Homegrown Linen: transforming flaxseed into fibre - KICKSTARTER

Homegrown Linen Kickstarter Link!

I asked another question, and added a comment. Here's another possible question for the FAQ:

Will this book prepare me for a zombie apocalypse?

I got the second-to-last towel! *Fwew!*

Nicole Alderman wrote:

Will this book prepare me for a zombie apocalypse?

Of course.

It's not worth writing otherwise.

Processing flax into fibre includes playing with some fearsome tools.  There's gardening implements, breaks, spikes, and other goodies.  Even a distaff can become an awe-inspiring weapon in the hands of a vengeful spinster.  



What's more, flaxseed is a high energy food, medicinal and an excellent source of clothing.


The woman in the painting has a distaff dressed with tow and a spindle hanging off it.  Historians say that this medieval image is of a woman abusing her husband, but it could be she's simply defending herself from the undead.  I wasn't there so I don't know which.  

I added your questions to the FAQ.  Thanks for playing.

End of our second day and we're already beyond 60% funded.  How exciting!

We added a new digital reward tonight.  It basically has everything fun from the PEEK reward level, but it also includes a beautiful botanical drawing of flax in pencil, by Tracy Wandling as a print-ready pdf, to fit an 8x10 frame.  

28 days left to go.  I've got to get some sleep so I can dream up some new ways we can spread the news tomorrow.  

I just had to share. My kids LOVE your kickstarter video, Raven! They want to watch it over and over and over and over and over. My daughter looks at the computer and says, "maaaaaaah" to ask for the video, and my son has decided that he wants his own type-writer, "A big one, like the lady who spins yarn has."

Since I'm watching that little lamb traipse around in Raven's video, I keep remembering the thread where we were first introduced to this sweet little fellow:

What a bummer - how to care for an orphan lamb

The lamb was so small that a preemie onsie was too baggy on it



Many advised Raven that the lamb wasn't worth saving, or couldn't be able to be saved. And, for a while, it seemed quite a close thing as to whether or not this little lamb would make it. But, with lots of perseverance and many sleepless nights, that little sweet orphan lamb pulled through.

It's quite an amazing story, and I'm so glad to see that sweet little lamb in this kickstarter!

We've had requests for more rewards with seeds and more rewards featuring Tracy's amazing art.  We have a few ideas of our own we want to add.  

Not exactly the response you're looking for here but I'd like to own one of the electricity generating spinning wheels that was featured in the dailyish a while back. Can't locate the link right now. It's an excellent idea. Might be just the thing to prompt me to go ahead & get my new lawnmower sheep project started. Don't have the cash to buy 1000 units or whatever the minimum order was. Ghandi changed his world, I'd just like to make more productive use of a couple sheep. No clue how to spin but could learn:)

So exciting! I can't wait for my book!

Look at that! It's already 2/3rds funded and only three days into the project! Woot woot!!!

Another reward added today:

I'd spotted that reward earlier and thought, "How'd I not see that earlier?" It wasn't there earlier, that's how!

What a cool reward! I've never spun yarn before--is it hard?

I just checked (watching the numbers go up is a far more exciting pastime for me than watching any sort of sport!) and it's

80% Funded!

Yay!!!

Some people mentioned to me they wanted three books and a towel.  So I added a reward (with a little bit later release date to give me time to weave the towels).

If you increase your pledge for this new reward, please be sure to change your reward choice.

I've seen a few people have done this.  Can anyone offer some advice on how it's done?

Here's something you might rework into an FAQ:
--
I've only ever had machine-woven linen clothing.  Of made-from-yarn clothes, I know only hats and sweaters out of wool or acrylic.  What clothes could I actually make with home-spun flax?  I don't think a loom is in my future.

Another question for the FAQ: "Can I knit &/or crochet with flax?"

Would it be possible to add a PDF only version?
I don't have an address that can be shipped to.

Sebastian Köln wrote:Would it be possible to add a PDF only version?

For reasons stated in the kickstarter FAQ, an e-book will be ready spring of 2020.

Thank you Jessie,

At the moment we aren't doing an e-book.  But we plan to release an e-version of this book at a future date.

Kerry Rodgers wrote:Here's something you might rework into an FAQ:
--
I've only ever had machine-woven linen clothing.  Of made-from-yarn clothes, I know only hats and sweaters out of wool or acrylic.  What clothes could I actually make with home-spun flax?  I don't think a loom is in my future.

Added to the FAQ.  Thank you for your question.

Nicole Alderman wrote:Another question for the FAQ: "Can I knit &/or crochet with flax?"

Great question.  I added it to the FAQ

I was curious about the properties of linen yarn vs other yarns. I've worked with silk, wool, cotton, bamboo and acrylic (before I knew better. I still have skeins of the stuff that I don't know what to do with!), but I've never worked with linen. I ran across this nice artile that compares the different yarn (http://www.worldinaspin.com/articles/characteristics)

So far I've learned that linen:

Resists abrasion better than the other natural fibres

Is the least stretchy, which is helpful in things like lace work and making bags and garments you don't want to stretch out of shape.

Linen is heat resistant--it can be boiled safely without getting out of shape

Linen fibres do not pile easily, and are the second only to silk in their ability to resist pilling

Linen is not prone to shrinking, like cotton and wool are.

The strongest fibre is flax, stronger than even hemp and nylon!

Of the natural fibres, linen is the most resistant to sunlight damage.

According to this webpage, linen is the coolest of fabrics, retaining the least amount of heat.

linen is the second heaviest fibre, second to cotton

Linen is prone to wrinkling more than other fibres are

Raven, is there any other properties of flax/linen to add to this that the webpage didn't cover? I'm assuming that most things that I would/could knit with cotton yarn, I could knit with linen yarn without changing the end product much?

Great list

Nicole Alderman wrote:

Of the natural fibres, linen is the most resistant to sunlight damage.

According to this webpage, linen is the coolest of fabrics, retaining the least amount of heat.

Linen is perfect for drapes because of this.  Most things in the world degrade in sunlight.  But linen reacts to the sunlight by becoming whiter.  

Wool starts to break down in sunlight in about 300 hours, but it takes linen decades of sunlight to begin to show signs of destress.  

STRETCH GOALS AND REWARDS ARE HERE!

That's right people, I wrote an entire sentence fragment in all capital letters, that's how excited I am.  



Home Grown Linen Kickstarter!


With CA$16,000 (that's only about $12,500 USD - which makes the number look smaller and more obtainable) we can add more content to the book which is a win for everyone! You get an even better book and I get to stop having strange dreams about self-folding paper frogs (you'll have to read the full update on the Kickstarter page if you want to know about the paper frogs)

But wait. There's more.

If we meet this goal, we will include

a special botanical drawing by Tracy Wandling in an easy to print PDF format with every reward level.

a beautiful bookmark with every copy of the book. So if you ordered JUST BOOK!, you get one bookmark. If you choose HITCHHIKER RIDES AGAIN!, then you get three bookmarks. If you choose THE POWER OF TEN! then you get ten bookmarks. One bookmark per book!

Every reward level over CA$50 will come with a packet of fibre flax seed. If the reward already comes with seed, like the EDUCATOR'S KIT!, then if we hit our stretch goal, we'll include a bigger packet of seeds.

But only if we reach our stretch goal.


Home Grown Linen Kickstarter!

Oh my goodness! I just went and checked and it's

95% funded!

It's soooooo close!

Nicole Alderman wrote:Another question for the FAQ: "Can I knit &/or crochet with flax?"

Though this is not Raven's FAQ, I can answer this question: Yes you can knit and crochet with flax-linen yarns! I did it.
It's different from woolen yarns (or synthetics), because it has no 'stretch'. My advice: just try it. Especially fit for ajour (lace) knitting.

99%

CA$22 to make my goal.

That's USD $17.02

It's so painful being so close.  But we have three weeks left to make it.  I think we might get there.

It's made it to

100%!!! Funded!!!

I was able to spread the word at the Fiber Arts Show which is part of our Key Peninsula Farm Tour. Found out we have a new local fiber mill and associated yarn shop.
www.soundviewfibermill.com webpage  using a Canadian mini mill she taught from Oregon.

You might want to add "about $12,300" in parentheses after the number CA$16,000 on the main Kickstarter page.

People from the United States are dreadfully U.S.A.-centric, and won't be doing that math in their heads.  

When I go to the Kickstarter page, there's this weird thing where I first see the total in Canadian dollars, then U.S.A. dollars are substituted in. So just now, I glimpsed $11,042, and then it blinked over to $8,512.

When I look at the stretch goal being $16,000, when the current total is around $8,000, it seems very far away, and that's kind of discouraging.  If I were  better at math, I'd know the stretch goal is more like $12,000.

Does that make sense?

I agree. My mind did the exact same thing as Julia's, even thought I KNOW that Canadian dollars are different. I still see the $8,542 USA dollars that are funded and think that $16,000 is twice as much and way too unattainable.

After Julia mentioned this, I went and looked at the kickstarter and saw that it was $11,081 Canadian dollars. That's a LOT closer to $16,000!

Done.  Thanks for the tip.