Ballarat knitter in adventurous project luxury fashion first
20 September 2022
Tasmanian cyclist and sailor Two Dogs with Ballarat knitter of 70 years Val Chaffey and the beginning of a carbon neutral superfine merino knit for luxury brand M.J. Bale. Photo by Lachlan Bence.From an armchair in Ballarat East knitter of 70 years Val Chaffey sat, footy on the telly in front of her. With each click of her needles a woollen sleeve, collar, or cuff slowly appeared.
"It's relaxing," Ms Chaffey said.
"You sit there with your needles and your wool and watch whatever is happening on the telly and if the ball goes in you say, 'oh bugger, you weren't supposed to win that." (Her team is Essendon.)
Ms Chaffey has not been knitting any old sweater. She has been playing her part in an Australian fashion first, knitting a micro-run of luxury superfine merino jumpers that are completely carbon neutral.
The yarn made quite the journey to reach Ms Chaffey's living room with the wool originating from a sheep farm in Kingston, Tasmania, where livestock are fed a red seaweed; Asparagopsis taxiformis, to reduce methane emissions.
From the farm, the wool was cycled about 200 kilometres to a port in Hobart, sailed to the mainland in a engineless boat, put back on a bicycle, and with a stops in Geelong and Bacchus March for processing, landed spooled in Ballarat ready for Ms Chaffey to work her magic.
The journey was part of Australian luxury menswear brand M.J. Bale's 'The Lightest Footprint' project, the first of its kind worldwide, which set out to create a line of zero-emissions wool turtleneck knits. The yarn, from 32.5 kilograms of wool processed to 17 commercial spools, has been knit into a run of about 30 jumpers.
Ms Chaffey said if cared for properly, the garments will last forever.
"It's the wool, it's top quality wool, it makes all the difference," she said.
"There's no chemicals or anything like that in it ... It holds its shape while you're knitting. It's just beautiful stuff to knit."
This first run of jumpers is just the beginning for the project as 500 sheep are set to be shorn next month for production to continue.
Tasmanian sailor and cyclist Two Dogs transported the wool via bike and boat to Ballarat and said he hoped the project would inspire other businesses to make sustainable choices.
"It's a very adventurous project to go ahead," Two Dogs said.
"We needed to find a knitter that could understand what we were doing, understand the quality of the product and was good enough to do it and use it.
"They've looked for the best people to do each part of it and in finding the best people they've found people [that are] ... really passionate."
Ms Chaffey agreed.
"I love knitting," she said.
When asked if that meant the jumpers were made with love, the 78-year-old nodded.
"Oh yes," she said. "Can't help it."
From an armchair in Ballarat East knitter of 70 years Val Chaffey sat, footy on the telly in front of her. With each click of her needles a woollen sleeve, collar, or cuff slowly appeared.
"It's relaxing," Ms Chaffey said.
"You sit there with your needles and your wool and watch whatever is happening on the telly and if the ball goes in you say, 'oh bugger, you weren't supposed to win that." (Her team is Essendon.)
Ms Chaffey has not been knitting any old sweater. She has been playing her part in an Australian fashion first, knitting a micro-run of luxury superfine merino jumpers that are completely carbon neutral.
The yarn made quite the journey to reach Ms Chaffey's living room with the wool originating from a sheep farm in Kingston, Tasmania, where livestock are fed a red seaweed; Asparagopsis taxiformis, to reduce methane emissions.
From the farm, the wool was cycled about 200 kilometres to a port in Hobart, sailed to the mainland in a engineless boat, put back on a bicycle, and with a stops in Geelong and Bacchus March for processing, landed spooled in Ballarat ready for Ms Chaffey to work her magic.
The journey was part of Australian luxury menswear brand M.J. Bale's 'The Lightest Footprint' project, the first of its kind worldwide, which set out to create a line of zero-emissions wool turtleneck knits. The yarn, from 32.5 kilograms of wool processed to 17 commercial spools, has been knit into a run of about 30 jumpers.
Ms Chaffey said if cared for properly, the garments will last forever.
"It's the wool, it's top quality wool, it makes all the difference," she said.
"There's no chemicals or anything like that in it ... It holds its shape while you're knitting. It's just beautiful stuff to knit."
This first run of jumpers is just the beginning for the project as 500 sheep are set to be shorn next month for production to continue.
Tasmanian sailor and cyclist Two Dogs transported the wool via bike and boat to Ballarat and said he hoped the project would inspire other businesses to make sustainable choices.
"It's a very adventurous project to go ahead," Two Dogs said.
"We needed to find a knitter that could understand what we were doing, understand the quality of the product and was good enough to do it and use it.
"They've looked for the best people to do each part of it and in finding the best people they've found people [that are] ... really passionate."
Ms Chaffey agreed.
"I love knitting," she said.
When asked if that meant the jumpers were made with love, the 78-year-old nodded.
"Oh yes," she said. "Can't help it."
"It's relaxing," Ms Chaffey said.
"You sit there with your needles and your wool and watch whatever is happening on the telly and if the ball goes in you say, 'oh bugger, you weren't supposed to win that." (Her team is Essendon.)
Ms Chaffey has not been knitting any old sweater. She has been playing her part in an Australian fashion first, knitting a micro-run of luxury superfine merino jumpers that are completely carbon neutral.
The yarn made quite the journey to reach Ms Chaffey's living room with the wool originating from a sheep farm in Kingston, Tasmania, where livestock are fed a red seaweed; Asparagopsis taxiformis, to reduce methane emissions.
From the farm, the wool was cycled about 200 kilometres to a port in Hobart, sailed to the mainland in a engineless boat, put back on a bicycle, and with a stops in Geelong and Bacchus March for processing, landed spooled in Ballarat ready for Ms Chaffey to work her magic.
The journey was part of Australian luxury menswear brand M.J. Bale's 'The Lightest Footprint' project, the first of its kind worldwide, which set out to create a line of zero-emissions wool turtleneck knits. The yarn, from 32.5 kilograms of wool processed to 17 commercial spools, has been knit into a run of about 30 jumpers.
Ms Chaffey said if cared for properly, the garments will last forever.
"It's the wool, it's top quality wool, it makes all the difference," she said.
"There's no chemicals or anything like that in it ... It holds its shape while you're knitting. It's just beautiful stuff to knit."
This first run of jumpers is just the beginning for the project as 500 sheep are set to be shorn next month for production to continue.
Tasmanian sailor and cyclist Two Dogs transported the wool via bike and boat to Ballarat and said he hoped the project would inspire other businesses to make sustainable choices.
"It's a very adventurous project to go ahead," Two Dogs said.
"We needed to find a knitter that could understand what we were doing, understand the quality of the product and was good enough to do it and use it.
"They've looked for the best people to do each part of it and in finding the best people they've found people [that are] ... really passionate."
Ms Chaffey agreed.
"I love knitting," she said.
When asked if that meant the jumpers were made with love, the 78-year-old nodded.
"Oh yes," she said. "Can't help it."