Seasonality, sometimes.
Stinging nettle in the summer. Wooly wool all year.
Summer has fully arrived here in Southwestern BC.
As with each seasonal transition, I seek a new balance between my indoor craft and outdoor hobbies. But I haven’t given up my wooly wools—not even at 30+ degrees!
Outdoors: Stinging Nettles
A few weekends ago, in a moment of playful abandon, my Mom and I decided to break into the stem of a single nettle plant.
Patches of stinging nettles grow in great swathes on my family’s farm. We sub nettle for spinach in palak paneer and dry the leaves for tea. Yet, I have never tried harvesting the fibre.
We had not consulted any botanical diagrams nor YouTube tutorials. In short, we had no idea what to expect. For two overthinkers to embark on this adventure without a plan was liberating!
We rolled an offcut of metal piping along the length of the stem—I, in a deep squat, her, sitting on the floor. It was such a joy to be like that together. Fully engrossed. Mother and daughter, playing again.
The crunch was unquestionably satisfying. We had no clue where the fibre was, but it did not matter. We were captivated.
After some YouTube research and armed with a bundle of stalks, we tried again. Unfortunately, I was too eager to get to the fine fibres within. I created something more akin to lichen than the “silk of the North.”
But, oh, we had fun. Side-splitting fun.
Now back in the city, I have some dried stems on the balcony. One day soon, I will ret them in our bathtub. More to come…
Indoors: Wooly Wool
The project I meditate on when lying in bed at night is a throw made of 100% local wool—ideally from a single flock. In preparation, I have been sampling some unspun and minimally spun wools.
This sample is destined to become a throw pillow. It features a self-drafted pattern using a herringbone weave structure. The plaid sequence was influenced by Fibonacci and determined by my limited supply of this yarn.
Compared to finer silk or cotton, this fabric wove up exceptionally fast. Now that it has been lightly fulled, it has a wonderful hand—dense but not stiff. I can hardly imagine a cozier place to curl up this winter than under a blanket made from this material.
With the wool project off my loom, I have turned to a more summer-appropriate endeavor: a set of cotton and linen dishtowels. I will be sharing photos and more details about this new project in my next newsletter.
Until then,
What has been inspiring me lately.
Rachel Duvall’s total mastery of colour, geometric form, texture, and layering. Her woven pieces are beautifully balanced and I particularly admire her use of floater frames.
Sally Pointer’s guide to processing stinging nettles with minimal effort is wonderfully approachable. Her method gave my mom and me the confidence to give it a try! I am deeply grateful for her generosity in sharing this technique with the world.
Two audiobooks I listened to in record time are Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie and Pandora’s Jar by Natalie Haynes. The former explores a future where empire-building powers use AI ships and their ancillary (human-bodied) soldiers. The latter retells Greek creation myths with their female characters at the centre.
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