Ramie

OK, now that the rush of getting the show mounted is over, I sat for an hour this morning with the ramie. I expected it to be as tough to spin as flax, but it's not. In fact, it's much more like spinning the tussah silk top that we tried last month. It isn't necessary to work wet, as with linen, and if it weren't for the unrelenting snow white color, you could almost think it was silk.

Like linen, it has no elasticity. Like either silk or linen, it will spin very fine without much effort.

It does tend to fluff all over if you aren't careful. In winter, when static electricity can be more pronounced, spinning it with damp fingers might in fact help.

I'm curious about dyeing it. Cellulose fibers dye differently than protein, and are supposed to be more difficult. Obviously, indigo would still work pretty much the same as it does on wool. But what else would you use? Can you get natural dyes from plants to take on cotton or ramie? Anyone have experience?

September meeting: belated update

Four of us were there for the September discussion, and after looking at each other's silk we decided it was time to introduce a new fiber. Rather than pushing into breeds of sheep, Gary suggested we try a vegetable fiber and the group agreed on ramie, the bast fiber from china grass. It is generally available as a roving and can be dyed using the techniques for cotton or other cellulose. The Fold has it as a white roving.

Nan and Gary have put their almost identical skeins of plied tussah into the show in Woodstock. Both are displayed in the front window along with Susan's very fine singles and a drop spindle.

Next meeting will be on Thursday, October 26. We should have some ramie results to examine and discuss, and of course silk is also still welcome. If anyone has silk "disasters" go ahead and bring them so we can consider possible remedies or prevention.