Does the cold winter weather have you staying in to knit warm woolen mittens and scarves? If so, you may be going through the same conundrums I’m dealing with. DIY knitting can be a very eco-friendly hobby, but knitters who want to keep their handmade goods environmentally-friendly and cruelty-free will likely find wool yarn shopping challenging, to say the least.
I started to realize this when I got some new woolen yarns to try from Stitch Nation by Debbie Stoller. Yes, the Debbie behind the Stitch & Bitch books I love has come out with a new line of pretty-colored yarns — a 100% peruvian wool yarn called Full o’ Sheep, a viscose from bamboo and wool blend called Bamboo Ewe, and a wool and alpaca blend called Alpaca Love.
These yarns are described as “100% natural, 100% affordable” — so naturally I wanted to give them a try. Unfortunately, the yarns arrived with no additional information as to what “natural” meant — and a request for more information didn’t yield any more details.
And as eco-smart people know, “natural” can really mean anything. Cotton T-shirts, for example, are often marketed as “100% natural” — never mind that they’re usually grown with pesticides, dyed with not-so-natural colors, and responsible for a whole host of environmental problems.
The same types of issues are concerns with “100% natural” wool yarn. Unless the yarn company discloses specific environmental criteria, “natural” wool simply means that the wool grew on animals — and is not a guarantee that the wool is pesticide or chemical free.
That’s why more eco-conscious knitters are seeking out organic wool yarn — both for the environment and for their own health. As Dayna Boyer at Canadian Living writes, “Not only is organic wool better for the sheep, it could be better for your skin: Lorena Ladan, owner of yarn store The Naked Sheep in Toronto, says a lot of people aren’t actually allergic to wool — they’re allergic to the chemicals and dyes that go into processing it.”
Since wool comes from animals, eco-friendly yarn also brings up issues of livestock treatment. For example, Tobin Hack writes in Plenty about muesling, a “gruesome wool shearing technique” that cuts out chunks of flesh off lambs. Tobin says Australian merino wool’s especially known to be harvested using this painful technique.
Lest you’re starting to feel all wool yarn is bad wool yarn, rest assured that sustainably harvested wool from well-treated livestock does exist. You simply need to ask more questions — about organic and sustainable farming, eco-friendly processing and dyeing, and humane treatment of animals — to figure out which wool yarns to buy. A few that come recommended by green bloggers:
>> O-Wool by The Vermont Organic Fiber Company. Abigail Doan at Ecouterre raves about this organic certified yarn that’s she says is “the wool of choice for eco-fashion designers such as Bodkin, Bahar Shahpar, Deborah Lindquist, Susan Woo, Ekovaruhuset, FIN, and Elena Garcia.”
>> Da’vida Fair Trade Store yarns. At Crafting a Green World, Victoria Everman recommends Da’vida’s fair trade yarns, most of which are fair trade yarns from small-scale farmers in Uruguay, Bolivia and Peru. Some of the yarns actually come from a New York sheep farmer called Lisa Meriam, so New Englanders can get locally-grown, locally hand-painted wool yarns!
>> Llamajamas 1855 Handspun Wool Yarn. Recommended by Jasmin Chua at The Worsted Witch, Llamajamas’ yarns are spun by artisan women in Ecuador, fairly traded, and naturally dyed. And natural here really means natural. Llamajamas’ website says the dyes are created by roasting “plants, bark, nuts, and other natural materials over open fires for many hours.”
Of course, some of the most eco-friendly — and most affordable — wool yarns are pre-loved yarns. If you’re balking at the price of these gorgeous-looking and eco-friendly yarns, simply head over to your nearest Goodwill and browse the sweater section, looking not at the styles but at the colors and textures. This way, you’ll have a wider selection of yarns to pick from — and you’ll be upcycling yarn, thereby requiring no new resources. Or for an even cheaper option, dig through your closet for ugly sweaters or other knits you no longer wear!
Once you’ve got an old sweater in hand, take it apart using these directions from the Cashmere Connoisseur, and reknit it into the woolen shape of your desire. I’m proud to say I’ve made everything from a camera cover to cat toys using this upcycling method.
Not a knitter yourself — but have lots of ugly sweaters? Try Reknit, a new service that lets you send in a sweater to be handknit and upcycled into a striped scarf — for the bargain price of $30.
Photos top to bottom: underthesun, Joanne, Siel
Mulesing is not nearly as cruel as it sounds. Some breeds of sheep, especially merino, have naturally wrinkly butts. Their poo and pee gets caked on the wrinkles, leaving a perfect environment for flies to lay eggs. The sheep then get something called “fly strike”. Maggots eat the sheep from the outside-in.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulesing
There are other ways to prevent flystrike, using injections and insecticides and breech clips. Breech clips effectively do the same thing as mulesing, but using clips that cut the circulation from the flesh to be removed over the course of 24 hours, allowing the skin to drop off.
If mulesing is completed early enough in a sheep’s life, with anesthesia (I cannot vouch for whether or not it is used among most flocks), it’s not cruel, but a humane and effective means of preventing a terrible tragedy to befall sheep. It’s not a pretty process, and the other guaranteed-effective process probably involves similar pain. But, I think, having seen animals suffer from flystrike, I’d rather see a short interval of pain versus an agonizing death.
Also, to stir things up a bit more, when it comes to the article: sheep shearers, ranchers, herders, and everyone else involved in the wool industry do love their flocks and wouldn’t dream of causing unnecessary harm to their charges. You would have to be absolutely bonkers about sheep to spend so much time with them. :)
Comment by Maria — January 17, 2010 @ 11:09 pm
did you use a pattern for the camera cozy? i’m interested in how you did it. in the round? flat and then sewn together?
thanks! and as always, appreciate yr posts. :)
Comment by melyssa — January 19, 2010 @ 9:47 am
Hey Maria — Thanks for the info. I think the main problem with mulesing as it’s practiced now is that good treatment of the sheep isn’t at all guaranteed. I understand you have a rosy viewpoint, but I think it’s a hyperbole to say that EVERYONE in the wool industry “love(s) their flocks and wouldn’t dream of causing unnecessary harm to their charges.”
melyssa — No, no pattern. I basically knitted up a long rectangle and sewed up the sides :)
Comment by Siel — January 28, 2010 @ 4:58 pm
I was anti-mulesing when I first heard about it, then I did some research on it. I think the thing to understand, in response to the people in the wool industry, is that, just like everywhere else, people are mostly good and kind. You will have a few bad eggs, but your average person is not going to be cruel.
I do wish that anesthesia and analgesic were the standard.
One way to guarantee cruelty-free fleece is to contact sheep ranches personally. You can, with some, “adopt” a sheep and get that sheep’s fleece (unprocessed, washed, carded, spun, etc.) for a year.
You can also contact mills to find out about the herders and find out if they use pain management when performing it. A push from consumers towards using anesthesia for an effective (and eco-friendly, as compared to the plastic clips–maybe they can develop biodegradable ones?) management of flystrike might be what it takes.
Comment by Maria — January 28, 2010 @ 5:08 pm
Any time that a living being is considered property, then cruelty is inevitable. I knit with cotton mostly but have also tried yarn made from the by-products of tofu production.
Comment by Erica — February 11, 2010 @ 6:29 am
People may be good and kind; corporations much less so. Therein lies the problem.
I totally disagree with this — “Any time that a living being is considered property, then cruelty is inevitable.” I own the chard on my balcony garden, and this is not leading to inevitable cruelty.
Comment by Siel — February 12, 2010 @ 5:48 pm
I should have been more clear that I meant living and sentient beings.
Comment by Erica — February 12, 2010 @ 6:36 pm
I disagree with that too — but I’ve come to understand that the “meat is murder” folk generally can’t be swayed with logical arguments, so perhaps we can agree to disagree here.
Comment by Siel — February 16, 2010 @ 5:14 pm