Knitting and herbivorous living
About 2 months late, but I finally finished the punk scarf I was knitting for my mom. I got word that it safely reached her, so I figure it's safe to post now.
This is your basic 1x1 rib striped scarf, deconstructed and safety-pinned back together. I knitted blocks of 1,2,or 3 stripes until I ran out of yarn, then assembled them into this shape (though I did make the center section solid, so there'd be no cold metal bits against her neck in the winter). I like the idea of something that's user-modifiable (if you couldn't tell from my snap tape obsession).
Mom loves pink and black, and is not such the fan of wool, so this was done in Lion Brand Micro Spun acrylic on #4 needles, with 2 strands worked together to make it nice and thick.
I'm pretty pleased with it. I may have to do one for myself, but I think I need a break from the tiny needles first.
Aside from being productive outside the studio, I guess the big news is that I decided to take the plunge and go vegan around the beginning of February. On the practical end of things, this has mainly meant lots of exploring SF's vegan restaurant scene with Jason, since he's adventurous enough to come along with me.
I have had my first experience with vegan raw food at Cafe Gratitude, which was actually really good. Probably more complicated than anything I will learn to cook, but I might put in the effort for their "cheesecake", which is like a really smooth mousse of various coconut and almond butters. It is teh awesome. Also, they brew what we've dubbed Insanity Coffee: it's cold brewed overnight (heated when served, of course). As you baristas know, this means it leeches out a lot more caffeine, but is simultaneously incredibly smooth going down. Meaning that you drink it and then start bouncing off the walls half an hour later.
My other top pick is Minako in the Mission, which is the home of vegan organic postmodern explosion sushi (and regular sushi too). Mostly because the rolls are as big as the palm of your hand, so there's no graceful way to make it through the meal. They also have yam tempura with cucumber sauce that is to die for. It's a tiny place run by a family - the mom is the chef and her daughters wait the tables. It's very small and everything is hand-made to order, so it's definitely a leisurely event to eat there, but the staff is bouncy and they have the best random stuff playing on the stereo.
Veganism is something that I've toyed with in the past, but what sealed it for me was Carolena opening up her Little Vegan World and being in a place where it's pretty easy to get vegan-friendly food on the go, as well as resources and other products. A little over a month ago FatChance hosted Will Tuttle, author of The World Peace Diet, in a lecture at the studio (framed of course by much belly dancing goodness). Since then I've been reading his book in bits and pieces around art theory Required Readings of Doom, and it's really pretty interesting. The basic premise is that the hidden violence behind our food choices connects and conditions other aspects of our society - it weaves together diet, science, gender issues, spirituality and the environment. I won't repeat it here, but if you're interested in such things, it's worth a read. It was enough to convince me that I really couldn't continue using animal products in good conscience. Actually, this sums up pretty much the conclusions I came to at the end of the reading, in a much more eloquent way than I can parse out right now.
I still kinda consider myself "in transition", because though I've dropped the milk and cheese, I can't afford to just toss all my leather shoes and replace them. Actually, the diet is the easy part (though I'm realizing that milk and milk by-products show up in all sorts of weird places when I try to grocery shop now). Those of you who know me really well can guess that where this is having the biggest impact is on my art practice and knitting habit. I do use wool and silk fabrics and fibers in a lot of what I do, which is obviously in conflict with a vegan lifestyle. So what's a textile addict to do?
Silk at least has some options. Traditional silk is made from a domesticated moth, the Bombyx Mori, which has been inbred to the point that it has no real survival instincts to speak of. The majority of the moths are boiled to death in their cocoons in order to harvest the fine, continuous filament that makes up the cocoon and is essential for really fine weight silk. If the moths hatched, the filament would be torn: it could still be spun into yarn as a short staple fiber, but you wouldn't be able to get a gauzy habotai silk out of it. Additionally, these moths only eat mulberry trees, which has resulted in deforestation of native tree populations and diminishment of natural forest habitat to grow the moths' food source. You can get silk spun from the cocoons of wild moths, which obviously takes care of all the above problems. It's usually brown in color - tussah silk and raw silk are usually made from it. Also, there are a couple companies producing silk fiber and fabrics from wild moths or semi-domesticated moths only, which means that the moths' life-cycle isn't interfered with and the businesses actually help promote conservation of local forests. Ahimsa Peace Silk is one, Aurora Silk is another.
I love wool. You can do things with it that just can't happen with other materials. But after reading what happens to sheep raised for industrial wool production, I don't feel ok about purchasing it commercially. I'm still on the fence as to whether I feel like there's a way to use wool that doesn't harm the animal - such as going to a local farm where you can see how the animals are treated first-hand. I have no real problem with buying from the source, carding, spinning and dyeing my own yarn, but it does slow down my production ability to the point where I have to question whether it's really crucial to my work to go through all that. I do think the main problem in all these instances is the industry demand that drives farmers to exploit the animals to the fullest to maintain production quota and profit, issues that would potentially be resolved if one were to buy from a place like Sheep Street or even raise the animals oneself.
Part of me wonders though - what is the moral obligation to be an example of your principles? Because it's hard to say you're vegan and walk around in a wool sweater, even if you know how it was made and that it meets ethical standards, and not seem to be endorsing animal products. I just wonder where to draw the line - like, is it ok to recycle wool and silk that's already in the thrift shop? Or is it a problem, because merely by wearing it or making it into art, you can be promoting that as fashion or something someone would emulate, thus feeding the commercial desire for those products and the industry you are trying not to support?
Admittedly, synthetic fibers have their problems: if you consider them from an environmental standpoint, producing nylon or acrylic, which takes a lot of petroleum products and creates a lot of waste, could be just as much or more damaging as sheep farming. So if the goal is sustainability, eschewing animal fibers but using a ton of synthetics may not be much better. Really, a lot of the problem is the rate of consumption of any of these materials, that leads industry to make choices that favor profit over environment or ethical concerns. Objectification occurs on a massive scale - from animals to the workers that tend and process them (whether for fiber or food) - that isn't healthy for anybody involved.
Part of me feels like maybe this would better be taken as a challenge to explore plant and other alternative fibers and push what can be done with them. I've been geeking out over cotton spinning with Carolena, who's getting a charkha and a cotton spinning sampler to play with soon. I'm really intrigued by the idea of trying to spin bamboo or flax. I may have to upgrade from the drop spindle and learn to use one of the wheels gathering dust in the textiles building for that though (oh darn). As a start, I found this vegan knitting blog and this site with vegan recycled silk yarn and various other sustainable fabrics as inspiration.
So I don't know - I'm still working it out, and I'd appreciate any thoughts people can share (I know there are at least a couple other vegans on my f-list). I guess mostly I've been pondering the interconnectedness of things and what I might be able to do on a personal level to be a more responsible member of the planet.
And I should update more so it doesn't all come out in small book format. It's spring break now, yay!
This is your basic 1x1 rib striped scarf, deconstructed and safety-pinned back together. I knitted blocks of 1,2,or 3 stripes until I ran out of yarn, then assembled them into this shape (though I did make the center section solid, so there'd be no cold metal bits against her neck in the winter). I like the idea of something that's user-modifiable (if you couldn't tell from my snap tape obsession).
Mom loves pink and black, and is not such the fan of wool, so this was done in Lion Brand Micro Spun acrylic on #4 needles, with 2 strands worked together to make it nice and thick.
I'm pretty pleased with it. I may have to do one for myself, but I think I need a break from the tiny needles first.
Aside from being productive outside the studio, I guess the big news is that I decided to take the plunge and go vegan around the beginning of February. On the practical end of things, this has mainly meant lots of exploring SF's vegan restaurant scene with Jason, since he's adventurous enough to come along with me.
I have had my first experience with vegan raw food at Cafe Gratitude, which was actually really good. Probably more complicated than anything I will learn to cook, but I might put in the effort for their "cheesecake", which is like a really smooth mousse of various coconut and almond butters. It is teh awesome. Also, they brew what we've dubbed Insanity Coffee: it's cold brewed overnight (heated when served, of course). As you baristas know, this means it leeches out a lot more caffeine, but is simultaneously incredibly smooth going down. Meaning that you drink it and then start bouncing off the walls half an hour later.
My other top pick is Minako in the Mission, which is the home of vegan organic postmodern explosion sushi (and regular sushi too). Mostly because the rolls are as big as the palm of your hand, so there's no graceful way to make it through the meal. They also have yam tempura with cucumber sauce that is to die for. It's a tiny place run by a family - the mom is the chef and her daughters wait the tables. It's very small and everything is hand-made to order, so it's definitely a leisurely event to eat there, but the staff is bouncy and they have the best random stuff playing on the stereo.
Veganism is something that I've toyed with in the past, but what sealed it for me was Carolena opening up her Little Vegan World and being in a place where it's pretty easy to get vegan-friendly food on the go, as well as resources and other products. A little over a month ago FatChance hosted Will Tuttle, author of The World Peace Diet, in a lecture at the studio (framed of course by much belly dancing goodness). Since then I've been reading his book in bits and pieces around art theory Required Readings of Doom, and it's really pretty interesting. The basic premise is that the hidden violence behind our food choices connects and conditions other aspects of our society - it weaves together diet, science, gender issues, spirituality and the environment. I won't repeat it here, but if you're interested in such things, it's worth a read. It was enough to convince me that I really couldn't continue using animal products in good conscience. Actually, this sums up pretty much the conclusions I came to at the end of the reading, in a much more eloquent way than I can parse out right now.
I still kinda consider myself "in transition", because though I've dropped the milk and cheese, I can't afford to just toss all my leather shoes and replace them. Actually, the diet is the easy part (though I'm realizing that milk and milk by-products show up in all sorts of weird places when I try to grocery shop now). Those of you who know me really well can guess that where this is having the biggest impact is on my art practice and knitting habit. I do use wool and silk fabrics and fibers in a lot of what I do, which is obviously in conflict with a vegan lifestyle. So what's a textile addict to do?
Silk at least has some options. Traditional silk is made from a domesticated moth, the Bombyx Mori, which has been inbred to the point that it has no real survival instincts to speak of. The majority of the moths are boiled to death in their cocoons in order to harvest the fine, continuous filament that makes up the cocoon and is essential for really fine weight silk. If the moths hatched, the filament would be torn: it could still be spun into yarn as a short staple fiber, but you wouldn't be able to get a gauzy habotai silk out of it. Additionally, these moths only eat mulberry trees, which has resulted in deforestation of native tree populations and diminishment of natural forest habitat to grow the moths' food source. You can get silk spun from the cocoons of wild moths, which obviously takes care of all the above problems. It's usually brown in color - tussah silk and raw silk are usually made from it. Also, there are a couple companies producing silk fiber and fabrics from wild moths or semi-domesticated moths only, which means that the moths' life-cycle isn't interfered with and the businesses actually help promote conservation of local forests. Ahimsa Peace Silk is one, Aurora Silk is another.
I love wool. You can do things with it that just can't happen with other materials. But after reading what happens to sheep raised for industrial wool production, I don't feel ok about purchasing it commercially. I'm still on the fence as to whether I feel like there's a way to use wool that doesn't harm the animal - such as going to a local farm where you can see how the animals are treated first-hand. I have no real problem with buying from the source, carding, spinning and dyeing my own yarn, but it does slow down my production ability to the point where I have to question whether it's really crucial to my work to go through all that. I do think the main problem in all these instances is the industry demand that drives farmers to exploit the animals to the fullest to maintain production quota and profit, issues that would potentially be resolved if one were to buy from a place like Sheep Street or even raise the animals oneself.
Part of me wonders though - what is the moral obligation to be an example of your principles? Because it's hard to say you're vegan and walk around in a wool sweater, even if you know how it was made and that it meets ethical standards, and not seem to be endorsing animal products. I just wonder where to draw the line - like, is it ok to recycle wool and silk that's already in the thrift shop? Or is it a problem, because merely by wearing it or making it into art, you can be promoting that as fashion or something someone would emulate, thus feeding the commercial desire for those products and the industry you are trying not to support?
Admittedly, synthetic fibers have their problems: if you consider them from an environmental standpoint, producing nylon or acrylic, which takes a lot of petroleum products and creates a lot of waste, could be just as much or more damaging as sheep farming. So if the goal is sustainability, eschewing animal fibers but using a ton of synthetics may not be much better. Really, a lot of the problem is the rate of consumption of any of these materials, that leads industry to make choices that favor profit over environment or ethical concerns. Objectification occurs on a massive scale - from animals to the workers that tend and process them (whether for fiber or food) - that isn't healthy for anybody involved.
Part of me feels like maybe this would better be taken as a challenge to explore plant and other alternative fibers and push what can be done with them. I've been geeking out over cotton spinning with Carolena, who's getting a charkha and a cotton spinning sampler to play with soon. I'm really intrigued by the idea of trying to spin bamboo or flax. I may have to upgrade from the drop spindle and learn to use one of the wheels gathering dust in the textiles building for that though (oh darn). As a start, I found this vegan knitting blog and this site with vegan recycled silk yarn and various other sustainable fabrics as inspiration.
So I don't know - I'm still working it out, and I'd appreciate any thoughts people can share (I know there are at least a couple other vegans on my f-list). I guess mostly I've been pondering the interconnectedness of things and what I might be able to do on a personal level to be a more responsible member of the planet.
And I should update more so it doesn't all come out in small book format. It's spring break now, yay!