From My Great-Grandparents' Hemp Fibers to a Handmade Bikini Top
Crocheting Hemp Fibers
And in summer there’s time to visit family and our favourite beach spots. This summer I also had time to dig into some boxes my mum had safely put aside – our kind of treasures. What I found was a ball of yarn made from old hemp fibers, from another era, when my late family members used to make cloth at home. Some of these old fabrics I still cherish and keep intact, because somehow I feel I’d be messing with their legacy if I used them as raw material.
But fibers are a different story…
There are still old weaving machines stored in the attic, but they’re missing a few parts and need serious repairs, so weaving new cloth is out of reach for now. Crocheting with these fibers, though, is something I can actually do.
In my hometown these hemp fibers are called “pređa” – a word I grew up hearing without ever quite knowing much about it. These two skeins are what remains of the hemp my great-grandparents grew and processed themselves, back when making your own cloth wasn’t a craft revival, it was just how things were done for the purpose the family needs it to be.
Skeins to Clothing
I’d already used one skein before. Twenty years ago, I knitted a wrap-top from it, a piece I still have and cherish. The leftover yarn from that project sat quietly for two decades, waiting for its second life. So imagine my delight when I found one ball of yarn ready to be transformed into a new project and start living a new life.
Maybe a crazy idea, but I got it into my head to make a bikini top with it.
Who knows – maybe this will be a lost cause and a very bad idea, but we’ll see how it turns out: how it behaves when wet, and whether it’s too harsh on the skin…
For now, I’m happy I finally discovered the perfect pattern for the bikini top and the strap position that holds it in place- simple, practical and nice. Started with a long chain and built the mesh form from there… The mesh open enough to let the piece breathe, tight enough to hold its shape.
Crocheting Hemp Fibers
There’s something fitting about hemp grown for cloth ending up, generations later, as something meant for water and sun rather than a kitchen table or a bedsheet.
Not what my great-grandparents had in mind, probably.
But the fiber doesn’t seem to mind.
Close the loop.
Enter the FrenzyLoop.
