Picking a Green Yarn

By Daniela Nii

Organic food is a common choice today for most shoppers but organic or green yarns are only a recent development for mainstream knitters and crocheters. New, non-traditional yarn sources such as bamboo, soy, corn, milk, even seaweed are popping up on shelves. I was very surprised about what I learned while trying to select a “green” yarn for my Spring issue’s submission.

Photos by Ian Britton @ www.FreeFoto.com

---

I usually start out with a design in mind and then pick a yarn to support my vision. But it does happen that I just fall in love with a yarn and have to come up with a design that shows it off. As this issue’s requirement was to knit with a green yarn, I decided to explore my yarn options first and then design for it.

A quick internet search revealed tons of green yarns (what a pleasant surprise!) - AND quite a few head-ups that a green yarn might not be as green as it sounds. My curiosity was piqued and I started a very informative web crawl around the world.

Right off the bat, I did not realize how chemically intense yarn production is! At each step in yarn production, growing the resource, harvesting and cleaning, processing, dyeing, shipping and disposal, chemicals play a major role and can contribute to environmental pollution and depletion of non-renewable resources. That was quite eye-opening information! But then, if you think about what it might take to turn a hard, woody bamboo stalk into the silky, soft yarn you can’t stop touching in the store, you start to get a glimpse of what might be involved.

The upside is that each step of the yarn production also provides you with an opportunity to make a green choice.

Green Choice 1 - Source Material

First, I wanted to minimize any petroleum- based (a non-renewable resource) or synthetic (man-made) content in the yarn as the manufacturing processes involve major environmental impacts at many different levels. So, no acrylic, polyester, nylon, dralon and any of their sister fibers.

That left me with Rayons (derived from plant materials), natural fibers (plant (cellulose) or animal (protein)), or recycled fibers.

After looking deeper into Rayons (e.g. bamboo, soy, corn, tencel/lyocell, seaweed/seacell) and being impressed by the ingenuity of turning unusual materials or by-products from other industries into yarns suitable for knitting or crocheting, it is still a mainly chemical manufacturing process and not really green at all (Tencel is most likely the best choice here). That made me question quite a few “green” claims by some yarn companies. So, be aware!

And then I was down to natural or recycled fibers. No surprise here.

As this design was going to be for Spring and kids, I was leaning towards a plant-based yarn (less chances for allergy issues, cooler) with perhaps a little wool mixed in.

Cotton seemed a natural pick as it is so readily available but as it turns out, cotton growing requires large quantities of chemical pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers and is responsible for as much as 16% of global pesticide use. Ouch! On top of that, GM (“Genetically Modified”) cotton has started to turn into an environmental nightmare around the world. I was not aware of the negative impacts of GM-cotton at all and I will now think twice when picking a cotton yarn and will definitely go with organic cotton if at all possible.

The linen, hemp, etc. fibers just didn’t seem to be the right fit for a kid’s garment as the prices were usually on the higher end and these types of yarns were harder to find in stores. But for the right occasion these would be great materials, even for kids.

Organic cotton was the front-runner so far in my selection choice.

The final source material category to consider was recycled fibers. I have to say, that just hit a chord with me having grown up with the 3 Rs - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Choosing a recycled yarn would conserve not only raw materials, but also divert the fiber from the landfill. And have you seen the gorgeous recycled silk yarns now available? How about the many Etsy stores offering recycled yarns?

But, I also soon realized that you have to pay close attention to the actual % of recycled fiber in a given yarn. Some yarn companies add just a small amount of recycled fiber (30% or less) to otherwise non-green yarns and proudly proclaim their yarns as green. So, be aware and start reading those labels!

After weighing all my options, availability and price, I decided to go with either a high recycled-content cotton or an organic cotton-blend yarn.

Green Choice 2 – Yarn Processing

Just because you have chosen a green fiber source doesn’t mean that the fiber won’t go through chemical processing to be transformed into a nice looking and nice feeling yarn. Some typical yarn processing steps are scouring (removal of grease and oil from wool), bleaching, shrinkproofing (superwash), mothproofing, mercerizing, etc.

I was especially surprised to find out that processing of wool is not very green at all! Besides the chemical baths that the wool is going through, it also uses tons of water! Something to keep in mind when considering organic wool as the starting material…

This news forced me to take a hard look at how much yarn processing I really needed for my planned garment of a vest. It wouldn’t touch the skin (so softness wasn’t a must), it needed to withstand quite some abuse (playing child) (so a delicate yarn wasn’t quite appropriate and it could be coarser) and it needed to be pretty easy to take care of (hand washing was not desirable).

That meant that some of my organic cotton yarn choices didn’t make it past this round. So, you might also want to keep in mind how your yarn was processed when making your green pick.

Green Choice 3 – Yarn Dying

The next opportunity to make a green choice involves choosing the color of your yarn. Again, just because your yarn is green doesn’t mean it hasn’t gone through a chemical dying process. You can choose between naturally colored yarns, and yarns colored using natural dyes and/or natural dying processes. For more information on yarn dying, read this short article.

Green Choice 4 - Shipping & Packaging

The same rules apply here as for food: buy local to reduce emissions, packaging and to support your local community. It’s easy to overlook the considerable carbon footprint that’s created by having your yarn flown and/or trucked to your local yarn shop or to your doorstep. You might not have all the choices available to you that the internet brings right into your home but do you really need all that fancy yarn for your everyday knit and crochet wear? I don’t know about you but I always enjoy wandering the stands at my local farmers markets and talking to the owners. You are able to glean so much more information from the actual fiber artist than when you read a short blurb on a yarn label.

Green Choice 5 - Disposal

Finally, you might want to consider what will happen to your knit or crochet fabric after it has been used and gets discarded. Natural fibers or fibers derived from natural fibers (Rayons) are biodegradable and therefore won’t produce as much waste as synthetic ones.

Conclusion

Wow, I couldn’t believe all the things I’ve learned about yarns in general by just having to pick a green yarn! In the end, I definitely had to compromise as not that many affordable and stylish, truly green yarns beyond the basics were out there yet.

This time, I’ve settled on the Red Heart Eco-Cotton Blend with 75% recycled cotton and the Vermont Organic Fiber Co.’s O-Wool Balance yarn (50% organic merino, 50% organic cotton and no harsh chemical processing, unfortunately must be hand-washed) came in a close second.

At the same time, the choice of green yarns is growing now as shoppers are becoming more aware of the issues involved in producing our beloved yarns. So keep looking!

One of the most important lesson I’ve learned going through this whole process is that I need to read yarn labels, get educated about yarn production and watch out for the “green washing” yarn companies are deploying to gain more market share or capture the more environmentally-aware buyers.

By breaking up the yarn selection process into 5 steps, I hope it will help you choose a truly “green” yarn and help you decide where you are willing to compromise. There exists a Global Organic Textile Standard, but like many standards, it costs a lot of money to go through the certification process. That means that many smaller or family-owned yarn producers and mills might have complying yarns but just can’t afford to get the official seal. A good example of one of the smaller, but truly “green” yarn producers is the Green Mountain Spinnery.

Again, maybe the best way to figure out how “green” your yarn is, is to start talking to your local fiber artists to get the scoop on how they produce their fibers.

Finally, here are a few links to fiber resources that I have found useful in my quest for a green yarn:

Types of Knitting Yarns

Company List with green yarns:
Green Knitter
Eco-Friendly Yarns
Fake Sheep

Cheers and Happy Knitting and Crocheting.

---