Ingeo

[omly]

I have become fascinated with ingeo* recently. I think it is partially because as a scientist/engineer I complete approve of this earth-friendly, renewable synthetic. Plus it is just damn cool. I have recently been contemplating what those knitters in the natural-fiber camp would think of it.

From The Earth Guild:
"This silky fiber is made from corn, first milled into starch, then sugar. The sugar is fermented using enzymes making lactic acid. Eventually it is transformed into pellets of polylactic acid, which can then be spun into Ingeo fiber. The manufacturing process does not require petroleum-based chemicals. The fiber is biodegradable. Ingeo (In-gee-o), derived from “Ingredients from the Earth,” is made in the USA and is one of several emerging products created from annually renewable resources."

Unfortunately it seems that you can't buy it as yarn. I can't find any online and I found that it was mentioned on knitting (specifically here) that it does not seem to be commerically available as a yarn yet. There are a couple places including here that sell it as just a fiber though. Does anyone happen to spin?


*This is another moderately interesting website devoted soley ingeo but it is very flash heavy.

Comments

[inhumandecency.livejournal.com]

Check out this blog post (http://www.livejournal.com/users/murphfeed/136137.html) from Murph. He recently discovered polylactic acid in the plastic to-go containers at the local grocery co-op.

[omly.livejournal.com]

Yeah in trying to find sources of this online I found a bunch of cool uses for this stuff. I think it is fabulous it is hitting the market as quickly as it is, even though it isn't getting to the area that I was thinking of originally. I hadn't heard about coops specifically using it, but that makes a lot of sense to me that they would be among the first to utilize this new techonology simple because they know their customers and emplyees are more likely to care and be willing to possibly pay a few cents more per containter (hmmm I wonder if it is more expensive given current petroleum prices).