Organic or Feel-good yarn?

[BluesForCP]

I'd like to make a vegan friend of mine a hat from some peace-nik, organic or fair-trade, cruelty-free yarn.

 

Know any good brand? A good online store?

 

No wool, please.

[xantha]

what about soysilk or bamboo yarns?

 

Check out South West Trading Company. Really great yarns. The soysilk is made from tofu production waste and the bamboo is from bamboo. THey have a wnoderful sheen and great texture. Their websites lists vendors that carry their yarns if you click on the "Local Yarn Store" link.

 

[Too bad you don't want wool -- Peace Fleece would be an option if you did.]

[xantha]

oh! other options:

 

Pakucho Organic Cotton (elann has it for $3/hank)

 

Blue Sky Organic Cotton (on sale at Knit Happens currently)

 

HTH!

[xantha]

I always forget that Classic Elite make a bamboo yarn as well:

 

webs has is

 

 

Alchemy also make a 100% bamboo yarn:

 

Knit Happens has it on sale (it is still quite pricey)

[natalie058]

There's also FoxFibre Colorganic cotton, which comes on cones. This eBay seller has some available... It's becoming more and more hard to find but I think it's a pretty nice yarn. Not as soft as Blue Sky or Pakucho cotton, though.

[jacqui]

No wool okay what about other animal fibres or is she totally plant fibres ? I was going to suggest dog hair or chiengora as its called there. If shes against cruelty you can brush the dog or collect the shedding hair and have it spun for her.

[francesca]

Here are a couple of options:

 

The Wool Peddler offers recycled cotton/rayon yarn that is also fair trade, made by Tibetan refugees in Nepal--so it's PC on like 3 different levels! Scroll down to Kathmandu Vegan. I've had very good experiences with this online shop (even started a thread about it somewhere in here!)

 

The Hunger Site offers Alpaca yarn. Not only is the yarn fair-trade & cruelty-free, the proceeds go to help the hungry worldwide.

 

What a great idea! Lucky friend!

[natalie058]

Hemp is another option... it's generally grown in 3rd world countries w/o pesticides... since it grows like a weed... ahem...

 

I'm not sure about the source of this hemp yarn, but I can tell you it is quite nice to work with and makes a soft finished product.

[luckygrrl]

No wool okay what about other animal fibres or is she totally plant fibres ? I was going to suggest dog hair or chiengora as its called there. If shes against cruelty you can brush the dog or collect the shedding hair and have it spun for her.

 

If her friend is vegan, then only plant fibers. Vegans (at least strict ones) don't use any animal products of any kind, including wool, lanolin, angora, silk, etc. Though I imagine if it was from someone's own brushed pet or cat (I read somewhere on LiveJournal about someone crocheting or knitting something from her long-haired cat's hair), that might not be a problem. (At least, it wouldn't have been for me when I was vegan. )

[xantha]

If her friend is vegan, then only plant fibers. Vegans (at least strict ones) don't use any animal products of any kind, including wool, lanolin, angora, silk, etc.

 

That really depends. I have a bunch of vegan friends who -- since sheep/llama/goats/dogs/bunnies don't have to be harmed or killed in the process of getting their fur (unlike for something like leather), they allow it IF they know that the animal was not mistreated during the process. These friends won't buy wool yarn from anyone unless they know the actual source of the wool and can verify that the animals were not mistreated -- which means they mostly buy at the wool festivals, where they can see some of the animals and meet the farmers.