[Ag-eq] Knitting

[Jewel]

If you get that estate and plant it with bamboo, be Panda friendly, and plant the variety that they 
eat and then set up your own little breeding colony.

       Jewel

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Tracy Carcione" <carcione at access.net>
Sent: Friday, September 27, 2013 11:20 PM
To: "Jewel" <jewelblanch at kinect.co.nz>
Subject: Re: [Ag-eq] Knitting

Hi Jewel.
Some bright bulb had a similar idea in Louisiana, and brought in a big
rodent called nutria to start a fur industry.  Same results as your possum
fur industry.

I like the name Possumer!

Speaking of blends, I recently knitted a shawl with a yarn made of merino
and bamboo.  I would have thought the bamboo would be rough, but it gave the
yarn a kind of silkiness, and the shawl has a beautiful drape to it.
Bamboo seems like a good crop, for those who have the space, if they can
keep it under control.  It's being used for everything from yarn to biofuel
and lumber.
I need an estate--lots of land for plants, and a chauffeur to drive me when
I want to go to town.
Tracy

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jewel" <jewelblanch at kinect.co.nz>
To: "Tracy Carcione" <carcione at access.net>; "Agricultural and Equestrean
Division List" <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2013 6:03 PM
Subject: Re: [Ag-eq] Knitting


> On the sites I have looked at, the possum/merino blend doesn't seem to
> have been given a name such
> as Possumer or meriposs. Actually, * possimer, sounding so much like
> gossamer  wouldn't be a bad
> name given its lightness and softness!
> The possum I speak of is, I think, quite
> different to the possum that you know.  the fur is that of the Australian
> Ring-tailed possum.
> The reason for the blended yarn being unique to New Zealand is that even
> though Australia has an
> ample supply of merinos and ditto of ring-tailed possums, in Ausie they,
> the possum is protected
> while in New Zealand they are an infernal  pest and are killed, hence the
> availability of fur.
> Actually, it was no thanks to somebody last century who had the bright
> idea of starting a fur
> industry by importing the possum.  The idea failed but the possum
> flourished as have most of our
> exotic animal introductions who have gone on to cost the country untold
> millions of dollars in
> trying to erradicate them, and as that, largely, has proved to be
> impossible, at least to control
> their numbers.
> As I said above, the original idea of a fur industry failed, and the
> possums were just left to
> multiply out in the bush, until, that is, the wildlife division of
> internal affairs, now DOC
> (Department of
> Conservation) started the campaign to erradicate, if possible, the possum:
> mainly, at the time, in
> an effort to stem the spread of bovine tb for which the possum was thought
> to be the prime vector,
> at first, the carcasses of the slain were just left to rot, but then pelts
> started coming onto the
> market and, for a while, the trappers did very well as quality skins were
> selling for very high
> prices, but like most "get rich quick" schemes, the bottom fell out of the
> market and, once again,
> carcasses were just left where they had died.
> However, a small fur industry has arisen providing possum jackets, gloves
> and hats for, mainly, the
> Japanese tourist market using the entire pelt , and, latterly,
> hand-plucking the skins for just the
> fur.
> There is a small export trade in tanned skins which, for the purposes of
> export go by the name of
> kiwi bear.
> For a time, along with rabbit and fitch farmings for furs, and meat as
> wellin the case of rabbits, ,
> there were also possum farms, but none of those alternative undertakings
> really took off because of
> the fear that animals of those 3 species which were, already pests in the
> wild would escape, or be,
> intentionally, released to join their free-living, but we would prefer
> them dead, brethren.
> One or two canny entrepreneurs have also started processing the possum
> meat for pet food.
>
>          Jewel
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Tracy Carcione" <carcione at access.net>
> Sent: Friday, September 27, 2013 5:34 AM
> To: "Jewel" <jewelblanch at kinect.co.nz>; "Agricultural and Equestrean
> Division List"
> <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [Ag-eq] Knitting
>
> Hi Jewel.
> Oooh, that sounds interesting!  I never heard of it.  Does it have a funny
> name?  Like qiviut is buffalo hair, I think.
> Tracy
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Jewel" <jewelblanch at kinect.co.nz>
> To: "Agricultural and Equestrean Division List" <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2013 1:23 PM
> Subject: [Ag-eq] Knitting
>
>
>> New Zealand produces a knitting yarn that is a composition of merino wool
>> and possum fur.  We do
>> export it.  Do any of you who knit know of it.  It is a wonderful yarn;
>> very hard-wearing but soft
>> and light but, gram for gram, extremely warm.
>>
>>         Jewel
>>
>>
>>
>>
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