2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013

Questions and Answers: 2017

Question: Hello. My sister, who lives in Mansfield, MA, is looking for suggestions for wild plants that can be used to …

• Question

  Hello. My sister, who lives in Mansfield, MA, is looking for suggestions for wild plants that can be used to make yarn (by spinning). She knows about milkweed already. She'd prefer that they be ones that are ok to harvest, such as invasives. Do you have any that you'd recommend trying? She also spends time up in the Eastport, Maine area, so plants up there would be good to know about, as well. Thanks for your help.

  Answer

  Dear AbbyG3, good morning. There are a great many fiber plants in New England, though I do not know which ones can be spun to make a yarn. Here is a list of herbaceous plants that do not require retting and have strong fibers, though each has its own necessary techniques of collection and fiber extraction: Abutilon theophrasti, Apocynum androsaemifolium, Apocynum Asclepias cannabinum incarnata, Asclepias syriaca, Chamaenerion angustifolium, Laportea Canadensis, Oenothera biennis, Urtica dioica, and Urtica gracilis.