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Estamos buscando salidas para la lana Latxa que se está acumulandose todos los años y resulta ser un problema para los pastores. No es una materia prima sino un residuo para ellos: primero porque es lana basta, de los tipos VII y VIII de la clasificación comercial de lanas españolas (lana colchonera) y segundo, llega en malas condiciones a los sitios de recogida (a veces mojada, mezclada con mucha paja y ‘mierda’). Así que necesitamos nuevos mercados y procedimientos…
En mi opinión, la lana Latxa es muy buena para el suelo: como es fuerte, puede aguantar mucha fricción y no se desgaste rápido. Por eso he hecho un prototipo de una alfombrilla con hilos gordos de lana Latxa. Como base he utilizado cañamazo para bordar; en alemán se llama este base ‘Stramin’. Y luego he bordado este base con ganchillo y la lana Latxa. Me gusta bastante el resultado, salvo que esta alfombrilla es algo resbaladizo: hay que engomar la parte inferior, creo.
We are looking for a way to use Latxa wool because it is just accumulating each year and causing a big problem to many farmers and shepherds. It is not seen as a raw material for new things but as an agricultural residue. And as such the shepherds not only have to pay for the shearing of their sheep but also for getting rid of this residue… When the authorities offered to collect the wool of the shepherds in recent years, they soon found out that they couldn’t find any use for the wool indeed: first, the Latxa wool is one of the coarsest wools there are (used in the past for filling of mattresses) and second, the quality in which it arrived was rather bad: lots of times the wool was very dirty (a mixture of straw, shit and wool) and sometimes even humid and old (maybe from previous years). So we do need new markets and procedures…
In my opinion, Latxa wool is perfect for the floor: it’s sturdy and it doesn’t wear out easily. So I made a prototype of a rug: I bought a sort of canvas as a base for the rug (Stramin in German) and used a thick, handspun Latxa yarn to embroider this canvas. It’s like crocheting or hooking, I think. The result is okay, although a little bit slippery: I think I have to apply some gum to the underside to prevent it from slipping.
