Hemp

Hemp:
Hemp is a fiber cultivated from cannabis plants.  It's been around for at least the last 12,000 years.  It's used in textiles, paper, plastics, food and building materials.  It is a crazy, cool substance.  Don't believe me?  Check out the cool hemp facts!

Cool Hemp Facts:

• More hemp is exported to the United States than to any other country.
• Hemp seeds are jam packed with essential amino and fatty acids.
• Hemp contains less than 0.3% THC, where marijuana can contain 6%-20%.
• More amazing hemp facts can be found here.  Seriously.  These facts are awesome.

My Hemp Yarn:
I'm going to let you in on a little secret... I picked this yarn out before The Quest  was even a sparkle in my eye. 

The color!  Do you see the color? 

Now do you see what I'm talking about?  It's LanaKnits Designs Hemp for Knitting allhemp6 in Midori and it's super saturated and full of grass green goodness. 

• Texture: 3 Yarngasms.  It's very similar to the coarse 100% silk I used.  It's hearty, but smooth.  It's not soft and luscious, but it's also not like fondling steel wool. 
• Durability: 3.5 Yarngasms.  They make hemp ropes for cryin' out loud.  This stuff is strong when twisted, but if it's undertwisted or starts to untwist - beware.
• Frogability: 1 Yarngasm.  As soon as you start frogging, you'll lose twist.  This causes major splitting and breaking of the individual strands.  The color also flakes off the more you mess with the yarn.  Try not to do it if at all possible.
• Drape: 4 Yarngasms.  Hemp yarn is very heavy and drapes like a dream, but doesn't overdrape.  You're not going to get an overstretched garment from hemp like you can with bamboo.

My Project:
The moment that I saw the Lacy Skirt with Bows on the cover of Greetings from the Knit Cafe, I was in love.  It just so happens that hemp drapes for days, so it's perfect for a skirt.  This is yet another example of the yarn and the pattern working together to create something truly beautiful.

Corn

Corn, you know, the kind you eat:
I am told the Native Americans shared the secret of corn with the Pilgrims.  How long was the corn growing in the new world before the Mayflower?  Who knows.  Ok.  An archaeologist or historian somewhere knows, but I am neither and so I claim "who knows".  Let's get real here for a moment; you eat corn, I eat corn, I think we're all aware of what corn is and how it's grown.  Yes?  Yes.  Moving right along...

Corn, you know, the kind you knit:
Corn yarn is a relatively new product.  Our little kerneled friends were just waiting in the wings for a chemist to come along and help them reach their full potential.  That's right my friends, put out of your mind the image of a gentle, grandma-type lady at her spinning wheel diligently twisting and pulling corn silk.  This bad boy begins in a laboratory.  *maniacal laughter*  Ok.  That's not entirely true.  It begins on a farm and then migrates to the laboratory. *more maniacal laughter*

Corn is full of starch. These starches are broken down into sugars, then fermented and broken down even further on the molecular chain.  Think of it as a gooey, sugary, play-doh.  This play-doh is shoved through an extruder to create thin, delicate strands.  The strands are cut, carded, combed and spun into yarn.

Cool Corn Yarn Facts:

• It's compostable.
• It's hypoallergenic.
• It's UV & wrinkle resistant.
• It has low flammability.

My Corn:
For my first foray into knitting with corn, I chose Kollage Corntastic Yarn.  If a hank of cotton yarn and a ball of bamboo yarn had a little yarn baby, it would be corn yarn. 

Texture: 4 Yarngasms.  omgthisyarnissoridiculouslysoftanddelicious! *puddle*

Durability: 2.5 Yarngasms. While corn yarn has similar properties to bamboo and cotton, it is definitely the most delicate of the three.

Frogability: 1 Yarngasm.  Don't do it.  Don't even think about it.  This yarn it very splitty to begin with, frogging only makes it worse.

Drape: 1 Yarngasm.  Yeah.  There's none. 

My Project:
Prepare yourselves for a saga of epic proportions.  I bought this yarn with the express purpose of using it for the Corset-Bodice Nightgown from Knitting Lingerie Style: More Than 30 Basic and Lingerie-Inspired Designs. Silky, delicious yarn for a sexy nightgown, what could possible go wrong?  I'll tell you what went wrong.  I finished the project, blocked it and then realized that  it didn't look anything like I wanted it to.  Or anything like the picture.  The yarn may be soft and smooth and totally yummy, but it's so lightweight it can't drape to save its life.  And so, the Corset-Bodice Nightgown was frogged and the Kollage Corntastic sat unused and unloved.  Until one day, I decided it was time to move past my disappointment and turn this knitting frown upside down.  Armed with the knowledge that I couldn't use any pattern that included openwork, I went with a pattern I'd been itching to knit; the Button-Up Sweater from Doggy Knits: Over 20 Coat Designs for Handsome Hounds And Perfect Pooches.  And so, this* was born:

*the sweater, not the dog

And there was much rejoicing.

This may sound like I don't like this yarn.  That is SO not the case.  In fact, this yarn is the perfect example of why I started this Quest in the first place.  Every fiber has positives and negatives, the key is to pick projects that accentuate the positives and eliminate the negatives (as they say...) of the fiber you're working with.  The fiber is the basis of this craft and each project should work for the fiber content in your yarn and not the other way around.  It just so happened that the first pattern I picked didn't work with the fiber.  The second pattern I looked at had all the right elements to showcase the corn yarn.  The lesson here: Know Thy Yarn. 

Silk

History of Silk:
Silk was used in China sometime around 3500 BC (although it was found with some Egyptian mummies dating back to 1070 BC).  As a luxury fiber, it was used to make hoity-toity, fancypants things for kings and their pals.  The demand grew and the production increased.  With silk coming out of their ears, the only logical thing to do was to try to get other cool stuff for it.  Eventually, the silk trade burst wide open and silk (while still a luxury item) was more readily available all over the world.  It is still a staple in the economies of China & India, in addition to several other countries.

How Silk is Made:
Silk is made by silkworms.  Silk moths lay eggs which hatch into silkworms.  Silkworms which are fed mulberry leaves, for example, produce finer silk, while silkworms that eat say, oak leaves, produce coarser silk.  The silkworm lives for roughly 30 days before beginning to spin its cocoon.  The cocoon takes roughly 2 to 3 days to complete.  The chrysalises are killed by heating the cocoon.  Then, the cocoon is washed and unwound into a single silk strand.  The strands from 8 cocoons would be roughly as thick as one human hair.

Here's a pretty cool video of a silk factory in China.

Interesting Silk Facts:

• Silk is the strongest natural fiber, but has poor resistance to sunlight and water.
• According to Islamic teachings, Muslim men are not allowed to wear silk.
• Genghis Khan & his Mongol soldiers wore silk under their armor to protect from arrows.

My Silk:
I picked up some 100% silk yarn from Colorfield Farm at this year's Shepherd's Harvest Sheep & Wool Festival.  It's a hearty, coarse silk.  The colors are fantastic; blues, grays & tans.  It isn't quite what you'd expect when you imagine silk, but a lovely yarn all the same.

• Texture: 3 Yarngasms.  It's not a soft as you would expect from a silk yarn, but it's not as rough as the texture would lead you to believe.
• Durability: 3.5 Yarngasms.  I've schlepped this project around.  I've worn it several times.  It's not pilling, shredding or breaking.
• Frogability: 2 Yarngasms.  I wouldn't frog this yarn more than once, maybe twice. As coarse as it is, remember, it's still delicate silk.
• Drape: 4 Yarngasms.  It hangs well, not too light and not too drapey.

My project:
I knit Audrey's Cardigan from the Spring 2010 issue of Interweave Knits.  As much as I loved my yarn in the hank, I lurve it for this project.  The piece isn't too heavy to be reigned in by the silk satin ribbon, but hangs just enough when left to its own devices.  This project with this yarn is a strong 4.5 Yarngasms.

i knit with this. what? this.

Let's take a trip in the wayback machine, shall we? 

Imagine a place you'd like to go.  Victorian England.  Cosmonaut space shuttle.  The lost city of Atlantis.  Really. Any place will do.  Now, imagine me there.  Seriously.  If you're having trouble imagining me, just imagine anyone and call them Natalie. 

So, one day we're walking along the [insert something that we'd walk along in your wayback machine destination] and I turn to you and say, "Hey!  I think I'm going to try to knit with all the fibers I can find!" 

And then you found $5.  Or whatever the currency is at your wayback machine destination.

The end.

That's it in a nutshell.  One day I had the idea that I would try to knit with all the fibers I could.  Which sounded crazy.  Which still sounds crazy.  Hence, The Rules.

The Rules

1. It must be yarn.  Maybe when I'm done with yarn I'll try knitting with shoe laces or rubber bands, but for now, I'm sticking to yarn.

2. All fake/man-made fibers will be known as "acrylic".  I'm not going out of my way to knit with rayon and nylon and polyester.  An exploration of all the stuff Man can make with oil and magic this is not.

3. I will not learn to spin just to try new things.  No spinning.  For reals.  I don't need another hobby.  But I won't look gift yarn from spinners in the mouth.

With these rules in mind, I am beginning my quest to knit with all the fibers I can purchase (or talk people into giving me).  And I'll share it with you here.  We'll laugh.  We'll cry.  We'll get really knerdy about knitting.  Pinky promise.