Sylvi:) progress animalabuse for wool and tips for buying environmentfriendly yarns in europe

last year I've started this project but I wasn't satisfied. I couldn't get the gauge I want (it was a lot to small) with the yarn I was using then. Therefore I've frogged it and started again with cascade eco wool wich I accidentally found in a Dutch webshop for an affordable price.

Normally I don't like to use wool because the sheep abuse that happens mainly in Australia where the most wool comes from. Unfortunately that are not the happy sheeps you see on pictures enjoying in a meadow....
The "primalsheep" loses its wools scattered over a lot of time and doesn't need to be sheared by human. We although have breeded the sheep so that they are now depending ons us human. That we can not thurn back and I agree that wool is a very nice material but the abuse isn't a thing to neglect...:

We are clipping the sheeps in a time of the yearwhen it's still to cold for them without there wool coat so that many of them freeze to death..
There are to many sheeps in a farm so the individual needs are neglected
Because they are breed so that they get as much wool as possible from one sheep, the sheep get "fliestrike" Espacially around the back of the sheep flies lay there eggs in the wool. the larves who born out these eggs can eat the sheep alive...
To prevent this condition ranchers perform muleshing. Unasthetized they cut away large strips and skin of the back ans the legs.. Before the wounds are healed a lot of them nevertheless get fliestrike...
Eventually the most of the woolsheeps are slaughtered. Most of the time not in there living country Australia but on the other side of the world in North-Africa and the Middle East!


I would never use silk yarn... for one pound of silk, 3000 wors are steamed o gassed alive... Angorarabbits have a terrible life and often they make the males death after birth because they have less wool and 50-80 percent of the young cashemere goats is murdered because there wool doesn't meet the standards...

When you can stand to see a documentary about this and read more about it, look at:
http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/wool-industry.aspx

For some projects altough it is difficult to get non-wool yarn. The most things I made are made from cotton (When i can afford it also eco and faitrade certificied. You don't want to know how many pesticides are used... and how the workingcircumstances are, but that's or an other blog), acryl (but that is not very environmentfriendly and most times I don't like the look of it)or other plant-based yarns.
Non-wool sock yarn,nice thick warm yarn, soft lace yarn and thick felt is difficult to get here in the Nerthelands or is very expensive...
I feel very guilty when I use wool in this circumstances...

Therefore I was very happy when I found an eco-wool that at least hopefully would be a bit better for the sheep and also more environmentfriendly! I've started again and I have already finished the back, the left side and thothird of the right side een tough I have very less time to knit! It looks very natural and knits very fast despite all the different cables on the back. The gauge with a single thread cascade eco wool and 6mm knitpro needle is a bit smaller as in the original (I knit pretty loose). I've modified the xs pattern also a bit smaller so that the endresult would be about 28'- 30' inch because I want to use it as a long cardigan and don't want it to be oversized.



About environment and animalfriends I've collected a couple of links here for European people who are seeking to get these:

Dutch links:
http://www.houseofyarn.nl/contents/nl/d22_cascade_eco.html where you can get cascade eco wool
www.trikoo.nl where you can get pakucho fairtrade undyed cotton, bio-wools, and other environmentfriendly yarns
www.stormopzolder.nl
www.herbalana.com

European links:
www.wollbox.de/epages/61169902.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/61169902/Categories/Conjoined Soysilk, vegan lace yarn
http://www.wollbox.de/epages/61169902.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/61169902/Categories/%22Crystal%20Palace%22 vegan sock yarn
www.cucumberpatch.co.uk/sincere_dk.htm affordable organic cotton in levely colours (they offer also a lot of environmentfrienldy rowan yarns but these are expensive)

When you've good places for buying environmentfriendly or vegan yarns in Europe let me know!!! So that I and maybe my blogreaders can use more animalfriendly yarns for new projects.

Till a next blog!