Tricks for working with linen

For years, I avoided weaving with linen, and when I finally tried it, yep.  It's hard.  So hard that I sent my loom to a friend's house to finish off the weaving, and even she had trouble.

I've gotten to know linen a bit since then, and here is basically the video I wish I had watched when I was a new weaver.  How to make weaving with linen easy.  

 

Dressing a linen distaff - ideas for next year?

Distaffs (or distaves) are used for all sorts of different fibres.  It's basically a third hand that holds the fibre while our other hands are busy spinning it into yarn.

Distaff Day is on the 7th of January and is the most important holiday in the spinner's calendar.  Well, I say holiday, but it's actually the back-to-work day but we do it with great fun.  

This year, I dressed distaves in flax fibre for spinning linen yarn.  

Here's a free PDF guide on dressing a distaff with linen fibre.

Last year I did the same with wool

Now, how do I up my game for next year?  Anything about distaves you wanted to know?

Blooming after a fallow state - the Victoria Flax to Linen Group

“The theory was that while in a Fallow state you were gathering and conserving strength, nourishing yourself through meditation, sending invisible rootlets out into the universe.”

― Margaret Atwood, MaddAddam

Got to hang out with the Victoria Flax to Linen group last weekend.  It was really special to connect after so many years in hibernation.  

Internet detox

 It used to be that once a year I would take an internet vacation.  A month without internet, usually in February (because it's a short month).  I would try to get my work holiday to match and I would worry away at projects that need finishing or something I want to get started and done.

The last time I did that, I wrote a book.  

It's been a few years since I took my internet vacation and it's a bit like cookies on the browser, too much internet and I start to slow down and life clogs up.  It's hard to get away and spend time doing real-world things.

This year I can't do a proper internet detox, so I'm doing a longer one.  Max 1 hour per day on the internet (but more time for video editing).  Trying very hard to get the farm ready for spring, grow extra food in the garden, and film more projects for youtube.  

Sheep are very helpful... or enthusiastic.  

It means the same thing when you are a sheep.

But this internet vacation means I haven't had much time for blogging lately.  It also makes me realize how much I enjoy blogging again.  So I'll be back.

Just as soon as I can get a few more things done around the farm.  

Laying the flax out to dew ret - for more on that, here's a video:

It's a Test! A germination test.

This works with any seed (although the wait times vary), I find it useful to test flaxseed before planting so I can know how thick to sew the seeds.

When it comes to seeds, flaxseed has a very short shelf life.  Two-year-old seed often has poor germination rate so running this quick test will tell you a lot about how much you need to plant.

What you need:

• some seed
• paper towel or cloth
• water

Count out at least 10 seeds (I like to do 10, 25, or 50 as they math into 100 easily).  The more seeds you have, the more accurate the results.  10 seeds are enough to get a good idea of how the batch will grow.

Fold up the towel/cloth and place it in the conditions the seeds would normally germinate.  

For example, if these were tomato seeds, then put them somewhere warm and dark like on top of the fridge.  Since these are flaxseed, put them somewhere fairly cool or room temp.  I left mine on the windowsill.

After a few days, check on the seeds and count how many sprouted.  For mine, 8 of 10 sprouted, so I know I have a germination rate of 80%.  That's pretty good for (non-commercial nursery) flaxseed.

If I have low germination, like 50%, then I can still grow the item.  I just need to plant twice as many seeds for the space as I would if I got 90+%.  

A video on growing and processing flax into linen

A book about Homegrown Linen; transforming flaxseed into fibre

So how am I doing with youtube Short?  If you like it, please pop over to youtube and give it a thumbs up and maybe even leave a comment.  This will let me know if it's worth making more of these little videos.

If you like this sort of thing and want to see more of it, here are some things you can do to support me on my creative journey.

- go to youtube and give me a thumbs up!  Or even a subscribe!  That would be awesome
- or pop over to my Etsy shop and support me that way.

Homegrown Linen: transforming flaxseed into fibre

Ever wondered how to grow your own yarn?

Flax gives us two harvests from one plant.  The seeds and the cloth - and yes, you can get both from the same harvest no matter what They tell you.  How do I know this?  Because I've been obsessing about flax for years and decided to find out what is really possible and what bits of advice are just superstition.

Spoiler alert: most of it is superstition.  

Flax is way more versatile than it looks.  You can get cloth from seed flax and you can get delicious seed from fibre flax.  

So now you know what I've been up to all these months.  A crazy adventure writing and creating a book.  

There are a few days left on my Kickstarter where you can pre-order the book Homegrown Linen: transforming flaxseed into fibre at a discount.  

We are hoping to have it available in stores in February.

If you want to order a book or carry the book in your store, you can find me at:

Crowing Hen Farm

Where to find fibre flax seed - for spinning, weaving, textiles - you know, making linen!

Lately I've been having a great deal of fun growing flax, spinning it into yarn and transforming it into linen cloth.  Flax grows wonderfully well here, and when planted before the end of March, it requires very little human assistance like weeding (too cold for most weeds to grow) or watering (had sufficient time to grow roots before the rain stops).

The biggest problem with growing flax for spinning, is finding the right seed.

The flax plant we use for making yarn is the same plant as we use for flax seed, linseed, linseed oil, animal feed, and several other applications that may surprise you.  That said, different cultivars or varieties of flax are better for some things than for others.  Some flax has a short, bushy stem.  This is great if you want a lot of flowers or seeds, but not so awesome if you are making yarn.  Flax for spinning, has a single stem, about 2 to 4 feet tall, with very few branches and blossoms.  Some of how the plant grows can be influenced by the gardener.  For example if we want taller, longer stems, we plant the seeds closer together.  For the most part, the characteristics of different flax varieties have been selected for generations based on what sort of use the people wanted.

Here are some sources of fibre flax seed or seed that may be able to produce fibre for spinning, that I've found over the years.  Some of these ship to Canada only, others to the US, others to lots of different places.  

The Flax to Linen Project...

....are the wonderful people who taught me how to transform flax into yarn.  They don't have the most active of web presences, however these people are enthusiastic about brining flax into the community.  Quite often, on a sunny, summer day, you will find this group demonstrating flax processing at the local farmer's market.  The group originally began as part of the Transition movement, with the aim to preserve useful skills for future generations.

In the past, they sell seeds by donation to help fund their public demonstrations.  The seed is organically grown in Victoria, BC (well, Saanich actually).  I don't know what their current seed selling policy is, but it's worth a shot asking them if you are interested in growing your own flax.
  flaxtolinen@gmail.com

Variety: Electra - developed by Biolin Research, Alberta

I've grown this two years in a row and am impressed with how it preforms, both in the garden and in processing into linen.  I've experimented a little bit with planting timing, planting as early as January and as late as the end of May.  The late Feb plantings did best for me.

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds...

...occasionally has fiber flax available.  Perhaps if more people start requesting it, they will bring it back as a regular item.

They also carry a few other heritage varieties of flax that look promising for fibre production. Just because they don't say these are for making linen, dosen't mean they can't be used for it.  All flax has fibre hidden in it's stem, perhaps it just needs the right conditions to make it useable.

Richters Herbs...

... also has fibre flax from time to time.

At the moment of writing, they have Evelin Fibre flax in stock, but Reginia Fibre Flax is out of stock.   They also have a listing called 'flax' which may also be useful for fibre making.  I can't tell how tall it is from the description, but if one had the room, it would be worth trying.



Wild Fibres UK also has flaxseed, however I don't know if they ship overseas or not.  

Flax for Sale is a place in the US that sells seeds as well as fibre for spinning.  They don't mention if they ship internationally.


Woolgatherers sells Marilyn Flax seed which originates from Holland.


Know of any other sources of flaxseed?  Please let me know in the comments section.

Other thoughts about flax seed.

Flax takes about 120 days to grow from seed to harvest, The first half of that time it needs plenty of moisture and can easily withstand frost.  For the last 60 days, it enjoys dry weather.  For that reason, I like to plant mine very early in the year.  I always keep back a bit of seed just in case there is an especially heavy frost, but so far, I've not needed to reseed.

I've seen several mention of flax being planted as an over-winter crop.  Planted in the fall, like grain or fava beans, it grows a little, then goes dormant until late winter when it takes off at an accelerated rate.  This seems to be traditional for the Alps and Himalayas.

The flax flower is self fertile, having both male and female parts.  It is considered an inbreeder, with an observed pollination by insect at 3% (that's less than tomatoes).  When saving seeds, the recommended isolation distance between varieties is 0 - zero what, it dosen't say.   (Breed Your own Vegetables Varieties by Carol Deppe)

It doesn't say if that information is for modern agriculture or an organic setting that has fewer pesticides and more bugs.  I've noticed when I grow flax at home that pollinators seems quite fond of my flax flowers.  So, it is possible that flax is more willing to promiscuously pollinated than previously thought.

Given these thoughts, flax may not be the best plant in the world to use for landrace gardening, but it has some potential.  I hope this year to experiment with different types of flax and different planting times.

Flax processing tools

dried flax plant with seed pod

removing the seed pods with a dowel

seeds ready to winnow

Once the flax is retted and dried, we break the flax.
This begins separating the boon (chaff) from the fibres

The flax is then scratched using a wooden sword and board to remove more boon from the fibre.

The flax is then passed through the hackles, starting with coarse ones like this

Long and spiky, these hackles work well.
Traditionally the spikes would not be round, but have three or four sides,
with very sharp corners