Green Options

Thirteen Mile Farm is located in big sky country in Belgrade, Montana. Here you’ll find about 100 sheep being raised on a farm that looks out for the environmental concerns of its livestock and the land.

Owned and operated by Becky Weed and Dave Tyler, this pair are still learning ways to green up their farm but currently practice crop and animal rotation, use plants instead of chemicals for fertilizers and never use antibiotics or hormones in their sheep. They are certified organic by the USDA
and have a Predatory Friendly certification as well. That means they do not use lethal methods to deter predators. This is especially crucial in areas such as Montana and other farming states where important predators are on the come back, such as wolves.

While these are great and wonderful points about the farm, we’re here for the yarn!

Can great yarn come from pampered sheep? If those sheep are loved, cared for, and are able to graze safely. If they are never separated from their friends and families. If they are never sold, given away or eaten, then for Homestead Wool the answer is yes.

Located in Monroe, Wisconsin, Homestead boasts a healthy and happy flock of 92 sheep and a couple of alpacas and great pyrenees that help protect the sheep. Homestead takes great pride in the care of their flock. Their happiness and good care is their utmost concern.

All of the fiber from the sheep is washed and dyed on the farm. Most of it ends up for sale after being carded. All of their yarn is handspun on the farm and comes in a variety of weights including single-ply and double-ply.

I realize that we are now two whole days into the new year, but forgive me while I take a moment and look back on 2008 in yarn. Just like all the fabulous fabric that we’ve found over the past year, our yearning for eco-friendly yarns has taken us far and wide with much much more to come. So, check this space for more earth conscious yarns in ‘09.

We’ve found some true gems in fiber form in 2008. We learned about frogging, that big box stores do carry organic yarns, and that you can make yarn out of old grocery bags.

We also took a hard look at stash busting, consumerism and found the first yarn co-op. But the biggest thing we’ve found in 2008 is the seemingly endless supply of eco-yarns perfect for anyone’s taste, budget and earth conscious level.

Nothing softens the chill of cold weather like wrapping up in a warm, wooly scarf. This season’s best eco picks are cleverly embellished with flora-inspired prints, natural buttons and exquisite lacy detail. Organic cotton is a choice material as well as ultra-soft light weight organic alpaca.

1. Alena Hennessy
Organic cotton adorned with queen anne’s lace using earth friendly ink, $34 at  www.alenahennessy.com

I came across Ethical Twist quite randomly while flipping through a knitting magazine. After that, the rest was history. I became charmed by their yarn and easy way of explaining their eco-practices; right down to the farmers that raise the sheep and right back up to their packaging.

They offer a 70/30 blend of organic wool and alpaca that comes in a natural range of colors. No dye is used and the fleece is what dictates the color outcome. While there is no color modification, that doesn’t mean the colors suffer. Natural, Oatmeal, Camel, Slate and Mink are quite lovely and rich.

They also offer a line perfect for knitting up baby wear. It is 85% organic wool and 15% baby alpaca. It only comes in cream, but the baby alpaca helps make it all the more hugable.

“The philosophy behind the Mirasol Project is very simple, the Mirasol Project supports local communities in Peru through the sales of the Mirasol Yarn Collection.”

As said from their website, the Mirasol Project has a simple philosophy with a lofty goal. Named after a girl that tends alpacas high in the Andes in Peru, the Mirasol Project was created to help and sustain the highland community.

With a percentage of every sale of Mirasol yarn, the project is investing back into the community and helping to build a boarding house that will focus on the health and well being of children. The house will provide the community’s children a place to attend school and eat nutritional meals.

The yarns found in the Mirasol Yarn Collection are a wonderful blend of alpaca, merino and cotton. The collection also holds a wonderful organic cotton called Samp’a.

Indigenous Designs minimizes the impact to our environment through the development and use of the finest natural fiber blends, yarns and dyes to produce children’s, women’s and men’s clothing. Expect alpaca, organic cotton, silk, Tencel®, and wool materials. Also find accessories, — like totes and caps.

KusiKuy Clothing Company is so much more than its name implies. KusiKuy was founded in 1997 by Tamara Stenn, a Peace Corps Volunteer who was inspired by the idea of fair trade and what it meant for local indigenous populations.

KusiKuy specializes in warm alpaca yarn from Bolivia. All of their yarns are hand spun and made from the fibers of the alpaca which remote, nomadic communities tend. Their company is culturally sensitive and respects the culture and ceremony of the animals that these communities keep.

They sell a wide range of weights of the yarn, which is a strong, durable fiber, perfect for the Bolivian climate and indigenous to the area. It comes in over 25 different natural colors, perfect for accessories and socks. KusiKuy does not sell their yarn to yarn stores, and instead caters to the home crafter and small business crafter. Many socks and hats are created from their yarn.

It is hard to talk about stuffing and not talk about batting. They are practically the same material, except the former is loose and used for pillows and plushes and the later is formed into flat layers perfect for quilting.

Like the world of plushes and softies, quilting is another craft that I have been keeping an eye on, but have yet to fully try out. The concept seems easy enough, but I’ve never been very patient and can’t quite get the whole measure twice, cut once, thing down. A friend of mine recently made me a quilt and I am in awe of the time and talent that she put into it.

Quilting is definitely on the move in the crafting world and quickly becoming the hip craft to do. The exploding popularity of Amy Butler and Denyse Schmidt have propelled this craft into the lime light and it is easy to see why.

Bright colors and unnaturally stretchy fibers are nice, but there are times when you just want to go back to the “classics.” Sourced from Wiltshire, Devon, Somerset and surrounding counties in Britain, Farm Yarns spins some of the most exceptional alpaca and organic wool yarn available anywhere.

“The yarn was developed with the idea to offer a yarn that comes in colours as you find it on the animal on the farm,” says the Farm Yarn website.

What’s so great about alpaca? If you’ve ever used it, you wouldn’t be asking that question. Unspeakably comfortable and versatile, Farm Yarns uses baby alpaca wool - “it is warmer than wool, but has a soft feel like silk,” they say. Naturally available in over 20 shades, baby alpaca wool is not actually from baby alpacas. “It is not a description of the age of the alpaca itself, rather a term that describes the finess of the alpaca wool.”

Organic yarns have been the majority of the fibers featured in our Yearn-Worthy Yarns series thus far. For this week’s installment, we are covering another vital element of green living and sustainable production - fair trade.

Wikipedia explains fair trade quite clearly as “an organized social movement and market-based approach to alleviating global poverty and promoting sustainability. The movement promotes the payment of a fair price as well as social and environmental standards in areas related to the production.” Based in Oneonta, New York, the Da’vida Fair Trade Store sells its own line of hand painted and hand spun yarns made from alpaca, wool and yak fibers.

Painted by Lisa Meriam, a sheep farmer who lives in upstate New York, Da’vida’s collection of yarns come uncolored from Uruguay, Bolivia and Peru.