I am so happy to say..I found it!
Starting next month, my standard yarn will be a 4-ply merino (with a long staple length to resist pilling) that is processed and spun by a smaller yarn company in Vermont. There will be 14 colors available:

Top Row: sumac, rust, saffron, willow
2nd Row: slate, cornflower, sky, robin's egg
3rd Row: tea rose, thistle, mulberry, chocolate
bottom: coal, natural
The best part? It is 100% certified organic and processed in accordance with the Global Organic Textile Standard.
Now, if you are anything like me you are thinking-what makes wool organic? The food the sheep eat? The way it is processed? The lack of chemical pest control?
Yup. Here are the bullet points:
* The sheep are fed 100% organically grown feed
* No synthetic hormones or vaccinations
* No synthetic pesticides on animals or pasture lands
* No genetic engineering
* Healthy livestock is promoted through good management-happy, stress free animals are healthy animals.
* Organic fiber is handled separately from non-organic
* Detergents must be biodegradable
* Waste water must be handled responsibly
* No synthetic oils used in spinning
* Dyes must be free of heavy metals and aromatic amines
* Recyclable or biodegradable finishing materials are used
* No carbonizing fibers using acid baths
* Organic facilities must practice structural pest management.
For every pound of organic wool produced, 2 acres of land are sustained under organic management.
Yay organic! I am so pleased and excited and I hope you guys are, too!
7 comments:
Yeah! Great news about the yarn Amy. I'm really happy to hear that you are able to get such great yarn both organically and from the US, but if I ever get picked in the monthly custom lotto, I really need a sand color for my "crabby" crankys. What to do, what to do? I guess I will start thinking of another design.
You can still choose to use the old yarn if you want, it just won't be the "standard" anymore. :)
I think many, many tax deductible trips to Vermont are in order!
As soon as I decided on this company I Google mapped it from them to you, lol! I think it is about 3 hours south-ish. Not toooooooo far...
yay!!! that is awesome! will the clasic crankypants use that yarn too?
No, the Classics will still use the Peruvian Highlands wool. It doesn't make much sense to ship it all over to Peru and back again. It would take away from their local economy, burn lots of gas and make things crazy expensive. :(
that's what I was thinking, but didn't want to assume. lol
Post a Comment