It is easy to go out in the yard and gather dead irises leaves, wrap them in a damp towel for a few hours until they are supple, and twine them.
I used whole leaves for this twine, making it thicker than other twining examples.
All my twine is Z twist because I twine right handed, twisting one side away from me, then bringing it forward. This feels like the most ergonomic way for me to twine. I have tried twining left handed and I can do it but it is frustrating and slow.
On our five-day road trip I spent time in the car twining and nålbinding a small oval basket from the lotus fiber that I hackled before we left. Once I had an oval shape for the base by adding increases only to the curves, I stopped increasing to build the walls.
Even though I hackled the fiber and removed many of the shorter fibers, the lotus had more and there bits everywhere. The fibers are hair-like and itchy. Luckily I keep a lint roller in the car because I had to use it before every stop.
To finish the basket I wrapped the twine around the top rim twice to give the edge more strength.
The basket had a bias twist and was a little wonky, but sturdier than I expected.
When we got home, I gave the basket a plain water soak and the twist relaxed, making quite a nice little container once it was dry.
This project took me roughly 18 hours, but it was very satisfying to twine for a while then stitch for a while. I was originally thinking to make this into a base for a project bag, but since it holds shape, I think I will keep it as a small basket.
I have a car project for which I tear unbleached fast food napkins into one inch strips, twine the strips together, then add stitches to a loop and core basket. Well, I intended it to become a basket, but I am doing my stitches (button hole loop or Coptic stitch) upside down. It makes it hard to add the stitches because I’m going through a smaller loop.
Opening up the smaller loop to add the next row of stitches weakens the twine at that point, and paper twine is not robust stuff to begin with. I will probably continue to the end of the core twine (there isn’t much left), and experiment with preservation methods with the finished object. The feel of the fabric is quite nice, flexible but firm with an interesting texture.
There are so many applications for the word “twining” in crafting. I was going to start this blog post talking about twining wool, but I think I have to specify that I was making twine from wool. Typically twine is made from plant bast fibers: cotton twine, jute twine, hemp twine, for example, and forms a dense strong string. I took a long staple wool, Teeswater, and twined it in a similar manner. Twining wool could also refer to construction techniques in weaving or knitting, but not in this case. Here I am making yarn, nålbinding a few stitches, then making more yarn (I’m going to call it yarn because it is softer than typical twine, yes, I’m splitting hairs (haha)).
The problem I encountered was a strong twist in the small pouch I was constructing. I experienced this with a different project, so decided to try twining the opposite direction, by switching hands, but the twist still happened. I think it is in my nålbinding stitch. I do not enjoy twining with my left hand as much, so I halted the project.
Then I had the problem of what to do with the abandoned project. Undoing nålbinding is a difficult, sometimes impossible task, which is what makes it good for items that need to be sturdy. So what could I make from a small bit of wool? Well, a cat toy, of course. Thor the cat loves wool, and steals socks and doll clothes that are made from wool. So I sewed up the seam, stuffing it with un-spun wool as I went, and ended up with a little roll.
The new cat toy was a big hit with Thor the cat. He loved it and it was very difficult to get a photo of him as he carried it around the house, flipping it and chasing it at speed.
I’ve been twining with plant bast fibers (the long ones from the stems of plants), and wondered if I could twine long wool. I selected some Teeswater from my stash that has a staple length around 5-8 inches, grabbed a sponge and a spray bottle of water, and started twining. There was a bumpy learning curve, especially since I decided to learn to twine left handed to get an opposite twist. I wanted an S twist direction because my current favorite nålbinding stitch has a bias Z twist, and I thought the opposite twist yarn would help. It didn’t really.
As I write this post, I’m wondering if the twist in my work is the stitch, or the method of construction I’m attempting. I’m working in the round, which is typical for nålbinding, but I’m working around a long base chain, which is a little different. I’ll keep on and see if things even out, either as I go, or after I block the finished work.
The exciting part of this project is there are no joins in the yarn, rather, the yarn is created as I go.
