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Our mission is to educate and promote all aspects of the natural fiber industry with special emphasis on sustainable practices and responsible use of natural resources throughout the world. We believe fibers represent an important chapter not only to artisans and cultural development, but an increasing sensitivity to environmental impact as well.
Cashmere for Christmas
Cashmere for Christmas
Fall Pattern Feature:
Solstice in Silk
Create this simple yet elegant cardigan from 100% silk by Tili Thomas,
Solstice in Silk
Create this simple yet elegant cardigan from 100% silk by Tili Thomas,
Knitting Patterns Winter 2009/2010 Issue
Scorching Sands, a Fairyland Flock, and Cotton Warfare It’s only a sampling of what makes this issue unusually wild!
Amazing. It is the only word to describe the stories in our current issue. We travel to the tiny kingdom of Swaziland, which suffers from the highest incidents of HIV/AIDS in the world, and learn how mohair has provided the “lifeblood” in a remote village for the past sixty years.
We also begin our adventure through the Gobi, which according to some has too much cashmere, too little cash, and not enough camel hair to go around. We look at how chemical dyes have polluted Thailand’s waters and rice fields, and we also spend some fascinating but disturbing time in the US, with the hero of the colored cotton industry, Sally Fox.
If you want to know more about the fairies, sorry… you’ll just have to wait and see for yourself.
Humps, Herders, and Hard Times in the Gobi
Times are changing everywhere, including in the Gobi where the quiet sands of the desert have become a motorcycle magnet making transportation faster, but fibers fewer. No longer does the camel’s gentle soul (and sole!) dominate the landscape, nearly seventy-five percent of the population has been lost in the last thirty years. How will the camel and the nomads survive? (How will I survive dining on barbecued marmot?) We travel with Bodio (the camel man) for two days by car to meet with largest camel herder in Mongolia and listen as his wife sings to the animals in their herd, and contemplate the fact that you can't shear a Harley.Coral Stephens Handweaving
Some people might be able to find Swaziland on a map (it’s west of Mozambique), but traveling to Piggs Peak is not for the casual tourist. Yet in 1948, after some serious negotiations with King Sobhuza II Bob Stephens began planting the seeds for a forestry business that would eventually encompass 80,000 acres, while his wife, Coral, built a weaving business that would grow seeds of its own for the next sixty years. In a country overrun by poverty and the shortest lifespan for men (age 31) in the world. Coral Stephens Handweaving is a tremendous story of hope and survival. Never Say Dye
She is bright, engaging, and quick to smile. But her “discovery” of naturally colored cotton made Sally Fox the target of repeated attacks from the white cotton growers from California to the Southwest forcing her to move from her home not once, but twice, in less than five years. Yet Sally’s passion and complete fascination with naturally colored cotton refuses to die. In a small town about an hour west of Sacramento, California, Sally is once again, creating a new home for her “family” of colored cotton plants. It’s Time To Keep the Fleece
Join our global celebration of the United Nations Internaional Year of Natural Fibres and help us create the Longest Scarf in the World in partnership with Heifer International. Visit www.keepthefleece.org to learn how you can be part of the world’s largest herd.