I saw coconuts for sale at the grocery store, with the husk and fibers still attached and had to buy some to experiment. I pulled off and processed the husk, separating the coir fiber from the peat, the began to twine. This is unpleasant fiber to work with. It is rough and short, but it is strong.
I see why the coconut coir fiber is used for thick mats to scrape off shoes, and heavy duty brushes. There are actually many interesting uses for coconut husk, the rest of mine will be used as mulch.
I am putting together a display to showcase a number of different twined fibers. I decided to make the twine holders 3×5 with large print so that they could be read from a distance, and used my laser cutter to cut them from 1/8” plywood. Each card is finished with Howard’s butcher block conditioner before I start twining.
First up is long line flax.
I love long line flax, the ideal product that comes from flax processing. It is easy to twine and very strong, but still soft. I left a tail on the twined example so that people can see what the fiber looks like before it is twined.
Flax has been grown and harvested for thousands of years to produce linen cloth. The fabric softens with washing, and its breathability is superior in hot environments. Long line flax is sold in stricks, a bundle of fiber twisted, then twisted back on itself to form a stable spiral. Tow is shorter lengths of flax left over from the long line processing, and can be carded before being spun. I find touching a damp sponge before twining helps me grip the fibers better. Spinners will keep a small bowl of water at hand to smooth their spinning. Flax needs less twist than cotton or wool when spinning and can be spun extremely fine, using just a few fibers.
Eve Schaub is currently doing a project to grow a dress in her backyard, and is growing and processing flax. She is doing a great job showing the process, bringing in experts to teach aspects of the processing, and doing so in an entertaining way. It is well worth following her journey.
I finished nålbinding handles onto my loop-and-twist linen string bag.
I thought I followed the pull strings that I installed originally, which split the top loops evenly. Hm. No. Not sure what happened, but the second handle had many more loops than the first.
The handles didn’t really work out like what was in my head either. The two handles work better as one handle, with access to contents from the sides. I actually think this would be lovely to hold my onions and garlic in the pantry. So while it didn’t fit my original vision, it still will have a use.
Note to my future self: a loose row of nålbinding as a top band, then two arced handles on the sides might work, like a tote bag.
Ripping out knitting or crochet is just a matter of pulling. When I decide to undo a looped project, it isn’t that easy. I had started a new loop and twist bag, but then learned of a new-to-me ancient technique of looping around a core cord. That sounded much more interesting to try than continuing on a second iteration of the same bag I’ve made before. So I pulled out the knots, first the twist, then the knot, for each loop.
The whole of the cord has to be pulled back through each twist and loop, and since I made the cord as I went, I had quite a lot of twined flax to pull through. Eventually it was too much and I kept dealing with tangles, so I cut the cord. I was able to recover a good bit of hand made twine, so it was worth the effort.
This recovered twine will become the core for the loop around a core construction of the next project.
I took my dried coconut husk back outside after soaking it, pulling it apart, rinsing it, and then air drying it on a drying rack inside. The mass of husk was copiously shedding bits whenever the drying rack was disturbed, so outside was the best choice for further processing. I decided to twine the coconut coir, the long, strong fibers from the coconut husk.
Even with the soak and rinsing, there was still a large amount of spongy brown pith on the fibers, which I scraped off with my nails. I separated out the longest fibers, leaving the pith and the short, fine, breakable fibers, which were more difficult to twine.
I was a little disappointed in how few long fibers I was able to rescue, and I’m not sure that the soaking and rinsing really made my work any easier. I have four more white coconuts (unripe), which I will try getting the fibers straight from the husk as a comparison. The coir pith I put in my compost heap, it has excellent moisture retention so will do well in the mix for future plants.
