firecat: damiel from wings of desire tasting blood on his fingers. text "i has a flavor!" (Default)
firecat (attention machine in need of calibration) ([personal profile] firecat) wrote2012-06-12 05:43 pm
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I find the most interesting stuff by following [twitter.com profile] ebertchicago

"Popularity of woollen coffins soars" in the UK.

Which made me wonder whether if I were dying I would like watching friends knit me a woollen coffin. Or what it would be like to knit my own.

(Although actually I want to be cremated, and it would be a shame to burn up good knitting with my body.)
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lilacsigil: 12 Apostles rocks, text "Rock On" (12 Apostles)

[personal profile] lilacsigil 2012-06-13 01:53 am (UTC)(link)
We buried our cat wrapped in a really nice piece of wool cloth because he always liked to get into our crafts and curl up to sleep. Actually, it sounds really cozy!
oursin: C19th engraving of a hedgehog's skeleton (skeletal hedgehog)

[personal profile] oursin 2012-06-13 07:51 am (UTC)(link)
Back to the C17th! - when 'burial in woolen' was quite a thing. Memory says it was something to do with encouraging the wool-trade, but it was a long time ago (like, the summer after graduation when I was being a genealogical researcher and looking at parish registers of burials etc). (This actually seems about right.
nitoda: sparkly running deer, one of which has exploded into stars (Default)

[personal profile] nitoda 2012-06-13 02:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Looking at the manufacturers' site, it's way more like woollen blanketing - not a knitted product at all! - and tested for weight bearing up to and over 600 pounds. Looks good to me.
eggcrack: Icon based on the painting "Kullervon kirous ja sotaanlahto" (Default)

[personal profile] eggcrack 2012-06-16 07:19 pm (UTC)(link)
That's a pretty good idea! I'll probably go for cremation too, but I like that there are options for people who wish otherwise. It's just nice.

[identity profile] graymalkin13.livejournal.com 2012-06-13 06:07 am (UTC)(link)
I love the idea of a woollen coffin. Watching people knit it sounds very comforting, and the coffin itself would be very cosy. I too want to be cremated, but if I were going to be buried, I would appreciate the use of materials that would return to the earth along with me. I don't want anything left behind, taking up space and using up resources like wood or metal.

*reads article*

I like the other alternative coffin materials listed in the article, but I like woollen best because if you can watch your friends knit it, it's much more personal and comforting.

Excellent article.
Edited 2012-06-13 06:11 (UTC)

[identity profile] graymalkin13.livejournal.com 2012-06-13 06:19 am (UTC)(link)
I think this article is my favorite thing that I've read all year. :D

Wow!

[identity profile] ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com 2012-06-17 05:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Knitted coffins, how awesome.

[identity profile] epi-lj.livejournal.com 2012-06-25 04:06 pm (UTC)(link)
I've always been on board with the cremation option, but with qualms, because it both creates greenhouse gasses and because I wasn't sure how much of a "natural cycle" thing it was to burn all the stuff I've taken in over time. A little while ago I read somewhere about a procedure where they basically freeze-dry you or something and then use powerful low-frequency sonic waves to reduce you to your consistent elements. I have to look this up again and get a better idea of how it works. That seemed like it might be better. One of the options was to then mix it in with soil and plant a tree in it, which seemed like it would give people a place to come if they wanted to visit.
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