Sympathetic Synthetic

I spent a very happy Saturday doing another knitting workshop with Melissa Warren at Lemon Blues in Pentre, and as is my wont, decided to make something well beyond my limited capabilities! The knitting itself was easy enough, but it’s taken me three days to turn it into what I’d envisaged…

While knitting away, we got chatting, as you do. I’ve been one of these who prefers natural fibres to synthetic but I’m looking at it from a whole new perspective now. New, easy to care for fibres really set our mothers and grandmothers free, quick to dry and no need to iron fabrics made their lives so much easier in ways we just take for granted. So synthetic fibres take centuries to degrade? Brilliant! Recycle, upcycle, redesign, remake and get five hundred years’ use from a garment. Compared to a three quid cotton top that only lasts a few washes yet requires such a high price in pesticides, bleaching, land use and the health of the cotton workers, it’s not such a black and white issue for me now…