What better gift to give than something created from a 100% organic material, thoughtfully handmade for that special someone? Organic yarns offer the knit and crochet enthusiasts today an eco friendly opportunity to create lovely handmade holiday gifts while helping planet Earth.

Many people are choosing to adopt organic products as they see evidence all around of the damage inflicted on Earth from misuse and disregard. As organic products gain in popularity and become more readily available, it has become easier for us all to take the plunge and chose organic, environment friendly products over the others. These small steps, taken by many, are proof that society finally gets the big picture.

Organic yarns are one of many products you see more and more. With the gain in popularity of knitting and crochet over the last several years, uses for organic yarns have increased as well. Today organic yarns are more popular than ever. Recently, the popularity of organic yarns has brought about an explosion of new products available to the knitting and crochet industry. But what exactly are the benefits of using these organic yarns and how do they help the environment?

Wool

Organic isn’t just a word farmers can tack on to their product. Organic is actually a certification system consisting of a total and all encompassing process starting from the ground up.

Certified organic in the livestock production area consists of some universal practices, starting with a commitment from participating farmers to produce their live stock chemical and pesticide free. No pesticides of any type are permitted use on organic farms. All feed produced and fed to these livestock are grown 100% naturally, they graze on chemically free pastures using only organic fertilizers and insect control. Each farm is required to raise their livestock in a naturally sustainable environment. This means the ratio of livestock to land must be carefully controlled to allow the natural grazing of these animals with out depleting the available vegetation. Livestock thrive in this environment; they are less stressed and healthier, enabling their immune systems to protect them against disease and insect infestation.

The Organic certification in carefully regulated and organic farms must submit to a third party certification agency inspections on a regular basis. These inspections verify farmers are observing all the practices of an Organic Certified Farm. This ensures your organic product in general, and organic yarn specifically is produced through a 100% organic process.

The organic process does not stop with food and health requirements. Once sheared, the wool then goes through another rigorous organic process before it can be labeled Organic.

Scouring is one of the processes required to make wool into yarn, all solvents and cleaners used in this process must be bio-degradable. No chemical softeners are allowed and all spinning facilities are required to use non toxic pest control agents. Dyes used must be metal free and low-impact; drastically reducing run-off into the environment.

Cotton

Cotton production accounts for more than 15 % of pesticides used globally. That’s a staggering amount, although not all cotton is used for yarn. Regardless, by purchasing organic cotton yarn you’re participating in the reduction in use of these pesticides.

The process involved in producing organic cotton yarns starts with organic seed. Organic seed is grown, processed and certified organic specifically to grow organic cotton for textiles. If organically grown seed is not available, and after checking availability at no less than 3 suppliers, then other untreated seed may be used as long as it was not produced from genetically modified plants.

Organic certification of cotton is much the same as organic wool. Although the process is different the requirements of third party inspections is the same. Growing organic cotton entails the use of biological and natural processes to enhance and sustain crop production and control crop damaging pests. Crop rotation, biological soil amendments and cultural practices such as natural weed control and abatement are all standard practices on a Certified Organic Cotton farm. Composting of animal manures and other organic materials are a large part of organic cotton production.

Once the organically grown cotton has been picked, the organic process continues. Each step to produce cotton, ginning, spinning and even cloth making all must use only organically approved cleaners, bleaches and dyes. The process itself is also certified. Any deviation in the process or materials used can cause a loss of the organic certification required in order to label the product organic.

Organic Yarns

Organic yarns these days are not made from just wool and cotton, but other natural materials such as bamboo, corn and soy. These new yarns offer the knitter and crocheter a multitude of new materials to create beautiful handmade items for family and friends. These yarns are soft and durable and eco friendly and every person who uses these natural and organic materials as well as organic cotton and wool take one more step towards creating a healthier planet.