracy. You have a country where 1% of the population owns 26.5% of the wealth. You have a political system where there is welfare for big corporations and "user pays"/"pull yourself up by your bootstraps"/"F you" for the poorer sections of the community. You have a political system where many women have lost a significant amount of control over their bodies and there are lots of plans (such as Project 2025) that intend to take it much, much further, with things like bans on contraception and no-fault divorce.
You are very much forgiven, as I wanted to write a similar reaction. (And I am still going to, because I feel really strongly about this)
Being anti-capitalist does not mean being inherently anti-commerce or trade. That would be just downright silly, because humans are social beings that interact and help each other out. Living isolated and self sufficient is not what is in our nature. People have been making stuff and trading/selling it for millenia, while capitalism only found widespread acceptance in the 19th and 20th century. Capitalism is only one economic ideology, and one that only goes for profit and will turn people into wage-slaves to gain even more profit.
The assumption that communism is the only alternative to capitalism is also false. We have had many economic systems before capitalism. Not that I'm advocating for for example feudalism in any way shape or form. But we can and must dream of and work towards a system wherein we respect the boundaries of our planet, give workers agency and a compensation that is equal to the work they produce, make sure nobody is being exploited just so some CEO can make a million more in profits.
When my husband and I buy our vegetables and meat, we do so from a cooperation of local farmers that this way are allowed/able to price their goods at a fair rating. 90% goes to the farmers and 10% to the working of the cooperation. Why do farmers have to give their produce for pennies to big monopolies so that they can be sold in fancy supermarkets where only the prettiest of tomatoes make it to the shelves?
Also, there is already so much stuff in the world that the coming seven generations would be clothed and would be able to furnish their houses comfortably. Why are we still producing ever more and more to the detriment of our fellow people and our planet? So I am very much a fan of degrowth.
Oh and a particular thing, because my glasses were pointed out: I am immensely annoyed by the way capitalism has made my disability aid into a "fashion item" that corporations now charge so much money for, because the design is "special", yet they fall apart after a couple years of wearing (my previous pair only lasted me 4 years; by then the lenses were all scratched up and the frame felt so fragile it might just fall apart any moment). I get marketing ads every three months how you should change your glasses with the season... no. It is first and foremost a disability aid, for I would not be able to move around in the world without it.
End of rant. (Unless anyone wants me to rant more).
@@MijnWoldenGood lord, I love you! ❤️❤️ ❤