Knitters: Help us test a new fabric

[Darcy]

Calling all knitters - if you're interested in helping us test a new fabric, email darcy@tombihn.com with your address and you'll receive a small square of the new fabric. Test it against your yarn (front and back sides: how gentle or rough is it?) and, if you'd like, for durability. We'll send out as many samples as we have - so email soon if you'd like to help us test this interesting new material!

[falconea]

Email sent!

Audrey

[Tzporah]

email sent.. what's this about a small swift????

[lauragayle]

sent a pm too!

[ncb4]

Darcy, I too sent an email with my address earlier this week. Hope it got through.

[Moose]

Hi Darcy,
I sent an email with my address early this week too. If you didn't get it please let me know. I offered to try the fabric with unspun (but clean) wool/lama/alpaca/silk/bunny and various yarns, I'm a spinner and thought it might be an additional interesting test.
Thanks,
Moose

[Heidi Jill]

I sent you a message too!

Hi Moose - I'm another spinner (dyer, knitter, weaver....)

[Moose]

I sent you a message too!

Hi Moose - I'm another spinner (dyer, knitter, weaver....)

Hi Heidi Jill,
I would LOVE to be a knitter. Mostly I spin, crochet, along with a bit of stitching and rug hooking. I'm wondering if this new fabric would hold up to the sharp+/- or hook ends of a spindle. If so it might open up a whole new market. What spindler would turn down a REALLY good spindle bag?
Moose

[Darcy]

Hi guys,

The sending out of the samples has been delayed - we received so many requests from folks who want to be testers that it's overwhelmed the process a little bit! You should find out soon if you will receive a fabric swatch to test - sadly, we just didn't have enough fabric for everyone to test, but we hope to include most people, especially those who emailed us the first day.

[lauragayle]

Darcy, do you want us to post comments here about the swatch or via PM to you?

[Moose]

Hi Darcy,
I tried both sides of the fabric on the following.
Sheep Wool, five kinds, unspun, spun, singles and plyed.
Yak, unspun
Cotton, unspun, spun
Silk, unspun
Opossum, spun
Mohair, unspun, spun
Alpaca, unspun, spun
Lama, unspun, spun
Hemp, unspun
Bunny, unspun, spun
Mystery fiber, unspun, spun
Silk/Nylon blend, unspun
Merino wool/Tencyl blend, unspun
Acrylics, half a dozen various kinds, spun
Last but not least Cat, under protest. I'm healing nicely.

Everything stuck to the raw edges. I would suggest any raw edge be finished, but you'd do that anyway. I was amazed to find that nothing else stuck to either side except Cat. Cat stuck to the fabric/hemp side not the rubberized side. One roll over with a lint roller removed all traces of the Cat hair. I tried poking the ends of my spindles (too numerous to count) through the fabric. I had no luck in poking a hole through the sample. Initally the sample did smell of bit of rubber. That smell has since faded and I suspect will be gone in a few days.

In an attempt to simulate being kicked, scooted and shoved over a floor I rubbed it over the paving bricks on my sidewalk about three dozen times. When I was done with that I washed the sample, I know its probably not reccomended but I figured what the heck, we are trying a real world test here. I thought maybe I was seeing brick dust sticking to the fabric, it wasn't brick dust. While the fabric itself held up well it appears some of the dye on the hemp side rubbed off. It also lost a bit of sheen on the rubberized side. You might want to take a look at that. Other than the possibility of floor wear the fabric seems tough enough, flexible enough and I'd say a TB bag made from it would hold up well. I thought about taking out to my gravel driveway and driving over it a few times but thought that might be overkill.

I hope this hasn't been too much information. If you've got any questions please let me know.

Thanks for the opportunity to assist with the testing. If after all this abuse, let me know if you want the sample back and I'll drop it in the mail. I'd like to add all the fibers tested were washed prior to testing. I didn't test on anything that has any kind of critter "stuff" in/on it.

Moose

[lauragayle]

Dang Moose. I think you need to put it through a wood chipper too. ;) Very extensive testing!

I tested a little bit so far -- rubbed the outside of bag texture against my jeans, much like what happens when I carry a bag on my shoulder. The swatch abraded some, and the texture became more pronounced. The "inside" texture is a little tacky to my hand, but surprisingly did not stick to sock yarn. Will test this with mohair (which while lovely, is a pain in the &** kind of fiber), and see if any sticks.

I did use it to rub my cat's head this morning (because Moose inspired me), used both sides, and some cat hair did stick to it. However, I threw the swatch in my Swift, and just pulled it out (14 hours later) and find a little cat hair still on the outside texture, but not on the inside. Good news, because I think that means some of it fell off along the way (Her Highness is starting to shed a little, so there was a fair bit of domestic shorthair bits on the swatch).

The swatch rode along in a project bag with an alpaca yarn (Rowan Lima for those who want to know), and it did NOT pick up any of the alpaca. Impressive because alpaca (and angora, and mohair) tend to stick to anything. ANYTHING, at least in my experience.

will keep testing!

cheers!

[lauragayle]

oh, Moose. got any of those lovely Signature brand needles? Perhaps a poke with a stiletto tipped one would be a good test. I just tried poking a size 0 US (2mm) metal DP (Addi brand) through the swatch. At about 10/15 lbs pressure I got through the rubber mostly, but not through the textured side. It's really hard to see or feel where that happened, though.

Darcy, I don't know if you're a knitter. While it sounds weird to try poking the swatch with a knitting needle, it's actually relevant. It's easy to have a small needle poke out of a bag and either ruin the bag, fall out of your work, or both. Grrrr when that happens. Because of that I usually have projects on small needles inside a project bag (particularly when I knit socks on double point needles) and then in a larger bag.

[mrae]

I missed the testing but I'm glad that the needles don't poke through. I've ruined more "knitting" bags with sharp needles making holes in the fabric.

[Moose]

Dang Moose. I think you need to put it through a wood chipper too. ;) Very extensive testing!

I tested a little bit so far -- rubbed the outside of bag texture against my jeans, much like what happens when I carry a bag on my shoulder. The swatch abraded some, and the texture became more pronounced. The "inside" texture is a little tacky to my hand, but surprisingly did not stick to sock yarn. Will test this with mohair (which while lovely, is a pain in the &** kind of fiber), and see if any sticks.

I did use it to rub my cat's head this morning (because Moose inspired me), used both sides, and some cat hair did stick to it. However, I threw the swatch in my Swift, and just pulled it out (14 hours later) and find a little cat hair still on the outside texture, but not on the inside. Good news, because I think that means some of it fell off along the way (Her Highness is starting to shed a little, so there was a fair bit of domestic shorthair bits on the swatch).

The swatch rode along in a project bag with an alpaca yarn (Rowan Lima for those who want to know), and it did NOT pick up any of the alpaca. Impressive because alpaca (and angora, and mohair) tend to stick to anything. ANYTHING, at least in my experience.

will keep testing!

cheers!

Hi lauragayle,
Wood chipper? Dang, gotta get me one of those. Probably best to try that after the car/driveway test. :) I agree with you, alpaca, angora, mohair stick to everthing. I was surprised how much they didn't stick to the sample. I mentioned that the "scratch test" took some of the sheen off the rubberized side of the sample. After washing and drying its not noticable unless I hold it just right in the light and hunt for it.
Off to find a chipper now,
Moose