High Quality Pakucho Naturally Grown Color Certified Organic Cotton
The 14 Colors of Organic Cotton Sliver
Top Row Colors: Cafe, Chocolate, Deep Golden Brown, Deep Green, Desert Mist, Forest Mist, Golden Brown
Bottom Row Colors: Moka, Natural, Rich Cinnamon Chocolate, Rustic Avocado, Sage, Vanilla Cream, Vicuna
The Organic Sliver is no longer for sale on this website. It is available in my
Etsy Shop (Click this link).
If you don't find it listed at the time you check, simply contact me at Etsy to see what I have available in stock. You will also find the same cotton in lace weight and sport weight yarn.
Below are the prices for your information.
Cafe (2oz/60gm) - $4.49
Chocolate (2oz/60gm) - $7.99
Deep Golden Brown (2oz/60gm) - $5.49
Deep Green (2oz/60gm) - $10.99
Forest Mist (2oz/60gm) - $7.99
Golden Brown (2oz/60gm) - $4.99
Moka (2oz/60gm) - $6.49
Natural (2oz/60gm) - $4.00
Rich Cinnamon Chocolate (2oz/60gm) - $10.99
Rustic Avocado (2oz/60gm) - $6.99
Sage (2oz/60gm) - $6.25
Vanilla Cream (2oz/60gm) - $4.00
Vicuna (2oz/60gm) - $4.25
"Naturally pigmented cotton and fine textiles have been produced for nearly five millennia in Peru, constituting the oldest recorded tradition of spinning and weaving in human history. Over a decade of ethnographic, botanical and archaeological research by the Native Cotton Project of Peru, trademarked in 1994 as Pakucho, has led to the identification of pre-Columbian farming techniques for sustained cotton harvesting and environmental resource management. As steward of this unique genetic resource, Pakucho has recovered a wide range of naturally colored cotton fiber, including cream, beige, brown, rust, chocolate, mauve, green and other earthy tones. No dyes, chemicals or other synthetic processes have been used to grow, soften, or color the fibers of these original fabric creations." Peru Naturtex Partners - Ecological Textile Products
Colored organic cotton will get darker when heat treated, so either from boiling the cotton after spinning or from washing/drying a finished product with heat. To maintain the lighter colors, wash and dry in cool temperatures. The beautiful baby blanket pictured above was spun and knit by Friedl Ballaban, Spinning Education Chair of the Ontario Handspinners and Weavers (OHS) and is a good example of how the colors darken. Each color strip of the blanket used one 2oz/60gm bundle, measuring about 4" X 30" and was knit in a pretty dense basket weave - so you can see you get quite a bit of yarn from one bundle. The colors in the blanket, left to right, are: Golden Brown, Moka, Rustic Avocado, Deep Green, Rich Cinnamon Chocolate, Deep Golden Brown, Chocolate.
Friedl also told me this was the nicest and easiest to spin cotton sliver she has worked with. She used her spinning wheel and showed me how she further split the sliver into about 5-6 thinner strips. Myself, I love using an Indian Takli (support spindle) or my lightweight top whorl drop spindle. I find a charkha wheel a bit tricky to master, although I have yet to see or try a Bosworth Charkha wheel from
Journey Wheel,
apparently the 'dream wheel' of cotton (or other short fiber) spinners.
An excellent DVD on spinning cotton is called "Cotton Spinning" by Stephanie Gaustad, available from Interweave Press. Click here to buy now!
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