I want to start using more ecologically sound yarns, so I’m researching what’s available. Here’s a list of what I’ve found so far. All these yarns claim to be environmentally friendly and use minimal chemical processing on the yarn; those that are bolded are organic.
I’m limiting the list to yarns that I’m interested in knitting with, so it’s not comprehensive. If I didn’t like the look of it, I didn’t bother listing it.
Wool and mostly-wool
Heavier than worsted weight:
- O-Wool Classic. Bright colours, aran weight. Origin: unknown.
- Nature’s Palette Green Sheep Columbia Worsted 90% wool, 10% (non-organic?) mohair. 3-5 st/inch. Origin: Montana. Review.
- Thirteen Mile Yarns Bulky Weight. Natural colours. Origin: unknown.
- Tahki Montana. Undyed and low-impact dyes. 2.5st/inch.
Worsted weight:
- Cascade Eco Wool and Eco+. The former are undyed but come in a range of natural shades; the Eco+ are dyed with natural dyes. Origin: Peru. Review.
- Green Mountain Spinnery Wonderfully Woolly. 100% wool, various rich/jewel colours. Origin: USA (Vermont).
- Green Mountain Spinnery Yarn Over. “Wool with some mohair”. Muted tones. Origin: USA (Vermont).
- Green Mountain Spinnery Organic Yarns. Various weights (worsted, DK), natural colours. Origin: USA.
- O-Wool Balance. 50% wool, 50% cotton. Tweedy colours. Origin: unknown.
- Fleece Artist Organic Wool. Deep, variegated colours (dyes may not be organic? not sure!). Origin: unknown. Big 250g/500m skeins for $36.95.
- Lanica. Italian organic merino. Pale, natural colours. Spun/dyed in Europe, origin of fleece unknown (probably Australia).
Schoeller & Stahl Edelweiss. Natural undyed wool. Origin: Europe.
DK weight:
- Green Mountain Spinnery Cotton Comfort. 80% wool, 20% cotton. Origin: USA (Vermont).
- Green Mountain Spinnery Northern Lights. 100% wool, tweedy jewel tones. A bit expensive, but would be good for accessories. Origin: USA (Vermont).
- Green Mountain Spinnery Organic Yarns. Various weights (worsted, DK), natural colours. Origin: USA.
- Sirdar Eco-Wool. Natural colours. Origin unknown.
- Rowan Purelife. Plant dyes. Origin unknown.
Fingering weight:
- O-Wool 2-ply. Bright colours. Origin: unknown.
- Nature’s Palette Plant-dyed Merino Fingering. Rich, subtly-varigated colours. Origin: unknown.
- Zitron Trekking Pro Natura. 75% superwash wool, 25% bamboo. The bamboo replaces nylon for strength. This is not viscose-style bamboo “silk” made with caustic soda, but natural bamboo fibre used like hemp/linen/etc.
- Shetland 2000 undyed Shetland wool. Origin: Shetland Islands.
Cotton and mostly-cotton
Worsted weight:
- Estelle Cloud Cotton and Cloud Cotton Eco. 100% organic cotton. The former is dyed, and the latter is natural colours only. Origin unknown.
- Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton. Natural colours. Origin unknown.
- Lion Brand Organic Cotton. Natural colours. Origin unknown.
- Pakucho Certified Organic Cotton. Various natural shades, including ones you don’t see elsewhere – reddish browns, greens, etc. Origin: Peru. My favourite organic cotton I’ve seen so far. Review.
- Schulana Organic Plant-Dyed Cotton-Silk Natural. 80% organic cotton, 20% organic silk. Plant-dyed. Origin: unknown.
- Knitting Notions Organic Cotton Yarn. Natural colours. Inexpensive!
- See also O-Wool Balance, listed under wool above (50/50 wool/cotton).
DK:
- Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Organic and Skinny Dyed. Natural colours or low-impact dyes. Origin unknown.
- Blue Sky Alpacas Handspun Organic Cotton. Natural cream colour only. Origin unknown.
- Bernat Organic Cotton. Pale colours. Origin unknown.
Laceweight:
- Eco-Rainbow Lace Organic Cotton Yarn. Many colours. Origin: India and Africa (spun in Europe). I include this one mostly for novelty, not because I expect to want to knit with laceweight cotton.
Other
Worsted weight:
- Zitron Cambio. 50% merino, 50% alpaca. Natural, undyed.
DK weight:
- Green Mountain Spinnery Alpaca Elegance. 50% alpaca, 50% wool. Natural colours only. Origin: USA (Vermont).
- Vintage 2006 Limited Edition DK Alpaca Yarn . 100% alpaca. Natural colours. Origin: USA
Sport weight:
- Organic Hemp. Many colours including brights and self-striping. Low impact (but not organic) dyes. Origin: Romania.
- Elann Canapone sportweight hemp.
Environmentally friendly yarn producers and suppliers
USA and Canada:
- Full Belly Farm is in Northern California (local to me!) and has worsted(?) weight yarn from their sheep. Call for details.
- Green Mountain Spinnery, Vermont USA. Yarn origin: all from USA; wool from New England.
- Marr Haven Wool Farm, Michigan USA. Worsted and sport weight yarns, undyed in natural/light grey/medium grey and some heather tones. 16oz cones $34.
- Midnight Sky Fibers makes naturally dyed yarns and fibre for spinning. Mostly sock yarn, and the colours are too pale for my taste, but they might appeal to others. $35/800yds.
- EcoButterfly has a lot of organic and vegan-friendly yarns.
- Vermont Organic Fiber also sells fabrics for sewing, and blankets.
- Treliske Organic. New Zealand based. Natural colours.
- Mosaic Moon has various organic and environmentally-friendly yarns.
- Tierra Wools are a weaver/spinner/grower-owned company from New Mexico and have various organic, naturally dyed yarns.
- Shadyside Farm, Pennsylvania, USA.
- hempforknitting — allhemp6 etc.
- Lorna’s Laces Green Line is a collection of eco-friendly wools.
Australia and NZ:
- Alleco.com.au have a number of organic and environmentally friendly yarns, mostly Australian.
- Australian Organic Wools sells WOOLganic yarn.
UK and Europe:
- Nature Song Yarns sell a range of organic and environmentally-friendly yarns.
- Certified Organic Wool Yarn from the UK sells a range of … what the name says.
- Cornish Organic Wool, Cornwall, UK.
