VING Kermit was wrong. It is easy being green, and we've got several ways to prove it. Our green living special features growers, sewers and campaigners, and includes many top tips to help you up your eco- credentials. Look out for part two of our green coverage in next fortnight's issue.
ALL MADE UP Upcycling is easy, green and à la mode. Alice White speaks to eco-knitter Jakki Stewart about the joys of upcycling old jumpers
bought second-hand. ‘For me it's a win win situation because the product to start with
is desirable and beautiful. Scottish
people love it (as does everybody else in the world) so it's easy to sell.’
Many of Stewart’s jumpers end up in a hot wash to shrink the fibres and turn the wool into felt. ‘It's pretty simple, you put a handwash only, pure wool sweater in the washing machine, and that's it! I've learned from experience which sweaters are better. Some mysteriously get larger so it's a hit and miss process.’ Which jumpers work
best? ‘The best ones are the
Pringles and Lyle & Scotts of this world; the
jumpers which are the nicest to start with. It really needs to be the traditional Scottish stuff.’ The process is easy enough to try yourself, with,
according to Stewart, only one downside. ‘It's rather fluffy. You end up in knee deep in fluff. You forget and then you can't wear black.’ ■ www.etsy.com/shop/ecozee
Upcycling – the process of turning unwanted items into products of greater value – might sound like a dubious idea (another eco-concept that’s all trouser fluff and no trousers perhaps?) but it does raise the point that with most recycling the final product is of the same or less value than the original item. Upcycling doesn’t just stave off landfill, it actually gets close to the eco-ideal of turning waste into lasting beauty.
Working with this simple idea in an imaginative way, knitter and upcycler Jakki Stewart has set up Ecozee, an online shop based out of Earlston in the Borders, selling upcycled wool and felt items. Stewart’s finished products – gloves, hot water bottle covers, tea cosies etc – are beautiful, however she started Ecozee to achieve practical, rather than aesthetic, results. ‘I had a bet with my friend last summer,’ Stewart explains. ‘She said, “let's knit some socks” and I said, "you must be joking! Life's too short to knit a pair of socks"’. Skipping the knitting part, she went straight
to the sewing machine with a second- hand Pringle jumper. Now Ecozee uses only material
GET INVOLVED
■ Ecozee is just one of very, very many Etsy upcycling shops. Etsy also offer some fantstic upcycling tips through their ‘handmade blog’, www.etsy.com/storque. ■ For DIY upcycling trends try www.threadbanger.com, a
cool Brooklyn-based blog, or the UK fashion student-run upcycle-fashion.blogspot.com. ■ www.worn again.co.uk has a slick online shop for clothes and accessories made from old Eurostar seat fabrics and Virgin hot air balloon materials.
■ For local upcycling fashion have a peek at Raw Vintage (www.re-cycleandwear.co.uk) and the Craft Mafia (www.glasgowcraftmafia.com) in Glasgow, or Joey-D (www.joey-d.co.uk) and Godiva (www.godiva boutique.co.uk) in Edinburgh.
LIVING
ECO-GADGETS
Spend yourself green! John-Paul Holden suggests you kit out your life with these must-have eco items HOUSEHEAT BOILER CONNECT
Boiler Connect: £119.95; thermostat unit: £44.99; radiator valve motor: £39.99, all by HouseHeat, www.mygreenerhome.co.uk An easy-to-install and efficient home heating control system. Boiler Connect works wirelessly with HouseHeat's thermostat unit and motorised radiator valves to fire the central boiler or switch it off according to each room's temperature setting, allowing independent heating control in different areas of your home.
HORIZON FUEL CELL TECHNOLOGIES RADIO-
CONTROLLED CAR
Price on request Unveiled at February’s Nuremberg Toy and Hobby Fair, this is the world’s first hydrogen fuel-cell power system for radio-controlled cars. An order form with a list of component prices can be requested at rc@horizonfuelcell.com
NORDIC 6l ECO SHOWER HEAD
£44.99, www.ecoproducts.co.uk Get ‘cloud burst’-style, high-
pressure showers thanks to a unique
turbine vane release system that’s kind to the earth’s depleting water tables. The Nordic Shower dramatically reduces the amount of water you use in the shower without leaving you feeling you’re standing under a trickle.
TOUCAN MP4 PLAYER £99.49, shop.ecogadgets.com Enjoy multimedia content courtesy of the sun. The Toucan also recharges in artificial light. Just face its integrated solar panel towards the light and watch it juice up. 4GB of internal memory enables storage of a huge multimedia library which can be increased using SD mini-cards.
ELECTRO CITY SCOOTER
£1200 + VAT, from Charge Ltd, www.charge.uk.com If you're in the city and looking to travel at minimal cost to the environment, this is the machine for you.
Fully electric and with 30mph top speeds, the Electro City is fast, clean, nifty-looking and, with each battery recharge costing just 8p, cheap as chips. Charge time: 2–8 hours; max range: 40 miles. Beat the commuter crush in style and save zillions.
YOGEN HAND CHARGER £30.97, www.mobilefun.co.uk Re-charge your iPod or MP3 player by pulling a string. The action turns a mini-flywheel which can produce up to five watts of power to charge everything from iPods and iPhones to portable video game consoles. No need for mains supply so recharging can be done anytime, anywhere.
15–29 Apr 2010 THE LIST 15