Wool problem.

[Sabriel]

I have recently taken up crochet and I'm starting to get good enough to make some trendy clothes. I have a book with lots of nice cool looking patterns but I'd say 75% of patterns call for wool.

Though I have had success subbing acrylic for wool in some patterns anyone who's picked up a ball of Red Heart yarn and rubbed in on thier skin knows it's not all that nice to wear. Great for purses and hats and the like, but not so great for sweaters and such.

I have a pattern I'd really like to make in something soft, and I tried to do the stitch (crossed dc) in some high end cotton but it's just not looking as nice as the picture done in wool. I think the cotton is too crisp. Wool is a bit fuzzier.

I know we have a couple crafty people on the board. Anyone have any suggstions for a) a brand or line of acrylic or plant based yarns that is fuzzy and soft like wool or b) a line of cruelty free wool. I've been googling for the latter with not much success. I am sure there is something out there, I'm just not finding it. I would love to support a company that produces humane wool.

Or if anyone knows of someone with a pet sheep in Ontario I would be very interested in buying some raw wool and working it myself. I have a friend who used to have a sheep, but the poor sheep passed on. I am sure other people keep them as pets.

[fairysari]

Ok, you NEED to go to Romni Wool on Queen St. JUst go in there and ask someone and I'm sure they'll be able to help you. They have semi-raw wool in the basement I think. Or I could be imagining it. I think they have bison or buffalo wool too.

Also try Lettuce Knit in Kensington Market, I think it's on Nassau. They carry Mission Falls (or at least used to) and their 1824 cotton might work for you. I don't know if their wool is cruelty free or not, but they say their wool and cotton are interchangeable in patterns.

I have a ton of knitting magazines that are full of adds for yarn and stuff, I'll have a look to see if I can find anything in them. Or just pick up a knitting or crochet magazine and have a look at the adds. There are so many things in there that don't turn up by googling.

[JarBax]

You could also check out if you have a local dyers, spinners and weavers club/society in your area. We have one here, and quite a few of the members own their own sheep, and are extrememly keen to share their enthusiasms!

[Sabriel]

I have some 1824 Cotton. I picked it becuase the site said you could sub thier cotton for thier wool. It might be true for most patterns and I'm going to make another item from my book with it since it's a tad expensive ($15 for 3 small skiens) and I don't want to waste it, but it's just not working out for this pattern. The crossed dc just doesn't look very nice in cotton on this belt. I am sure there are situations where you want it to look crisp and defined. This doesn't seem like one of them. Maybe I'm just too picky. But the whole point of DIY is to get what you want in the end.

I'll take a look for spinners in Toronto, but I have a feeling very few people in the city have a sheep. Heck if I had the room I'm probably have one myself. (And some chickens, and some small milk producing animal. I'd draw the line at my own bees. They scare me.)

I am going downtown today or tommorow (depending on when I drop the pigs off) so I may just swing by Romni Wool. I need to make a trip to make me happy while picking up all kinds of camping gear for my husband and friends.

[fairysari]

OK, I was just watching Martha and she mentionned a website to buy raw wool (been dyed but not spun). So I went to check it out, and it turns out they try to "knit for social change." They promote trade between wartorn countries, so they use Israeli and Palestinian wool, and the have Russian wool as well. They work with shepherds who spend their whole days in the fields with the sheep in these countries, so I would guess they are cruelty-free, although I don't see any claims like that. Anyway, here is the site: Peace Fleece Home Page

Also, I bet someone on the craftster forum could help.

[Sabriel]

Yeah, it's not a great topic to bring up on Craftster. Too many people there don't want to hear about what happens to sheep. I have searched the topic there though. I lurk on there so much!

[Luvthempigs]

Cotton and wool are not interchangeable. They have different fiber properties. A garment designed for wool, knit from cotton is likely to stretch out of shape and just not work like a garment made from cotton.
Also, buffalo die to produce the fiber- it's a side product of the buffalo meat industry. (which has done a good thing in bringing the numbers of buffalo back up, even if they will never be as numerous as they once were.) I'm not sure about camel, I've read that camel fiber is naturally shed, but I suspect some comes from the camel that is eaten as well.

Even if you find people with local sheep, it's likely that they sell some of the lambs for meat- are you okay with that? Many of these people also have some of the wool processed by mills and sell some yarn from their own animals.

Personally, I feel that petroleum based yarns are very hard on the environment and try to use them as little as possible for that reason, but even if you just look at wal-mart you can find acrylic yarns that are much softer than red heart.

[JarBax]

I saw a book once which took you through the process of knitting with dog-hair. I suppose in a few years, you could perhaps collect enough guinea-hair to spin into a little ball, with which to crotchet yourself a funky wee hat?!! Would certainly be nice and soft!



Edit - Just had a thought...do you only have skinnies? Oooops!

[Sabriel]

I have 4 furry pigs, one who is part peruvian. Between him and the cat I could probably make a small ball of yarn in a year.

I still eat eggs and milk. And I know they kill those animals in the end too. Someday I hope to rescue some chickens who can still lay eggs, just not as many as they used to, which is fine by me. But somehow I don't think keeping a chicken in one's apartment is as easy as they make it look on Friends.

I was always under the impression that wool was stretchy and cotton was not. When I have tried to crochet with cotton it didn't stretch very much. I have also seen mentioned in cotton patterns that they used cotton becuase it keeps it's shape.

I wish I had a bigger home. Then I could rescue a few angora rabbits and not have this problem.

I'm going to Romni Wool today and the Peace Fleece site looks promising (if anything at least it supports a good cause.) We'll just see what I can come up with.

[JarBax]

You could always scour the charity shops - that way you are giving to a good cause, without contributing in any way to animal cruelty. My mum used to rip down old wooly jumpers to knit blankets etc.

[Sabriel]

That's another thing I was thinking of doing. The used goods store in my area is closing down though, so I'll have to find another one.

I just have to learn what can be unraveled and what can't be (some ways of joining the parts of clothes make unravaling imposible.)

[Sabriel]

I bought a spindle at Romni wool (expensive little items they are. Guess there is not much demand for them anymore )and I bought some wool roving. They had some Ontario wool from "happy sheep" but it was a bit pricey for a begginner, so I bought some Peruvian wool to learn with (undyed and very cheap so at least if it is cruel they didn't make much off of me) and then once I get the hang of it I'll buy some of the happy sheep wool.

I can't find a website for them. But the lady said it was from Springfield Farms. She said the lady takes very good care of her sheep and with such good care they produce very nice wool.

[His_Mrs]

I've purchased several items from these folks before: Offering Animal Friendly Handspun Yarn
Fantastic service! They have the stories for each of their animals on there. A few different kinds of sheep as well as a llama and some goats. So lots of choices. They have both handspun that the wife spins and wool fiber for spinning. I've only used the fiber, so I can't speak to the quality of the yarn, but I've heard many great things about them.
Also, you may want to call Brown Sheep Company and see if they have any information on how the sheep are treated. I know that everything is done in the US, so they should have information on how the sheep are treated. They seem to have great policies on everything else, so it would be worth looking into. I love their yarns.
As far as acrylic subs go, try Plymouth's Dreambaby (available in many different weights) if you have a LYS near you. It's one of my favorites. Or if you only have big box stores for yarn, Caron Simply Soft is a great, soft acrylic.
Also, see if you can find a spinning guild in your area. Many of them are associated with local farms where you can meet the animals and see how they're treated. Some members sell the yarn as well as the fiber.

[Sabriel]

I sent Brown Sheep Company an e-mail/comment. Hopefully they will respond. It's hard to nicely ask "Do you treat your sheep badly?" Hopefully my question didn't step on any toes. I'd like to think the "please & thank you"s will help the process.

Hopefully I can find ways to verify what they send me. I have seen many brochures from factory farms during my time as a QA. They clean up real nice when they want to get "happy animal" pictures.

I'll let you know what I find out.

I've been using Bernat's Super Value with some success. But it still looks like Big Box acrylic yarn. I'm hoping for something I can use for more "fancy" projects that doesn't take me a week to spin and dye first. Not that I don't love the process, but sometimes things are made at the last minute. I have a busy 4 months ahead of me with weddings to attend (and help plan) and web sites to produce. Some nice quick projects would help keep me sane.

When I've gone through enough types of yarns I may put a guide to cruelty free yarns on my site. I've had a hard time finding such a list and I'm sure I'm not the only one looking.

[Sabriel]

Did more digging on Brown Sheep Comapany. It would seem that they coat their yarn with toxic chemicals to keep moths from eating it. Unless that has changed I don't think I'll be buying it (or any other moth proof yarn).

To me coating things with toxins to kill off bugs that shouldn't even be on this continent just doesn't sit right with me. *sigh* Back to the drawing board.

The more I care and look things up the more complicated my life gets. Does anyone else here feel that way? Sometimes I wonder if ignorance is really bliss.

Source for moth proofing info. Scroll down or use your browsers search page function.

[Sabriel]

Update: Brown Sheep sent me an e-mail. They cannot verify either way as to the treatment of the sheep. The wool itself comes from Chile and the Western US.

Back to the drawing board.

I was thinking of investigating organic wool. From what I have heard organic sheep get better care then organic cows and chickens (maybe due to the fact that the longer they live the more wool they get?) Sheep are also prone to internal parasites according to the article I read so keeping them healthy without using a ton of chemicals seems to keep the herd numbers down.

Anyone have any thoughts on that?