Green Options

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My pick for a sustainable, green, yearn worthy-ness yarn for this week is a plant fiber. Yup plant, not animal like yak or quivit or just plain old sheep.

This week I’ve been hunting down linen.

Linen is that elusive fiber that I sometimes come across in interesting summertime knitting patterns for open weave shirts, tunics and shawls. I always make a mental note of it, thinking, huh linen. But I’ve never actually made anything with it.

Linen itself is harvested from the flax plant which produces long and strong fibers known as linen. It has a natural luster and is found in creamy white to tan and can easily be dyed other colors. It is mostly known for bedding and towels made from the strong fabric that is created when the linen is woven.

 If you are looking for a yarn store online that will check all the eco approved boxes, this is it! Knit For Brains  (a name that makes me giggle) carries all natural fiber yarns that are not only made of yummy fibers such as soy, corn, banana, milk, organic cotton and bamboo but they are all cruelty free or %100 vegan.  Being that I had never crocheted with a yarn so edible and luxurious I had to order some soy and banana fiber yarns from them. You’re not really supposed to eat this stuff (even though half of them are also names of stir fry ingredients), but my kitty did think the soy was delicious and slurped some of it up like spaghetti!

Corn, soy and bamboo are all very similar in texture and feel, being very smooth, silky and soft. The soy was totally easy to work with, in fact it was like a crochet dream come true - it never got caught on the hook like the funky acrylics do, it pulled through so easy my project went twice as fast, and the end product was soft and pretty.  I didn’t get to try my banana fiber yarn yet, but the texture is really fascinating - it looks a little wild, frayed and fun…could possibly get caught on the hook?

We’ve already covered the mysteries of fusing plastic, but did you also know that you can knit with it too?! To continue my what to do with my overflowing bag of plastic bags kick, here is a quick tutorial on making your own plastic yarn or “plarn.”

1) Gather your bags. I separated mine by color, but why not go crazy and mix and match?

2) Start by cutting off the handles and the bottom of the bag. The result will be a nice smooth rectangle, as the bottom gatherings will have been removed.

It warms my heart when I come across a company that touches all aspects of the triple bottom line - financial, social and environmental. It really gets my blood pumping when that company produces yummy yarns.

Created by Nadine Storyk Curtis, Be Sweet is one such company that has all those lines covered. While living in South Africa, Curtis became enamored with the local craftspeople and wanted to share in their creativity and resourcefulness.

Working with a rural South African community, Be Sweet offers over 15 different yarns that are hand spun and dyed by women who work within a job creation program. All of Be Sweet’s yarns are made from natural fibers and most are created from using leftover yarn tid-bits and environmentally friendly fibers like bamboo.

Similar to Hope Spinnery in Maine that I featured a few weeks ago, Green Mountain Spinnery in Vermont creates their own yarn from United States-grown fibers (specifically alpaca, mohair, wool and organic cotton).

“Our mission is to produce and sell high quality yarns from natural fibers and design classic Vermont patterns. Transforming the many types of raw fibers into luxurious and long lasting yarn. The Green Mountain Spinnery helps to sustain regional sheep farming, and to develop environmentally sound ways to process natural fibers,” says their website.

Using vintage equipment, Green Mountain Spinnery creates yarns that take any project from plain to prodigious. Also similar to Hope Spinnery, GMS will spin yarns from fibers that you provide as well. The company has also released its own book of patterns, called The Green Mountain Spinnery Knitting Book, featuring “30 of their best loved contemporary and classic patterns.”

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.”

Nestled in the peaceful beach bordering countryside of southern Maine, you’ll find one of the most sustainable yarn companies on the planet. Unexpected, no?

Hope Spinnery has prided itself on being as eco-friendly as possible: the fiber processing mill is run completely on wind power captured on-site; all fibers are purchased locally from sustainably-dedicated Maine farms; only Earth-friendly soaps and natural dyes are used on the yarns; by-products from the spinning process are reused elsewhere at the mini-factory.

The company’s yarn, made from mostly wool and alpaca, are available by skein and in 6 different patterns kits (5 hats and 1 mitten pattern to choose from). Hope Spinnery recently launched their online store, so you can see the stock they have right away and choose the color and fiber that would be perfect for your next project.

Often the second banana to the world of knitting, crochet is steadily gaining more followers thanks to just how easy it is to pick up the hobby. Instead of using two needles, all you need is a ball of yarn and a crochet hook to create everything from toys and toaster covers to sweaters and stylish accessories.

For the first book on our Top 5 Must-Have DIY Crochet Tomes list, most knitters will recognize Debbie Stoller as the editor-in-chief of Bust Magazine and the writer of all three Stitch ‘N Bitch books. Crafters were both surprised and delighted when she released Stitch ‘N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker in 2006.

Similar to her first Stitch ‘N Bitch book about knitting, The Happy Hooker is an introduction to the history and process of crochet as well as a kick-ass pattern book. Whether you are an experienced knitter or new to fiber crafts all together, The Happy Hooker is the perfect first crochet book for everyone.

Crochet shares some similarities with knitting. One major likeness is that the more you know, the more likely you are to make a mistake. No crocheters’ bookshelf would be complete without The Crochet Answer Book: Solutions to Every Problem You’ll Ever Face; Answers to Every Question You’ll Ever Ask by Edie Eckman.

With line illustration, charts, details on tools, specific techniques, standard crochet abbreviations, common crochet terms and phrases, standard body measurements and sizing, suggested sizes for accessories and household items, and yarn care symbols; this is the only book you will need when your loops and hooks don’t look right.

Answers to detailed questions about all aspects of crochet is the feature element of the book, with chapters on gauge, circles, edges, and finishing. Thanks to Edie’s support, you will feel more confident to progress into more detailed crochet patterns and projects.

Internationally known for their knitting books, seasonal pattern magazines and luxurious wool yarns, England’s Rowan Yarns has finally ventured into the world of sustainable fibers. Available in DK/light worsted weight, Rowan’s 100% organic cotton PureLife yarn is already winning over crafters.

“Our organically grown naturally dyed yarn is colored with plant dyes and due to their organic nature some shade variation will simply add to the yarn’s unique inherent beauty,” says the Rowan website.

Along with the release of the eight-shade color palate, Rowan has released a pattern brochure with 18 designs just for their PureLife yarn (10 for women, 4 for men, 4 for girls).

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.

As the sweaty days and humid nights of Summer wane away, the changing leaves and cooler breezes of Autumn will soon be upon us. It’s time to bring out the jeans, blankets, sweaters, and all our other favorite layers as the temperatures become more unpredictable than ever. To add a little variety to your seasonal accoutrements, a few stitches can make all the difference. By adding a bit of knitting or

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