One Nettle Sewing Thread Challenge 

In Kenya, people (including me) spin sisal, sanseveria and other fibers on our thighs. To the best of my knowledge, there are no spindle whorls in the archaeological record here though though they do appear in Zimbabwe/Mapungubwe. .

In southern italy the nettle cloth is a local tradition, they let the stems sit in water for some hours just to have them become more tender, so that the process of extracting the fibres gets easier and requires less time

Fab, i can’t believe I get so excited about nettles now, my walks are not the same. My family love the words ‘hedge bothering’ although dread me shopping after our walks with a rucksack of nettles and brambles. Love the smell and touch of making this cordage and thread. Thank you so much for you videos.

I watched this and found huge burdock on the farm. I decided to try my hand at making some cordage. It worked and was so much fun! Thank You

I LOVE this!! I'm absolutely adopting "hedge bothering" as a term haha

Why would worry you bored anyone. I watched multiple of your nettle videos and they are super fascinating. Took me a while to figure out which plant nettles were, but with the help of the qualifier 'stinging' I got there. I learnt nalbinding recently and your videos just made the joy of exploring this craft even greater.

I remember the Hans Christian Anderson fairytale "The Wild Swans". 11 princes turned into swans, and their sister had to weave 11 coats from stinging nettles to free them from the spell. I had no idea what stinging nettles were when I was a kid, but I know what the prickles are like now! And after watching you make this thread from nettles I understand what the process is. Does the thread ever get soft? Could you make clothing from nettles? Seems it would be really rough to me.

I had bought myself a little skein of nettle yarn! I was so impressed with how soft it actually is and can’t wait to see how it works up in a project.

I am always in awe when I watch your nettle videos. I really wonder who first said, "You know, this thing can hurt me, but I bet I can make something from it!" We have a patch of nettles nearby, and I've seen more as I've been out exploring. And I keep wondering, "Should I?"

Thank you so much Sally! Normally I speed up videos and skip forward. I enjoyed every bit of this Video and even slowed down the early bits. Your timing is perfect and every bit of your video is worth watching. I just found you and am so grateful. Thank you!

This is so nice-looking! I like that it stays green and doesn't turn brown after it dries!

The video was anything but nettlesome. I have learned the words hedge-botherer and putter-togetherer in a single week. Thanks!

Hedge cred may just be the best thing I’ve ever heard!

So much love for this! I will definitely be checking out your "prehistoric" stuffs because I'm researching medieval use of nettle cloth and how to make it myself.

Very nice. I wish we had the freedom to experiment with hemp the same way.

I actually harvested my first pint of nettle seeds this week and I love that this popped up! I just finished my first thread! So cool! Can’t wait to make more! Thank you! Your twisting skills are on point! 😁

I made this for the first time today! I didn't do the challenge because it was my first try but I think it turned out really well, it's acceptably thin like maybe twine, but I don't think I could break it just by tugging on it I used about 6 nettles, but the ones here aren't very tall. I haven't measured how much I got yet but I'd say it's definitely over 10 feet.

Glad the video is back! I was worried I would never be able to see it!

Reminds me of the time I was walking along a Canal where the weeds had been "weed wacked". Looking down, I thought I saw a bundle of frayed plastic cord. It turned out to be the Fibers from a cutdown Thistle Stem. Those Fibers were rather strong !

This would be a fun thing for children to learn. Once taught, they could make a useable string all on their own, from something in the garden. The word I’m looking for is autonomy, I think.

So delighted with the content since I found your channel a few months ago❤️. I'm really glad that basic life skills from the past are still celebrated and preserved. I intend to introduce my daughter (a surprise gift from the universe 22 years after I thought I had finished having children!)to handwork and in our home schooling. I to nurture an appreciation of effort and love of the wild in her

Nice one! It's so nice to see these videos: I felt as if I was the only one interested in making string, by hand, from raw materials. I am interested in trying to make cordage from the fibres of garden plants, such as Kniphofia. Recognising that cordage making is a basic technology, I'd like to try as many plants as I can, from my garden. So far, I've collected fibres, but haven't known how to set about it. Thanks to you, I now have some idea. Thank you!

This was wonderful, thank you. And so loved the Froglets appearance at the beginning. 😍

Thank you Sally, just a lovely bit of nettle processing.

What a lovely and cool video!! ❤️

This is so awesome, thank you for your time 8m showing us! I have alot of nettles where I live and need to do something with them...

The guys at good and basic brought me here last year. I totally love your content and I'm chuffed you're almost at the 5k mark! Keep up the great work. You're inspiring

wow. this was really fascinating. Thanks.

Watching you I can feel the work you are doing because of my own experiments of years ago and it makes me glad you are doing it! Thank you for the experience of your channel and for you.

Beautiful hedgemanship .thank you and best wishes from Ireland 🇮🇪 🌱💚

Y❤️U have made me a student again ❣️ I want to DO this so much!!! Am soaking up everything you do ❣️TY, Lady Sally.

Brilliant loved it

Nice one, Sally! Love from Sweden ❤️

Hello from Sweden! So nice and inspiering. Wehave a lot o nettles in our garden. I eat Them in doop and smoothies. Now I Will try this!

Thank you x

Stunning welds of cross-epoch media: your presentation is deeply confirming.

Thank you

This really brings some of those old fairy tales to life!

A stunning weld of cross epoch media: this research presentation is deeply inspiring.

It's October 2022 and I am a newbie to this and I want to try all this out, but I think I have left it too long in the year to gather my supplies, but I am keen to learn as much as I can about making my own fibre and stuff. I think I want to make my own items for use at home. And today my fibres too... Fascinating to learn so much new to me stuff! Thank you.

Wow amazing 🤩

Another excellent video, thank you Sally. Bonus points for Froglets.

I love your term "hedge-bothering."

Great video... thanks

Love this stuff. We used to do these things as kids. I guess I forget not everyone is lucky enough to grow up on large estates with parents whom challenge their minds. I guess I can get very forgetful of all the privileges my parents bestowed upon us. We had much, but we worked hard for it. If we wanted fishing nets we first had to create our own before they would buy us any. Etc. Just so we could appreciate what effort went into that which we had. We had a grand estate. Our friends called us spoiled. What they didn't see was dad framed out our rooms, but we had to wire, insulate, drywall, put in the stone slab flooring hang the doors, finish all woodwork trim etc ourselves. Needless to say we were probably the only kids of our generation that didn't stick things on our walls. Because we knew the work that went into making them and what would be required to patch holes. It's so nice to see people keeping it alive. I'm very grateful to have come across your channel. Yesterday I was a bit harsh I think. I believe all people know this stuff from youth on. Forgetting to be grateful and forgetting not everyone grew up the self sufficient way I did.

I like you a lot thanks for teaching us thank you Portugal

I'd just pick the old, already dry stems in winter/spring and bash them up in a cloth to release the fibres...

This is making me want to try this but its October almost December and despite not taking care of my very tiny courtyard garden thingie I don't have any nettles!

...hello! wonderful videos, and im excited to try this - a question, i have dry stocks, dry nettle sticks without leaves, a few months dry, can i still use them? many thanks! (i used the leaves earlier and left the stocks)

Lovely video as always Sally. I wondered how do you wash these clothes made of natural materials late when they're worn?

Yay, it worked this time ^_^ I hope you'll show us your pouches too : )

Sooo...67 .7 inches of thread. Can't remember exactly how long the nettle stalk was, but about 48 inches? Huh. I kinda expected more length, and more obsessive focus on 'how thin is thin'.....but this is really respectable!

Hi Thank you for the video, wonderful! This make so much sense. is the drying for an hour (or more) for shrinkage? I think nettle season is right now in New England, the seeds aren't fully mature. What constitutes the end of nettle season? vicky

Here is a video on making a turkey blanket (which is a fascinating thing) but the bit I think will be of particular interest to you starts at 3:37 and ends about the 11 minute mark as its about how she spins and plies yucca fibre: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6L4qRn3RIDc.html

This can be collected fresh and dried also to process? Does it work to rinse of green bits after scraping? We have Milkweed nearby and want to try that. Wish Sarah Swett would do a vid on milkweed threads (she mentioned you on her blog).

These are great videos. How does it carbonize? (Can you drive off the volatiles and actually get something strong? I'd doubt it...but that's always an interesting question with fibers. ...And does it grow nanotubes...is it strong at the molecular level?)

I would like to know how the ancestors made a very fine thread or perhaps they didn't, the finer threads may have required the spindle tool.

Hi Sally, I live close to a river and at times the stinging nettles grow as high as 6’ -0” do you think at this length the fibres would be to tough? Great video and very interesting. It pushed me onto flax as well. Thanks Bob Oxon…

Have you used nettled to dye wool before? I found a patch of nettles in my yard and would like to dye something with them!

I am curious, could you do the same process for flax when it is green.

I just found your channel. Outstanding, Not only are you beautiful but smart. Thank you

On a walk last week I saw some tall nettle growing in a park near to me. Usually I have only seen them shin height at most, but these where up to my hip (1m) in late winter here in SE Australia. Went back today for some 'hedge bothering' and now I have an open paper bag of gently coiled strips waiting to dry and a few tingly fingers. Happy with my mornings activities. Would you say this is the cambium layer that we're saving?

Thank you for sharing your knowledge! I have a question if I may. After you store your thread do you need to moisten the thread before use to make it pliable? Thanks!

Completely non-voting! Thank you very much.

Could you ease processing by soaking them for a few days first, or would that break down the fiber? I’ve heard of that used for some plant fibers.

ASMR

I would be interested to see the results of the comparison study, to learn which method of cordage turned out to be the closest to the archaological samples. Could we get a link? I don't know how to find any more information about how things went on this subject.

I’ll have to figure out where there’s nettles around me lol! Did you win the contest?

Can you do anything with the roost/pithy bits or is it just compost?

With spinning flax, spit is commonly used so I don't actually know why but Im assuming natural substances in the fiber get a bit sticky which help the spinning proccess and to keep the fibers from snapping. Maybe someone knows why? So would spit also help wetting the twist with nettle?

Couldn’t you come with a deer antler comb?

I tried to get some nettle stalks of my own a few days ago... They disintegrated into fluff when I tried scraping them; going to try again in another week or so.

Would that piece hold up as fishing line?

Here are a few ideas that I had while watching your video: * Instead of pounding the stem to separate the fibers; wouldn't it be easier to just firmly roll it out with a rolling pin? You could roll several stalks simultaneously; and thus speed up the process. * Wouldn't it, also, be easier to split the bark off, if you were to soak the stems first? * And lastly, when you are scrapng off the 'green stuff'; wouldn't it be easier just to allow the fibers to dry out first, and skip the scraping step altogether? You could then rub them between your hands; or use some kind of bristled tool, to firmly brush off the dried flakes? Again, you could 'brush' several stalks at the same time, speeding things up. You could then rehydrate the fibers, if needed, to make them pliable again for making the 'yarn'. All these methods would have been accesible to prehistoric cultures. Right? Just a thought.

I'm reading the text.

Do your wrists ever hurt from twisting cord? The repetition while meditative would probably hurt after awhile. Or Atleast that’s what happened with me and crochet.

Did you wax the cord before using it in your leather project?

What do you do with it?

I wonder if you could remove the leaves earlier andas the nettles are growing to create "nodeless" stems?

Es ortiga.?

Question from the very newly initiated: is it not 4 ply if you’re spinning two threads on either side because you’re folding them?

So basically 100 bee stings for a piece of string?

Anyone who collects nettle without gloves is going to learn very quickly why gloves are needed. Lol.

'5x speed, wheeeeee...'

How many inches long is it? I live in the USA.LOL

Did your husband ever find out about his rolling pin?

Who knew?

gnarly video, dedicated to your craft!