Plastic Free Vegan Yarn.

I have become increasingly concerned about the amount of plastic I've been having to throw away. I don't litter so all that plastic that's getting into the sea, that's not down to me, right? 

Wrong! It turns out that some of the plastics I'd been dutifully washing, drying and recycling were being sent to other countries, from where it was finding it's way into the environment. Then I heard that every time I wash my clothes I'm washing small plastic fibres away with the water. There is even plastic in the air that I'm breathing.
Why is that scary? It has been calculated that only 9% of all plastic ever produced has been recycled. It can take a thousand years for plastic to decompose.
So I've been doing my best to reduce the amount of plastic I use. It's not easy and its very frustrating. As with all environmental issues there are no easy solutions. My hobby is an example.

I don't often use wool. Besides any of the emotive issues that might immediately leap to mind there are many environmental reasons why wool is a really bad idea! (Wool also brings me out in a rash!) Wool is undoubtedly an amazing material. It has big shoes to fill. So when you're looking for an alternative it really isn't easy. My favourite yarns are all cotton acrylic. The acrylic fibre helps to soften and lighten the cotton. It also helps to lock the stitches together. Unfortunately acrylic, nylon and polyester are all petro-chemical plastics.
So I did a search for plastic free vegan yarn. It was really really really frustrating! Eventually I found out an awful lot about plant based yarns. But I was left with one big question, what are they like to use?

Here is my mini guide to plastic free vegan yarn. I've got my hands on some yarns to play with. So that we can compare them I've made a swatch of each using my version of Herringbone Half Treble Stitch.

Cotton,
 We're all familiar with cotton. It's a heavy yarn. It uses a lot of land and water to produce it and often a lot of fertiliser. So look for organic and recycled yarn for the greenest credentials and of course anything which is unbleached and undyed. The yarn shown is Scheepjes new organic cotton.

Mercerised Cotton, 
Cotton finished with a caustic alkali process which improves the dye uptake and yarn strength, reducing shrinkage and adding a lustre. Unfortunately not high on the sustainability scale!

Linen,
Made from the flax plant it requires quite a lot of processing. The short rough fibres are dry spun, whilst the long smooth fibres are wet spun. I've read that it improves with washing.

My sample is actually a cotton linen mix, it's a little rough to the touch. I can't tell you the yardage but I can tell you it's 14WPI. From experience I'd call it Aran or Worsted weight as I used it to make a jacket. (If you don't know what a WPI is this post may help.)

Hemp, 
A sustainable product with long fibres. 

For this sample think garden string. My sample is 50g, 42m. 10WPI. You could use it for trivets, baskets, mats or macrame.

I was a bit disappointed with this yarn so I just had to splash out on a couple more samples.
 
Now that's more like it! I ordered a fingering weight dyed yarn and a DK natural yarn from The House of Hemp, they recommend washing the natural, undyed yarn before use to remove the starch used during spinning. Jane generously popped in a few extra samples to play with.
 
For the fingering 50g is 170m. 20WPI. For the DK 50g is 85m. 16WPI. The long fibres impart a lusterous sheen. To start with my swatches feel stiff, but after washing (as recommended) they both soften.The fingering weight particularly transforms and calls out for a garment pattern. The DK has great stitch definition, but might be more suited to for a throw, wrap or jacket. These are going on my must have list.

 Pineapple,

For this sample think heavy string in texture. 100g is 44m. 7WPI. To be honest I'm at a loss what use to put this to. It would make a good doormat except for the fact that it's far too expensive. It's too stiff to even use with my lucet.

Nettle, sometimes called Ramie.

I really don't know what you'd do with this either. It's incredible strong and fine but rough to the touch. 100g is 251m. 20WPI. When I started to make my sample it reminded me of Hessian, also known as Burlap.

 Banana, sometimes called Abaca.

 I ordered the 'Rainbow Road' (left) but Sprout also popped a free sample of 'Opal' (right) in my package which is quite different. So I thought we should try them both. 50g is 32m. 7-11WPI. These samples are too thick and heavy for clothing but you will find Banana in lighter weights. These are very similar to recycled Sari silk but not as coarse.

Seaweed,

I love this beautiful soft cotton like yarn. 100g is 119m. 11WPI. At this weight it would be great for rugs or baskets but I'd like to try it in a fingering weight. I'm going to be trying this with my lucet.

Bamboo, 

Having used bamboo once before I found it to be quite heavy so this time I chose 4ply, 50g is 200m. 19WPI.

It's soft, silky, slippery and splits easily. OK, that doesn't make it sound too good but I really love this! It would make a very comforting garment. It has a stretchy, fluid quality which I think would make great socks. I'm definitely going to find an excuse to use this again.

Soya, 
It's apparently made from a by product of tofu production.

Sadly this Sirdar yarn is now discontinued. 50g 105m. 14WPI. This particular yarn is wonderfully soft to the touch but has a light twist, so it has a tendency to split. (If you're not sure what I mean by twist then try this post.)

Both the soya and bamboo have very similar qualities to rayon.

Viscose, Rayon,
These are generalised terms for a product made from cellulose fibres. The down side is that they require a lot of chemical processing. There are many more specific types of viscose. You will often find them in a mix with other fibres such as wool and silk.
This sample is a 4ply (fingering) cotton viscose mix, the sparkly glints are the viscose!

These are the types I've read about.

Lyocell, Tencel, Modal, Woocoa-made from coconut and hemp fibres, Cupro-made from waste cotton, Seacell-made from seaweed.

Nullarbor, or nanollose is a new product that I'd really like to find. The name comes from the words nullus arbor, meaning 'no trees'. It could well be our greenest choice as it's made from microbial fungi.

I went to Homemadebysprout, YarnYarn and The House of Hemp for my yarns. Plus a few supplied by my magpie-eyed Mother-in-law from the charity shop. (Thanks Jan!) Right now you'll probably only get cotton, linen and bamboo from the large yarn companies. But please don't be despondent. If we create a demand they will make it! I've always believed a single person can make a difference. So chin up!

If you can offer up any suggestions, favourite products or suppliers please shout up in the comments below.

Fastening off...

What are wraps per inch and how do I measure them?

WPI is one of those mysterious abbreviations that yarnies toss about to the bamboozlement of the rest of us! In fact it's simply a way of categorising the weight of a yarn.

I don't know how the rest of the world gets on. If you're English it can be very confusing I was taught 4ply and Double Knitting. That left me wondering what on earth Lace weight and Fingering was. Then there are crochet thread weights 3, 5, and 8; as well as 10,20,30 etc. So compared to that WPI starts to seem really sensible.

There is always a catch! Your WPI will depend on how much tension you use. The way you calculate wraps per inch is merely to wrap it around something and count the number of wraps in an inch! The width (and length) of a piece of yarn depends on how much tension is put on the threads. It really is a case of 'how longs a piece of string?!!

If you search for WPI gauge tools, I'm sure you'll find plenty but all you really need is a ruler. The best way to work out your WPI is to lay the threads over the ruler or lightly wrap it.
Don't just wrap an inch as any variations in the thickness and the wrapping process will effect your count. So wrap a number of inches laying the strands snugly next to each other.

If it's a very fine yarn you will only need to wrap a couple of inches, but if it's very chunky you'll need to choose a much larger distance.
Count the strands and divide by the number of inches you've wrapped.
So I've got my count, what now? 
Well now you can identify the yarn weight. Try using the Craft Yarn Council chart that you'll find here. If your yarn has lost it's label you now stand a better chance of identifying it! Perhaps you are thinking of combining two different yarns together in the same project, or are using up oddments. You can now ensure that all your yarns are a similar size.

This yarn is from a charity shop. All the label tells me is the name of the yarn and who made it. I can find very little information about it on line. But knowing it has 5WPI I can search for patterns using Super Bulky yarn. That will keep me out of trouble for hours!

Fastening off...