Green Options

He deserves it more than your boyfriend, and you don’t have to worry about the dreaded break-up curse.

Al Gore has been all over the airwaves recently proposing a challenge for America to eradicate the use of fossil fuels by 2018.  I’m picking up what he’s putting down. It’s like dealing with that friend who’s always late by telling them to meet you 15 minutes earlier than when you plan to arrive.

Alternative energy is the top priority of the environmental agenda, and rightly so. It slightly dwarfs the significance of making snow globes out of baby food jars. However, after we all start driving electric cars and installing affordable solar panels on our roofs, more intense focus will turn to how stuff is made, and I think green crafting is worthy of a slide or two on Mr. Gore’s next Power Point presentation. That is, if we can get his attention.

I like to rock out with my sock out while crafting, but have always been a little conflicted about sock monkeys. It’s one of those items that are difficult to envision using recycled materials for, unless your feet smell magnificent. Also, I haven’t even finished the first sock I cast on about 2 years ago. So, hand knitting a few pairs from yearn-worthy yarn, only to cut [...]

Felt is one of those materials that reminds me of my childhood. It brings me back to story time and felt boards. Oh, remember felt boards?! The boards were covered in felt and then people, trees, houses and many other things, also made of felt, were stuck to the board. They were a great prop that aided in telling of a story.

Today, felt is a cheap material that comes in many colors. Mostly used for kids crafts and plushes, not all craft felt found in big box craft stores are 100% wool. Most are made of some synthetic fiber blend such as acrylic or polyester.

So what to do when you want to use felt in your projects and not use fiber made from plastic? There are several options to green your craft project and feel good about your materials:

Admit it. You collect crafting books. It’s all right, we’re your friends. We won’t judge you.

Or maybe I should speak just for myself. My name is Skye, and I collect craft books. My collection is very small when compared to some people’s (hello Jessica, are you reading this?), but it contains books for quilting projects that I likely will never undertake. Celtic knot applique using bias strips, crazy landscape piecing techniques, etc. It’s like I have a fantasy craft life that is totally divorced from my real craft life, which is mostly concerned with making baby quilts for other people’s children.

Now I’m branching out into non-quilting books as well. One of the books that is about to add itself to my collection - note the use of passive voice to imply that it’s not my fault - is the eco-fabulous Second Time Cool: The Art of Chopping Up a Sweater by by Anna-Stina Linden Ivarsson, Katarina Brieditis, and Katarina Evans.

I know that getting books from the library is the greener option, but at some point the Austin Public Library is going to get sick of me having their book out all the time and want a few words with me.

eInsider is the “electronic newsletter for the quilting and soft crafts industry” by Quilts Inc., the company which produces the International Quilt Festivals. The article Green Quilting: Improving the Earth One Fiber at a Time appeared a while back, though I didn’t find it until now. It profiles a variety of green crafting issues in quilting and beyond.

I did have a couple of bones to pick with the article, but there were also quite a few good things that were new to me.

First, the Green Quilts Project, founded by Susan Shie, encouraged quilters to make quilts from 1989 to 2004 to send healing energy to the Earth. I had never heard of this effort before. I also didn’t know about Mountain Mist’s Eco Craft batting, fiberfill, and pillowforms, which are made from corn fiber.

The Aurora Silk website offers natural dyes and great tutorials for using them. And it was good to see a mention of Betz White’s delicious recycled wool sweater crafts and her book Warm Fuzzies, which always make me want to buy every wool sweater within a 10 mile radius and start felting them.

Give old a new purpose - that's the crux of today's tip, given to us by readers Debbie & Sandra from back when we gave our knitting tip. Use old wool sweaters to create something new!

Debbie told us:

Brrr! Winter seems to be coming and going this year in a way that is scaring some of us greenies to the bone. But if it's cold, it's cold - what can we do? Dressing appropriately is a big first step - and that advice holds true even when we are indoors.