It has been a busy weekend, part of which was playing sax in a charity event after being invited to join a few others.
Viscose for cool playing
I had some idea that viscose and rayon were plant based materials, and being natural, were therefore breathable - which is important when I'm playing in the band as it gets really hot up there sometimes.
Having picked up a viscose top recently, I thought I would check. It turns out that these materials won't wick moisture away from the body, so maybe not so good if it's really humid (and you get really sweaty), but they are breathable.
They won't give off plastic fibres when washed, but the process to make viscose/rayon has a lot of chemical/processing - much more than say, cotton.
More earth friendly if it's second hand.
Is it called viscose, or rayon?
Great question. There is some confusion between the two terms. Viscose is actually a type of rayon, even though “viscose,””viscose rayon,” and “rayon” are often used interchangeably. What started as “artificial silk” in the late 19th century became known as rayon in 1924, with the name “viscose” coming from “a viscous organic liquid used to make both rayon and cellophane.” Rayon is “the generic term for fiber (and the resulting yarn and fabric) manufactured from regenerated cellulose by any one of six processes.” Keep in mind that modal and lyocell, along with viscose, are also considered types of rayon.
Excerpt taken from www.barnhardtcotton.net
I also attended The Rubbish Trip presentation - which consists of Hannah and Liam, who are travelling throughout New Zealand talking to audiences in every city about reducing their personal rubbish footprint.
I recommend it if you are in New Zealand and haven't seen them yet.They have another 9 (?) months to go. I thought they were awesome, just love what they are doing.
It was practical, and having researched local places to buy packaging-free made it all easier for people.
The presentation was well attended by about 100 people of all ages.
Pumpkin Skin - do you eat it? We normally do, but a recipe that I used recently needed to have the skin off. Previously I would have just composted it - but this time I roasted it while cooking other things and added it to the dog's food. He was really pleased.
Timely for Halloween I thought - cook up any unwanted pumpkin - dogs love it.
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| Munta - really, he was pleased. |
Munta looks quite happily sated and satisfied. I've never eaten pumpkin skin. When I remove it it's always quite tough. I've never found rayon or viscose comfortable so I usually avoid it. However, Paul's favorite shirts are rayon. I like that they don't shed plastic fibers but had always believed the process of producing it was not a good one in terms of the environment. I stick to cotton as much as I can and when I lived in the North, a lot of wool.
ReplyDeletePumpkin skin does seem tough until you cook it - but it also probably depends on what variety of pumpkin you have. The skins on the smaller ones cook up perfectly edible - it's worth a try I reckon.
DeleteI sometimes eat pumpkin skin. I find leaving the skin on when I cook Butternut Pumpkin stops in from falling apart, as it goes quite soft. Mostly it just ends up in the compost.
ReplyDeleteYes butternut skin is good enough to eat. You have a dog don't you? I can't remember. Watermelon skin was another thing that I read that dogs love - and ours ate it.
DeleteWonderful seeing you up there on that stage.
ReplyDeleteI never considered feeding pumpkin skin to the dogs, it usually goes into my compost but now I'll have to try giving some to the dogs and see what they think of it.
Thanks Lois. As I commented above - try watermelon skin on the dog too.
DeletePumpkin skin usually goes in the compost here, Anne. I'm sure our Labrador would like it though, he's not a fussy eater!!
ReplyDelete