...wool

[lisaekh]

I remember a few years back there was an article in Crochet World about making yarn from pet hair. Even had a pattern for a hat made from the pet hair yarn! The animals shed the hair, so it wouldn't be stealing from them. Even if you brush them, it is healthy for their skin - so again, not doing anything harmful to the animal. I wonder if the hair was from the right breed if it would even felt??? If anyone's interested, I can look up the exact issue!

 

Lisa

[Vickietoria]

I have a quick question about wool. I got a lot of yarn from a yard sale recently, and it's all different kinds; baby, worsted weight, and this thick stuff, that might be wool? I've never worked with wool, and since there's no tag on it, I have no idea what it is. I heard once that if you burn a little of the yarn, if it looks a certain way, then you can tell it's wool. Is this right? How can you tell by looking (feeling) yarn if it is wool or not? Thanks!

[Ga_Rebel]

The thick yarn may be just bulky weight yarn. Can you post a picture? I have like 8 skeins of wool(still thinking of a pattern for it) and its worsted weight.

[Wendy79]

This info is according to the book KNITTING RULES! by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. She has a chart with the burn-behavior of several different fibers. For wool, she says: doesn't shrink away from flame; smells like burning hair or feathers; flame is difficult to keep going (goes out if removed from fire); ash is gummy or crumbly.

 

The easiest way to tell apart wool and acrylic is the shrinking and the smell. If it's a wool-acrylic blend, you'll notice aspects of both.

 

She also recommends cutting off a couple of inches, and trying to "felt" it at the sink. 100% wool will be "sticky".

[CraftyShannon]

When I was in a college class, we did a burn test on fabrics to determine if they were natural or synthetic materials. If they burned quickly and had a chemical smell, they were synthetic. If they burned slower and had a more natural smell (more like burnt paper or something you know is a natural substance) then it was natural. I'm sure you could do the same tests with yarn as well.

 

If you try this, I would do this over the sink and use tongs to hold the yarn. Manmade fibers can burn very quickly and it can be very easy to burn yourself if the fibers burn faster than you expect them to.

[Cathy W]

When I was in a college class, we did a burn test on fabrics to determine if they were natural or synthetic materials. If they burned quickly and had a chemical smell, they were synthetic. If they burned slower and had a more natural smell (more like burnt paper or something you know is a natural substance) then it was natural. I'm sure you could do the same tests with yarn as well.

 

If you try this, I would do this over the sink and use tongs to hold the yarn. Manmade fibers can burn very quickly and it can be very easy to burn yourself if the fibers burn faster than you expect them to.

 

You absolutely can do this with yarn. There's some instructions at http://www.fabriclink.com/Burntest.html

[badrhinogillett]

Not sure what you mean by a substitute. If you are wanting something that will felt, I think you are out of luck. If you are wanting something for warmth, then people have made some nice suggestions for you.

 

Also, I don't recall you asking for people's opinion on your lifestyle choice. It's certainly yours to make. You didn't tell people that their non-vegan lifestyle was wrong, so I'm not sure why people are feeling the need to disagree with you. If this is a lifestyle that makes you happy, good for you. Don't defend it. It's no one's business.

[Yelutci]

To each her/his own but if you are environmentally minded and animal friendly I think its important to support people and industries that match your ideology. Find a small family run company that produces lovingly reared wool and spend your money there. Many families treat there livestock kindly with greater care than others treat humans. You are savvy enough to know how to look for eco-friendly companies for the bamboo and other fibers. Frogging thrift store finds is also a great alternative, and much cheaper.

[birdlady1]

Ok I'm a vegan like to the extreme I don't eat meat I eat honey I dont eat any thing with dairy in it and I don't use any thing that is an animal biproduct wool, leather, etc. so I was wondering what are some alternatives to wool?

 

I just came across some nice yarn that might be acceptable to vegans everywhere. I saw it on the www.yarn.com site.

 

Knitting Yarns

Wick from Knit One Crochet Too

 

This is a wonderful vegetable fiber that is made from tofu manufacturing waste. This blend developed by K1C2 will knit up nicely and create lightweight, cool feeling garments. We envision tanks, camis and fun summer sweaters.

Content: 53% soy/47% polypropylene

Weight/Yardage: 50 Grams/120 yards/skein

Gauge: 5 sts=1†on #8 needle

Knitting Weight: Worsted

Price: $7.00/skein, discountable

[Melissa]

Others view any use of wool as stealing from the sheep.

 

:laughrollOh, dear. That reminds me of a girl I knew in high school, who honestly felt we should just tear down the fences and - and I quote: "let the cows run free."

 

Back on topic, at this point in human history, it's simply too late for that. Yes, once dogs were perfectly capable of grooming themselves in the wild, but by now - a poodle in the wild = one unhappy doggie. Humans and animals have formed symbiotic relationships with each other, many types and breeds of animals are simply unable to live comfortably without human assistance. We could always stop breeding them and let them die out - unless that would be cruel? I never know what people have strong opinions on.

 

You can choose to be an environmentally concerned consumer: know where your fiber is coming from, choose to sponsor manufacturers who employ environmentally friendly and humane methods. Or, (and I'm being totally serious here) you can plant cotton in your back yard and make your own yarn. I've seen people get their own angora bunnies that they love and take care of, and save the fur from grooming to make some very nice yarn.

[TamKing]

I just came across some interesting information about acrylic yarn in my CGOA manual.

There are basically two types of man-made fibers:

Cellulosic fibers - which come from soft-wood trees. This would be fibers like rayon and acetate.

Non-cellulosic fibers - which come mostly from petroleum and natural gas. (it's very scientific lol) Anyway, the acrylic yarn we use is made this way.

 

So like someone said in an earlier post - every yarn we use has some impact on the environment.

Me? I'm vegetarian, too but I prefer wool. And that's my

[downwithapathy]

I haven't read the entire thread, but I want to offer my thoughts. I'm surprised I even need to make this post in a thread that began as a yarn question. Oh well, let me do my thing. Sorry for diggin' up the past.

 

As a vegan, I do not support the breeding of animals for human use. I know I'm asking for a verbal beating here, so please just understand that I am not someone who goes around "forcing my views" on others. I'm not looking for a debate or trying to change people. I just want to clarify the vegan ethic because I don't think it's adequately understood. I'm a nice person who will never comment on others' choice of animal fibers, etc. If I were a stronger person, I might, but I just want understanding. I like to get along with people, ya know.

 

Okay. So, shearing sheep... yay. If I took in sheep, I probably would shear them and give the wool away to people who would otherwise buy it (I've a dream of doing this with rescued hens and eggs). What I oppose is breeding sheep for the purpose of giving wool and meat to humans. A few of these sheep, I'm sure do live decent lives. ...but I'm also sure there are still sheep factory farms and breeding operations, churning out unhappy sheep to feed our desires for wool and leg of lamb. Furthermore, the vast majority of wool-producing sheep are eventually sent to slaughter. Some think it's adequate to just go for organic wool. That's their choice. I would advocate going a step further and only acquiring wool from farms you can visit (if possible) and asking if the sheep are allowed to live out their natural lives. I choose the step beyond that. I do not need wool. I do not like sending the message that breeding other sentient creatures' (with wills of their own) for our use and abuse is okay. Therefore, I do not buy wool. ...and that's okay with me. That's how I choose to vote with my dollars.

 

Yes, there are environmental concerns with all aspects of human existence. Acrylic is plastic and conventionally-grown cotton uses lots of pesticides. Sheep, being animals, pollute land and water with their waste. Using animals actually uses more plants than sticking to plants, as plants have to be grown to feed the animals. In that way, vegetarians actually use less plant crop land than meat-eaters. That's just how it is. We can argue that vegans are crazy for choosing acrylic over wool, but it just isn't that simple. Environmentalism and veganism often go together... but veganism in itself is a boycott of animal agriculture. I'm a crochet beginner and I'm using acrylic (spun in countries with more adequate labor regulations) because it's cheap and I'm not good yet. I probably prefer natural fibers, but some of us are on a budget. I've weighed my options and acrylic beats wool in my priorities. Your priorities may be different. No big deal, right?

 

I'm surprised the "tear down the fences and let cows go free" argument even comes up. That's dumb. Take care of the animals we have and don't breed more intentionally for our use and abuse. That's the vegan ethic. Disagree if you want. I just want to clarify. I like kindness and understanding. I don't like conversations I have to try to win. I'd rather go look for crochet patterns. Hurray!!!!!!

 

As for yarn, I hear soy yarn felts. I'm a big ol' newb, though. It's not like I've tried this.

[monkeybabies]

Hello all...

This discussion reminded me of a Stash and Burn podcast. They talked about a store in San Fransico that is called Art Fibers. Anyhoo, they carry this cool silk called Tussah silk. They explain that it is a more eco way of harvesting the silk.

"(Yarn)... is made from tussah silk, harvested from cocoons that have already been left by the moth. Because such cocoons have a hole in them, they produce shorter fibers that are considered to be less valuable. We find it to be one of the best silks because the shorter fibers produce a slight fuzziness that adds to the softness, at the same time adding a halo of light."

 

http://www.artfibers.com/yarnproduct.php?pd=6080&fb=3&np=4&cs=0

 

I found this fascinating. Check out their website, they have a lot of cool yarns.

[monkeybabies]

Oh....now this is interesting. This link was posted today in the Yarn Harlot's blog. I had no idea.

http://www.pan-uk.org/Publications/Briefing/sheepdip.htm

[k and c]

For a crocheter who would like to avoid animal products and support organic agriculture, Lion Brand has Organic Cotton and Nature's Organic Cotton(heavier and nubbier) which work fairly easily-their website has some free patterns as well. I try to eat as organically as possible; these products help me carry that lifestyle preference over to my lifelong obsession- knitting and crocheting.

[pryor208]

Sorry I haven't read the whole thread, just the first page, but I had the thought that maybe you could do some recycling of yarn from sweater bought in thrift stores. Whatever the type of yarn, you are using something that isn't new and so you are not buying new yarn to benefit the industry if you don't want to. Plus it's just a good thing to reuse if you can.

[Angeleyz14]

Check out the book No sheep for you by Amy R. Singer

I was able to get it from my local library. It gives you the various different types of yarn, what they are good for and how they are made.

It has a lot of good information.

I also agree with checking out Southwest Trading Company at www.soysilk.com

earthfriendly yarns would be another good site

and there are several others I can't think of off the top of my head

and you can also check out www.yarnmarket.com once you find a yarn you like, they might have it at a better/more reasonable price.