yarn yoga

This is basically a copy of a post I sent to one of my vegan mailing lists. I was inquiring about other's thoughts on silk issues and here's my reponse to their repsonses. Everyone was very nice and thoughtful with their responses. The general consensus was that silk isn't vegan, but being vegan is doing as much as you can to ease suffering. And if you are doing that, you shouldn't care if someone claims you aren't vegan.


I have to agree that wool is not vegan. Although, I don't oppose using wool from farms where the people treat them like pets. I am going to a spinning retreat at the end of next month and I may buy some, I may not. However, I will not buy wool from a place where I can't see, touch, or get to know the sheep. I know that some people say if it's from an animal, it's not vegan, but I believe that a symbiotic relationship is possible. I live in Louisiana, so wool isn't really a necessity for me.

Silk, on the other hand, lends itself to our weather. Silk blended with cotton produces a wonderful yarn and consequently, an amazing garment. I became a vegan for the animals. I don't really consider worms an animal. It is a being and I hope that it doesn't suffer, but I can't be sure. In most cases I would say that it's better safe than sorry, but for some reason I'm not moved to feel much compassion for worms. Well, that's not entirely true. I do care when I accidentally cut one in half with my shovel while I'm gardening. I feel bad and cover it back up with dirt to help heal the shock a bit. I just feel like I'm sacrificing enough and I want to enjoy this one luxury.

There are some good yarn options out there for vegans: soy silk yarn, Bamboo yarn, hemp, aloo, paper, tencel, cotton, and synthetics. I'm not a fan of most of the synthetics, but I really like the plant fibers. I just wish they came in more sizes.

Sometimes certain yarns just work better for certain projects. I love to knit and didn't go out with the intention of buying silk. I was looking at yarns for a sweater and was drawn to this gorgeous light purple in the store. It felt wonderful and cool next to my skin, so I started adding up the yardage to be sure I'd have enough for my project. Once I'm done, I turn over the tag and it lists 70% silk. Ugh. I was already in love with it, so I bought it anyhow. This yarn has been a dream to work with and knits up beautifully. I'd be lying if I said I'd never use it again. I'm not going to go out and look for projects that specifically call for it, but if it works best for something I want to make, I'm not going to pass it up either.

My concern about the 'what is a vegan' issue is just that I don't want to be a hypocrite. Hypocrisy is one of the main things that turned me away from the church. Well, that and the fact that I was kicked out of altar servers because I was a girl. The pope deemed that women couldn't serve God in that way, so I got the boot after more than 5 years. I mean how do you tell an 11 year old girl that God doesn't want her because she's a woman. My faith was pretty much ruined after that.

Anyhow, maybe we should measure veganism in %s. That way, I wouldn't feel like such a hypocrite. I eat a vegan diet, which the exception of some trace elements that I can't read the scientific names for. Also, with the exception of small amounts of honey in some of my processed foods. Right now I'm still low on the vegan household products, but that will come over time. It's more of a crime, imo, to waste products that you already have, rather than use them up and then buy vegan ones to replace them. So if you count diet and most knitting, I could probably be a 30% vegan. :)