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Amy O'Neill Houck of The Hook and I has an extensive write up dispelling many myths on eco-friendly yarn, while giving us really great solutions and ideas. or instance, I had no idea that Bamboo yarn, a popular "green" fiber is most commonly chemically processed like rayon.
Her tips on our most commonly used fiber, wool are informatiive and fantastic. Amy writes:
1) Wool. Wool has to be everyone's favorite knitting and crochet fiber. And for good reason, it has bounce and resilience, it is water resistant, and it keeps us warm. But raising farm animals uses a lot of energy. How can you use wool in an environmentally friendly way?Pictured above is O-Wool yarn. To read more about Eco-friendly yarn, visit Amy's blog at The Hook and I. Link.* Find a local producer--if you're buying yarn from a local farm where its spun and dyed there, or you have a boutique mill in your area that processes wool from throughout your region, use it. You'll be saving on lots of energy it takes to move yarn from wool gatherer to manufacturer, to distributor, to retailer. You'll also be supporting your local economy.
* Use organic wool. Organic farmers and processors think about environmental impact of their work from sheep to skein. They don't use chemicals on the feed they give their sheep, they don't treat the sheep or the wool with harsh chemcicals. Consider the O-Wool or Thirteen Mile Lamb and Wool.
