Green:   adj.  1. of the colour of green    2. tending to preserve environmental quality (as by being recyclable, biodegradable, or nonpolluting)

What better day that St. Patrick’s Day to talk about being a ‘green’ knitter?!   Being a green knitter means:

• Source local yarns
• Use organic yarns
• Use yarns coloured with safe dyes
• Choose needles with the lowest environmental impact
• Re-use and re-cycle yarns
• Knit items that can replace disposable items in your home

Source Local Yarns

If there are sheep or alpaca farms in your area, chances are there are also local yarn producers.  A quick internet search of a 100-mile radius of my area resulted in 7 local studios are producing hand-spun wool and hemp yarn entirely by mechanical means and with no chemicals!

Organic Yarns

Most ‘organic’ yarns are plant-based yarns.  These include yarns made from soy, bamboo, corn and hemp.  And to be truly organic, the plants must be grown without the use of pesticides;

Corn fibre yarns are among my favourites.  The starch and sugars from corn kernels is processed to produce a long chain, or ‘polymer’ call PolyLacticAcid (PLA).  PLA is biodegradable and requires less carbon to produce than acrylic yarns.  Corn and cotton-corn blend yarns are very soft and therefore especially nice for light-weight knits.  And who wouldn’t love a yarn that is

• Washable,
• Breathable,
• Moisture-wicking,
• Odor-resistant,
• Wrinkle-resistant,
• Hypoallergenic, and
• Antibacterial.

Maybe my soft spot for corn fibre yarns is partially nostalgic since I grew up in Midwest America surrounded by acres and acres of … CORN!!

Safe Dyes

 

Safe dyes are usually less harmful to the ecosystem and include:

Clay/dirt dyes.  Clay dyes are made from the minerals and irons in the earth.  These types of dyes have been used for centuries.

Low-impact fiber-reactive dyes.  These are synthetic dyes that chemically bond directly to the fibre molecules.  This results in less water run-off due to the fixation rate being up to 70%.  Unlike conventional dyes, these dyes contain no heavy metals or other known toxic substances.  The biggest drawback of low-impact fiber-reactive dyes is that they are still made from synthetic petrochemicals. 

Natural dyes.  These are a class of colorants extracted from vegetative matter and animal resides.  You might assume that natural dyes are better for the environment and you would be right.  However, without the inclusion of metallic salts such as aluminium, iron, chromium and copper natural dyes are typically not colourfast.

Eco-Friendly Knitting Needles

Ask anyone what type of needle is ‘eco-friendly’ and you will get a resounding answer of CHOOSE BAMBOO.  Bamboo is a fast-growing, strong natural material and many bamboo needles are made without the use of petro-chemicals in their finishing.

This is where, admittedly, I veer off the green path.  I personally find bamboo needles need regular replacement.  The smaller sizes bend and curve from the heat of your hand and while they are virtually noiseless, they are not silky smooth to work with.  Again … that’s just my experience.  I invested in Addi Turbo needles which are lightweight, quiet and silky-smooth and shouldn’t need replacing for the rest of my lifetime.

So, if you too aren’t that sold on bamboo but want to be ‘green’ you can always scour flea markets and garage sales for used knitting needles.  You’d be surprised at what you might find!

Re-use and Recycle Yarn

This category of yarn does require a bit more work than visiting your local Michael’s store and grabbing a ball off the shelf! 

Why not re-purpose a sweater by re-using and recycling the yarn?  There are consignments shops all over that have sweaters that are out of style, but made of good-quality, good-looking yarn.  Buy them up for a song, unravel them and make a new creation.  (Watch for a project on how to do this later this year!)  You might even find something in your own closet that is ready to be re-purposed.

Another option is making ‘yarn’ from fabric or plastic.  Plarn, in particular, is yarn made from plastic shopping bags.  It’s easy (a bit  time-consuming) and definitely green.  There are a number of YouTube videos on making Plarn.

Knitting Green Items

Lastly, what you knit can be as green as what you knit with.  Knitting useful items that can replace disposable products in your home takes a step against filling our landfills with disposable convenience items.  What can you knit? 

• Dishcloths ad facecloths to replace ‘J-wipes’ and make-up remover wipes.
• 'Swiffer’ duster covers that are washable and re-usable (and actually work better than the disposable commercial covers!)
• Shopping, or market, bags (this is a good way to use up your closetful of plastic bags by turning them into Plarn for knitting a shopping bag!)

What other inventive ‘green’ items can you think of?