AUSTRALIAN HANDKNITS
As well as marketing unique Australian handknits with a character which can't be replicated by mass produced articles, our members can also offer you handspun, hand dyed or greasy Australian wools and New Zealand mohairs, by the skein, to knit your own garments and create your very own Australian arts and crafts.
PLAIN AND PURL
The history of knitting is not well documented. But it is accepted that along with many traditional arts and crafts, the art of knitting was spread throughout the Northern hemisphere fairly uniformly and the word 'knit' has Germanic origins, with the same force and meaning as 'to knot'. As fibre, wool has been used to clothe man from the end of the Stone Age.
However, knitting is said to have developed in the British Isles about 600 hundred years ago and today's complexity of knitting patterns probably owes its origins to fisherfolk, who developed combinations of stitches to indicate their village or clan and to identify sailors lost at sea.
Each pattern related the fisherman with his region and men lost at sea could then be identified by the clothing they wore. In Australia we call them jumpers sometimes pullovers: in the United States they may be sweaters. English people call them jerseys or guernseys, direct references to the unique styles of knitting of old fishing cultures on northern hemisphere islands.
FELTING
Felting (which is thought to have originated in Asia) is one of the oldest textile processes and was used for hats, wall coverings, boots, blankets and the covering of yurts. Fibres, usually wool or other forms of animal fleece or hair, are manipulated to form a densely interlaced mass which can then be flattened, moulded or otherwise shaped. Felting is an efficient form of insulation.
NUNO FELTING
'Nuno' means fabric in Japanese. Nuno felting is a process which melds loose fibre, usually wool, into a sheer fabric such as silk gauze. This creates a lightweight felt that can totally cover the background fabric or be used as a single decorative design.
The Nuno felting process is particularly suitable for fine garment making, since silk-backed felt ensures a stable felt that will not stretch out of shape like normal felt. Because it is lightweight and easy to manipulate it can also be dyed more readily than traditional felt. Other fabrics or open weaves can be used as the felting background, resulting in a wide range of textural effects and colours.
SPINNING
Handspinning is an age old craft and the basis of knitting and weaving. Fleece or other material is spun to make one twisted thread called yarn. Up until the 16th century, yarn was spun using a simple spindle, a technique which required the use of both hands.
Then spinning was 'modernised', when, by the addition of a treadle a spinner could rotate the spindle with a foot and have both hands free to manipulate the fibres.
The development of cotton fibre in the 18th century brought the spinning jenny, a machine which could spin from more than one spindle at a time, but handspinners today still use a spinning wheel, a piece of equipment which is centuries old in design, a spindle driven by a crank or foot treadle to produce fine yarn.
AUSTRALIAN WOOL
Australia is the world's leading producer and exporter of merino wool. This is described in terms of 'fineness', a measurement of the average diameter of the fibre. Australian fine wool is classed as 19.5 microns and finer. It is valued as a natural fibre with many positive properties.
These properties; thermal, water resistance, fire resistance, durability, elasticity, dirt resistance and ease of dyeing, result in fabrics, knitwear and carpets made from a wide range of wool types varying from extra fine to broad fibres. In fashion, wool comes in a wide choice of textures, weaves and weights. As fabric, wool has wonderful 'drape', is alive, flexible and tailors easily.
