Thanks to Ita, my Latvian friend who has also become my fellow knitter, I heard that somebody had started making yarn in Romania from wool that would otherwise just have been thrown away or burned. The waste of wool is a problem in Sweden and has recently become quite an issue among environmentally-minded knitters. I found Moeke Yarns and Ioana and asked her for an interview, and she said yes. The best thing to do seems to be to offer this first in English and then also in a Swedish translation — because this is inspiration that I'd really like to share with a lot of people.
All photos are from the Moeke Yarns website except the one of Ioana.
Thank you, Ioana!
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Ioana, the founder of Moeke yarns, and the labels that she attaches to her skeins. Images from woolful.com.
Ioana, you're a sociologist who works with yarn on the side — how about this combination? How does one inspire the other and vice versa?
I actually took back crocheting and knitting as a hobby to help me deal with the frustrations of working on my doctoral research. Doing research results in writing articles and trying to publish them. But articles are not something tangible and at least in my university there are quite high expectations regarding the standard of the research. So, on the one hand, working with my hands helped me to relax just by focusing on doing one stitch at a time and I could empty my mind and deal better with my work related stress. On the other hand, I like that I can make something tangible as opposed to my immaterial work as a sociologist. I also think that knitting helps me to think better. I usually prefer simple patterns with repetitive motifs that allow my mind to just wander around. And when my mind is empty and my focus is on the repetitive pattern of my knitting project I actually get good ideas or solve problems related to my work. So for me, knitting is beneficial not only for my well-being but also for my work as a sociologist.
Ioana's grandmother was an enthusiastic knitter. The sock to the right is the survivor from a pair that she made from Ioana and has been used as the template for Moeke's own sock tutorial.
You mention your grandmother as your main source of inspiration. What did she knit, and how?
My grandmother was a very good knitter. Her knitting was incredibly uniform and all the garments were just perfectly fitting. And this was achieved without a pattern. I still have some woolen socks from her I even deconstructed her pattern, and I offer it for free on our site. I also have some vests that she made she loved knitting vests and cardigans, and I cant blame her: the winters in Romania were so harsh that good warm clothes were a necessity. I also had cute hats with pompoms made by her. Her knitting projects were not particularly delicate the garments that she made were very much functional, but I have noticed that the details were always spot on. And most of the time she spun the yarn herself, and that makes all the items I have left from her even more special.
But regarding to the how question: she knitted continental style and mostly used long metal needles that were quite heavy in my opinion. She mostly knitted during winter when the work on the farm allowed her to do something else. When I was young, during communism, and the electricity was cut in the evenings, she had an oil lamp, and she used to knit long hours trying to finish the woolen socks on time for the first snow. Before being a skillful knitter she was an amazing caretaker all members of her family had at least something made by her.
Two un-dyed Moeke yarns.
How has your own passion for textile and handicraft developed through your life so far?
I learned how to knit and crochet when I was just a child but at that time it did not stick with me. I became obsessive about both crafts only when I picked them up again a few years back. In the beginning I was very much into crocheting. I loved how I could create shapes so easily. And my mathematical background really helped to understand the construction of complex shapes I made quite a lot of dolls that I gave to all my friends that had kids.
But then I rediscovered knitting, and I must admit that I was quite a novice technique-wise. I had no idea what a swatch is. Short rows, magic loop or different techniques for casting on or binding off? I was oblivious that such things might exist. But I am a very curious person, I love to learn new things and I cant live without a challenge. So I started to watch tutorials and to try on new techniques. This process was fundamental for helping me to understand what kind of knitter I am and what kind of patterns I like. For instance, I am not a lace person. I can do lace knitting but I have no love for it and I believe that my lack of passion would be reflected in the end product.
One important discovery was my love for swatching. I love yarn, I love how it feels and how it smells and when I swatch with a new yarn my fingers get to know it, how it behaves, if it is springy or very lax, what kind of texture it creates. Swatching helps me to understand what kind of project would be best for a specific type of yarn. And sometimes, swatching helps me to realize that I am not so much in love with a certain yarn and that I will not go on putting more energy into working with it. By trying new yarns I educated my taste and now I have a better understanding of differences and similarities between different fibers.
Another change regards how I experience working with fibers I used to be an impatient knitter, working only on small projects and getting gratification only when finishing something. Nowadays I choose my projects purposively: with any new project I want to learn something new. But my attitude toward the process of making something has changed I am now enjoying every step of it, and I think this is the most important development in my trajectory as a crafter.
Yarns from the dyed Moeke collection — all shades are made with natural plant pigments.
You've started a yarn company with your brother. Was this something that came natural to you, or was it a leap into the unknown?
It was pretty much a crazy thing to do because we none of us had any experience in manufacturing yarn. But I always wanted to do something that could have a social impact. Before coming to the Netherlands and following my academic dream I worked quite some years in various NGOs that had a clear social focus, like helping and empowering the Roma community. And I always believed that Romania has so many things to offer but there is less knowledge on how to use this potential. When I found out that so many of the fiber mills were destroyed and the shepherds are burning the wool I was amazed! Living in the Netherlands I was aware of the rising interest for locally produced, eco-friendly products. My position between the two worlds allowed me to spot this opportunity that is not easy to see if one does not travel outside the border and does not get in contact with different markets. So in my head was just natural to link my love for natural fibers to a tradition and an industry that, on the long term, could mean something for the economic revival of the rural Romania.
In the beginning my brother and my family were not particularly enthusiastic when they heard about my idea. Even the owner of the fiber mill warned us that this could be an idea without a future. The close neighbors in the village where I grew up and where my parents live were also reserved. They were just hesitant to the idea that anyone would be interested in buying and using the traditional Romanian yarns, when even Romanians dont want it anymore. So in trying to convince them that it was a good idea I did a lot of research and finally my family and I decided to start small, to learn on the way and adapt as we go. It was and it still is a lot of pressure on me because I convinced them to start on this enterprise and I am grateful for their support and their trust in my instinct and idea.
What's the response so far?
The response was beyond expectations! Designers and bloggers as well as shop owners were touched by our initiative and in no time we were selling yarn to shops and knitters all over the world! It was amazing and such an important validation of our work. We started to sell in September 2014, and we have already managed to develop a small but selected network of 16 shops in 7 countries.
But this would not have been possible without some very important people that I met when starting up Moeke Yarns. One of these important persons is Ashley from the woolful.com podcast who invited me for an interview last year in January. Her enthusiasm for our yarns and the possibility I received to tell my story meant a lot for us.
Another important person for us was Maaike from creJJtion.com who gave me a crash course on how to use social media for creating awareness and building a community.
And then there is the amazing community on Instagram who is so supportive and so positive for what we do that it really gives me the energy and motivation to keep going when it is very hard for me to keep the balance between work, Moeke Yarns and my family.
Not lastly, the designers who saw the potential in our yarns and started developing patterns specifically for them. For me it is immensely gratifying when I see in my Instagram feed photos of projects and designs that use Moeke Yarns!
The Moeke yarn comes from Romanian breeds, first a local mix kept mainly for milk and meat and now also a Transylvanian Merino.
How about the sheep — who are they, where do they live, what are their lives like?
The sheep that give the wool for our yarns are all local breeds. Elena yarn comes from two flocks that have mix breeds from mostly Tsigaie, Merinos and Turcana. These sheep are typically bred for milk and meat production, not so much for yarn, and they are very well adapted to the harsh winters in Romania.
This year we also looked and found two other flocks with a Romanian breed of Transylvanian Merino. In fact in Romania there are several merino breeds, all developed during the communism, in the 80s. We managed to find the former state farm where the Transylvanian merino was developed from Polwarth imports from Australia. We also found an old woman who has a small number of Transylvanian merino that she keeps in order to supplement her very low income. We actually had enough wool from the merino farm, but when me and my brother talked with the old lady and saw how much work she put into taking care of her sheep we just decided that we are going to help her and buy the wool, even though we did not really need it.
All the sheep are enjoying their lives as much as possible outside. The merino breed is less adapted to cold, so during the winter they spend more time inside. In Romania no one practices docking (cutting of the tail) or mulesing (the removal of strips of skin from around the buttocks of a sheep) and that aspect was very important for me some argue that the gains from using these practices are substantial in terms of flies control, but in my eyes it is not a humane practice for the sheep. Also, the animals graze on pastures where no herbicides are used as one of the shepherds put it, they are too poor to afford such things.
The wool is processed by hand and spun far from high technology. What does this mean to you?
For me these aspects were very important because when I came up with the idea of producing yarn I did not want to produce just any kind of yarn, I wanted to produce the traditional Romanian yarn. I purposively looked for traditional fiber mills because I wanted to make sure that they stay in business so that the little producers farmers that maybe have 1020 sheep — still have a place where to process their wool. I also wanted to stay away from chemically intense treatment of the wool, because we are cleaning and washing the wool on my parents farm, where I grew up and where my grandparents lived. I love that place, so why would I want to use acids or detergents that are not eco-friendly? So I had these ideas in my head that we have to find ways that will ensure that the environment will not be negatively affected and that the yarns will be authentic. Of course, this means that manufacturing the yarns is much more labor intensive, but in my eyes it is worth it.
What's your favourite project with this wool?
I love knitted blankets made with Elena. Wool is just wonderful as thermal insulator, and I am suffering all the time because of the cold humid weather in The Netherlands. So my woolen blanket is my favorite project, definitely.
Moeke yarn hand-dyed in a small batch with red and yellow onion peels.
What's the best thing that could happen to your company and all the people involved now?
My aim is to create a solid basis for development. I want to be able to create jobs for the people in the village where I grew up and to make a genuine contribution to developing the rural economy. The fact that we already work with two fiber mills in Romania is also very important to me we manage in this way to support two traditional small businesses so that they can still remain in business. And of course, if I can create a legacy for my family I will be very happy.
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Thank you, Ioana, for answering my questions so thoroughly — when I sent them off I didn't think I'd be causing you such a lot of work, but when the answers came I was so happy that I had to share them with Ita, and now I'm happy to pass your thoughts on, too. For more inspiration, have a look at Ioana's tutorials and patterns and at all the different yarns!
— And this is not a sponsored post. It's posted out of sheer enthusiasm! You all know what that is, don't you?