Something Strange Is Going On....

February in northeastern Vermont usually means several feet of snow on the ground with icy cold nights and cold and snowy days.  Not this year.  We have maybe 6 inches of ice crusted snow on the ground, with daytime temperatures in the 30s and 40s.

This is February???

Maple sugar season usually starts around the last week of February, first week of March.  This year it started last week.  Most disturbing of all is the wildlife.  Skunks and raccoon usually sleep through February.  This year they are out and about, starting their mating season very early.

This 'easy' winter has national broadcasters proclaiming how homeowners are saving 10% of their heating costs, not due to fuel prices going down (they've actually risen), but rather due to less heating being required. This mild winter is not unique to Vermont - it appears to be the same across the continental US.

What does any of this have to do with crochet?  Slow sales of wool products.  Hats, mittens, gloves, and scarves are generally all good sellers during the winter months, but not this year.  I suppose some of it can be due to a poor economy, but mostly I blame the weather.

The bright side of all of this is that the warmer temperatures make it easier to focus on spring and summer products, and to work with lighter yarns, such as cotton, bamboo, and rayon.  By starting now, more time will be available to complete entries for the summer fairs.  I wonder if fall will come early this year, too?

The Bamboo Experiment

As I am currently working on designing summer things, I've been working with both cotton and bamboo.  I wanted to know if items made of bamboo yarn would float.  Therefore, I set up the following experiment.


First, I made 3 small (3"x3") swatches: one from size 3 cotton, one from Aunt Lydia's bamboo, and one combining the two.  I placed all 3 in a large bowl of tap water.  The cotton sank almost immediately, followed by the cotton/bamboo approximately 30 seconds later.  Amazingly, the bamboo stayed afloat for over 12 minutes!  It didn't sink until the entire surface area was saturated. 

Next was the stretch test.  I hung all 3 swatches on the clothesline weighted down with a single clothespin and let them dry for 24 hours.  There was absolutely no significant change in size with either the cotton or cotton/bamboo swatches.  The bamboo, however, grew over a centimeter! 

This result backs up the story I heard at the local yarn store.  A woman had knitted a skirt out of 100% bamboo specifically for the store's annual fashion show.  She wore it for the first time the day of the show, where it started to stretch.  At the end of the day, it had lengthened 8 inches!  The skirt had stretched so far out of shape that she needed to cut it and put a zipper in to make it wearable at all. 

It may add a bit to the weight, but I'm thinking that combining mercurized cotton with bamboo is the way to go for garments.  I don't want a crocheted top to end up looking like an over-stretched dress.  I think the bamboo would work great for hats and beach things that may end up in the water.