Fibres, Colours and Languages

Hi everyone, hope this finds you well. Spring has truly sprung and the flowers are gorgeous! Let's not dwell on the tree pollen...trees do so much for us after all; cool shade, beautiful and inspiring shapes, homes and restaurants for our wildlife, oxygenation of the air, so I will just take my antihistamines and shut up! I did manage to build and light a Beltane fire on Monday, it was cathartic!

I'm in the midst of a week of teaching job interviews, so appropriately enough am thinking more about language and making a knitting glossary for the journey. I'm unlikely to meet any monolingual Breton, Amazight or Irish speakers, but I've still included them- a little effort goes a long way in terms of goodwill I find. However this sometimes backfires- I remember once visiting the island of Texel off the coast of the Netherlands. I do know some of the language but have forgotten a lot more by not being there much in recent years, and in my times in Amsterdam, I used to feel really embarrassed that I was often with a group of Dutch people, and they were all speaking English because of me. So, going to Texel by myself, I thought I would really practice all my survival language, and proudly spoke to everyone in Dutch- and then couldn't understand their replies, so then they would speak to me in German, and hence the only Dutch phrase I have to a perfect level of fluency is: 'Sorry, I speak even less German than I do Dutch'. Pride comes before a fall-about-laughing. As for going to Belgium and speaking French to the bilingual Flemish,  I wouldn't recommend it- all I have learned from these experiences is how to be shockingly rude in English with a Flemish accent, and to remember that language and its use is often very politically charged.

So first of all, the materials. I'm increasingly trying to think more about both the origin and the eventual destination of the yarn I use; particularly about acrylic being a part of the petrochemical industry, being essentially plastic, and eventually ending up as part of those plastic islands which damage our oceans. Hence I'm only using it now for sculptures (which I am building because I want them to last), and for commissions, due to several requests for a vegan alternative to my mohair sweaters. I know if someone commissions a handmade sweater, which of course isn't nearly as cheap as they could buy on the high street, that means that they are going to value it, and it will have a long life of use. I don't want to be making throwaway acrylic items, because there is no 'away' to throw them; they remain in the environment whether we want them any more or not. Using cotton to replace it is just as durable, but this fibre has its own environmental and social problems- I'm trying to move towards more organic and fair trade cotton, but it's not easy; fair trade has to be fair to the buyer as well as the producers, or there will be no trade. However, colour range will increase and prices decrease according to more demand. Hemp is a far more durable and far more sustainable alternative to cotton for many things, but for clothing it doesn't tend to be the most flattering. Bamboo, however, is great for clothing- so soft, hangs well and protects against both heat and cold; it's very sustainable due it's rapid growth, and colour ranges are getting broader all the time. It's also brilliant for babywear as it is hypoallergenic. Linen tends to be produced in far smaller quantities than cotton, so is less vulnerable to the deeply unfair practices of big business. As for wool, mohair and alpaca- they are of course extremely sustainable, but on other levels their use is a very personal issue. When it comes to the matter of itching- I would encourage people to try things out- people are intolerant to different hair. I have no problem wearing mohair and some sheep wool against my skin, but alpaca and other sheep wools really irritate me on the neck (though no problem on my hands- I think I must be a little bit lizard from the wrist down); it's not the same for everyone.

	cotton	linen	bamboo	acrylic	wool, sheep	sheep, goat	silk
Irish	cadás	línéadach	bambú	aicrileach	olann	caora, gabhar	síoda
French	du coton	du lin	du bambou	de l'acrylique	de la laine	un mouton, un chèvre	du soie
Breton	kotoñs	lin	bamboo	akrilik	gloan	dañvad, gavr	seiz
Spanish	algodón	lino	bambú	acrílico	lana	una oveja, una cabra	seda
Portuguese	algodão	linho	bambu	acrílico	lã	uma ovelha, uma cabra	seda
Arabic	qatn	katan	khayazran	akrilik	suf	khuruf, maeiz	harir
Amazight	iqaţn	?	?	?	ţadohţ	ulli, taġat	iHrir

Now a few weeks to practise the pronunciation...please let me know if you see any errors here...I have worked with a few online dictionaries trying to check. I do think we should appropriate the Berber word for sheep, 'ulli' but maybe that is seeing the animal too much from a knitocentric persepective.

I find the naming of colours very interesting. The main words we use for colour in our native language really do affect the way we see and categorise colour, because they are all words to describe points on a continuum. In many languages, such as English, red and pink are very distinct in the heads of the speaker due to the words they grew up with, and although people might discuss the overlapping shades, it would be seen as incorrect (though quite nice) to talk about England with its pink telephone boxes, pink postboxes and pink London buses. However, we happily use 'blue' to describe a huge range of shades, which would be very odd for a Russian or Polish speaker, for whom light blue and dark blue are as distinct as red and pink, as indeed they are scientifically. And other languages do not pink the distinction between red and pink, as seen below here where Breton uses 'ruz' for both, and in Irish it translates to 'white-red'. The Celtic languages all share a term 'glas', which describes the blues, greens and greys of the natural world- everything that looks in place when looking at the sky, the sea and the trees (pretty much my favourite pastime). It's a different way of looking at colour, but equally valid. You can easily imagine how the words for artificial green and blue developed if you picture looking at that natural scene and see a painted green boat or a blue house- they definitely stand out against this natural backdrop; perhaps it's a focus more on tone than on shade. I'm also trying to think about colour more ethically too- some dyes really irritate skin, which doesn't make me that they'll be good for any wildlife, although again this may be more about individual skin than actual toxicity, as with all allergies. Either way, I would like to research more about the process and its environmental effects, but in the typically selfish manner of us human beings, I really don't want to compromise on colour choice. I would eventually like to do more dyeing, but hopefully not just yet, as it would be amusing to have written on my tombstone:
'Born, Knitted, Dyed, Died'. I am aware that this flippancy may tempt fate that I will perish due to some sort of unexpected chemical reaction, but, well, the future's not ours to see anyway.

Black, Dubh, Noir, Du, Negro, Preto, Aswad, Abashane

White, Bán, Blanc, Gwynn, Blanco, Branco, Abyadh, Amallale

Red, Dearg, Rouge, Ruz, Rojo, Vermelho, Ahhmar, Axouguaghe

Yellow, Buí, Jaune, Melen, Amarillo, Amarelo, Assfar, Awraghe

Blue, Gorm, Bleu, Glas/Gwer (artificial), Azul, Azul, Asraq, Ashahmiye

Green, Glas/Uaine (artificial),Vert, Glas/ Gwer (artificial), Verde, Verde, Akh-dhar, Adale

Brown, Donn, Brun/Marron, Melegen/ Ruzdu, Castaño/ Moreno, Castanho, Bonniy, Akhawaye

Pink, Bándearg, Rose, Ruz, Rosa, Rosa, Wardiy/ Zahriy, Awardi

Orange, Oráiste, Orange, Melenruz/ Orañjez, Naranja, Laranja, Burtyqaaliy, Alimuni/Alatshinaye

Grey, Glas/ Liath, Gris, Glas/ Gris, Gris, Cinzento, Ramaadiy, Dighidaye

Violet, Corcra, Glasruz/Mouk, Roxo, Violeta, Banafsajiy, Abanafsaji

Again, please let me know if you see any errors here, and any Arabic or Irish speakers local to me or a phone call away, please do get in touch- I'm never going to get the right pronunciation without correction. Clearly for any kind of visual artist, this colour list is wildly inadequate...but I'm trying to walk before I run here...

Anyway, wishing you all love and light as always

Billy xxxx