Green Options

Located in the Pacific Northwest, Midnightsky Fibers is a great little yarn and fiber company that offers a variety of eco-friendly yarns and fibers.

From wool and wool blends to soysilk yarns, Midnightsky offers hand spun and hand dyed yarns and fibers. Special emphasis is placed on wool and wool blends with all natural and environmentally-friendly fibers used in the blends.

All of their yarns and fibers are available in their natural state, dyed, or hand painted, in addition to a number of fiber clubs and sock yarn clubs. They source their yarns and fibers from other small companies committed to supporting small artists and environmental issues.

No matter the project you’re working on there are always scraps. Scraps of paper, scraps of fabric, scraps of yarn; you name the craft and you got yourself scraps. Where do most of your scraps end up?

Well not these scraps.

2nd Time Cotton is a yarn that is made from cotton scraps from the garment industry. Composed of 75% reclaimed cotton and 25% acrylic, the cotton is bright, fun and most importantly it gets the scraps off the cutting room floor and into your crafty hands. Just think, with each skein of this yarn, you are helping divert the destined for landfill cotton, into a new life as hat, mitten, scarf or sweater.

If you’ve ever wondered what Churro wool was, then look no further than Tierra Wools. Complete with a full history of the breed of sheep, Tierra Wools also offers all of their Churro yarn and other wools as certified organic.

For the curious amongst you, Churro sheep were introduced to the New World because of their hardiness and adaptability to the new climate. They are an old breed dating back to the 1500’s. They were adopted by the Navajo and Pueblo Indian Tribes, soon after their journey.

Their fiber is similar to that of merino, but was eventually found to be secondary to other breeds and their stock was rapidly diminished. Today, it is rare to find pure bred Churros because they had been pushed to the brink of extinction, for many reasons. Largely found in the Southwestern part of the U.S. their fiber carries a luster not found in other wools. It has less lanolin then other wools as well and popular among spinners because of this.

I’m not entirely convinced that this yarn is yearn worthy, but it certainly has earned a mention. Yes my friends, you can have your dog’s hair spun into usable/workable skeins of yarn. Not only is it a seemingly sustainable source of fiber, it is also taking “waste” and turning it into something usable.

This yarn starts with a simple grooming. Just brush your dog and save up the softer hair. The hairs best for spinning are those found along your dog’s flank, sides and shoulders. Depending on the project you might have in mind for your dog yarn, you’ll need to collect between 4 to 48 ounces of fiber.

While this years wedding season is just winding down, it’s not too early to be thinking of next year’s, especially if you are going to make your own dress or one for a friend. Many wedding dresses are made from luxury materials such as silk.

Denise Bird Woven Textiles offers hand loom woven wild and peace silk fabrics. If you recall, peace silk is a silk sourced from the cocoon of silk worms that emerge from their cocoons naturally. It is animal friendly and cruelty free silk.

Denise Bird uses a specific breed of silk worm only found in the state of Assam in India. The cocoons are collected from the forest floor by local communities who wind the fiber by hand and then weave it into cloth.

If you’re a frequent reader of Crafting a Green World, you know that there are several different levels of eco-friendly awareness out in the world. There are companies and individuals that are uber green and then there are those who are just starting to make changes with the environment in mind.

That’s why we like Ceallach Dyes. Committed to reducing their carbon footprint they dye all of their yarns and fibers using solar energy. They use no consumable fuel sources to set the dyes and only dye their yarns at the most sunniest times of the year.

They offer a wide variety of yarn weights from lace to worsted and a range of fiber from wool, cotton and superwash merino. They also solar dye fiber for you spinners out there, from wool to superwash merino, too.

If you live in a city (or even the ‘burbs) and are touched with a fiber obsession, the thought of packing it up and moving to a farm to raise your own sheep is not too often in the back of your mind. It sounds so romantic doesn’t it? Tending your own flock, shearing and preparing the fiber for spinning. Spinning, then dying the yarn, then knitting with your creation, knowing everything that went into the process.

Has reality set in yet? Kids, job, partner, just doesn’t equal farm bliss. Well listen up and take heed. You can now, partially, live out your dream of running away to tend sheep with a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share from Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm.

With a share in the Farm you buy into the Farm and have a stake in its success. The goal is to have yarn or bats for spinning at the end of the process, but you get so much more. You have access to Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm’s blog, where there are updates on the farm’s goings on. A weekly email update, invites to shearing parties and a chance to visit the farm and help out. This is after all, part your farm!

In amongst the hand bound books made from mostly recycled materials, you will find some wonderful yarn by Miss Hawklet, made with what she calls “animal friendly” fibers.

All of the yarn found in Miss Hawklet’s shop is hand spun and hand dyed by the proprietor herself, Holly Klump. She offers a wide variety of fibers, perfect for those who like to knit with animal fibers and vegans alike.

Animal fibers that make up the hand spun yarns are obtained from a wide variety of sources that you can feel good about. Wool and mohair, come from a small rescue farm in Wisconsin, sans chemicals or bleach, or from rescued “mill ends,” the waste fiber that factories throw out. Miss Hawklet also sources wool from a farm in the Falkland Islands, which she has a good relationship with and feels comfortable with how they treat their animals and how the fiber is processed.

Inspired by Skye’s look back at all the Fabulous Fabrics she’s found in the past six months, I figured it was time to do the same with yarn.

The diversity of fiber that is available to use for spinning, knitting, crochet and a myriad of other purposes is quite heartening. The fact that so many eco-friendly yarns exist is simply amazing.

Many yarns come from animal fibers, while others are made from unusual materials that can be spun. I’ve found companies spinning yarn with big hearts and big companies finding it profitable to “go green.”

It seems almost impossible now a days to not have access to an eco-friendly yarn. So, after the jump, please enjoy this round up of Yearn Worthy Yarn.

Don’t forget! The next Carnival of Green Crafts will be August 9th at BlogHer. Send in your submissions now.

It’s not often that you come across a different type of fiber found in your yarn. There are only so many animal (alpaca, bison, musk ox, etc.) and plant (linen, cotton, etc.) based yarns. So I was pleasantly surprised when I happened upon tencel.

Tencel is made from wood pulp that is spun down to make the fiber. The process boasts environmental claims as the pulp that is harvested comes from tree farms that are continuously replanted and the spinning process uses non-toxic solvents.

Ah silk. It is such a luxurious fiber; cool and soft to the touch. It has an unmistakable feel that you always know when something is made of silk.

To become the silk that we know and love, this fiber has a very interesting story.

Silk comes from the cocoon of the Bombyx moth. Before turning into a moth the Bombyx caterpillar spins itself a cocoon of 1000 yards of silky fiber to house itself during the transformation. The caterpillar secretes a substance that is a thin but strong strand of fiber, which is what we know as silk.