I’ve been listening to the KnitBritish podcast, which is
absolutely delightful (and really REALLY enabley). The podcast grew out of a
blog, whose basis is essentially knitting with British wool. Louise Scollay,
the blogger/host, being British herself, took up a challenge to go a year
knitting only with British wool. I am fully enamored with this challenge, as it
hits on so many issues I hold near and dear: knowing the origin of your goods
(yarn included), supporting local-to-you businesses and industries, making
informed shopping decisions, and helping rescue rare and critical breeds. Added
bonus is that I really like British yarns and sheep breeds, recent purchase
history at Blacker Yarns bearing witness.
The thing is, though, I no longer live in GB. Much as I
adore British yarns and makers, they are not, in fact, local to me. While I do
place a greater value on them based on the above issues than
commercially-produced yarn milled in big factories in China, the don’t actually
help local-to-me businesses or industries.
I do my part to shop from farms and American yarn companies
at fiber festivals (boy howdy do I!), but those make up a relatively small
percentage of my yearly yarn/fiber purchases. The rest of the time, I am an
online shopper, and sadly spend more money on European wool than anything else.
(While I do try to support my LYS, I don’t buy much yarn from them – their
stock is made up almost entirely of larger commercial yarn brands which don’t
interest me).
I should clarify. When I say American yarn, I mean that the
wool comes from American sheep and is then processed and spun in American
mills. There are plentiful American yarn companies who use non-American wool,
but I do not consider that yarn to actually be American. Kind of like a Ford
that is made in Mexico. Sure, it’s a domestic brand, but not exactly “made in
America.”
I must say that I do feel a little squinky about the whole
“made in America” thing. The emphasis on buying American is too often
associated with über-“patriotic” asshats with Confederate flags adorning their
pickup trucks buying items made in America from stores whose profit and
continued existence are tied directly to cheap foreign labor and the
destruction of small business here. Additionally, as a dual-citizen with a good
deal of foreign-upbringing and a healthy fear of all things nationalistic, I
don’t wish to associate with this brand of fervent nationalism. This is not the
“made in America” I’m talking about.
Anywho, I started doing a little research. GB has quite a
few online resources for buying British wool. From yarn companies with
excellent online presences (Blacker Yarns, Jamieson & Smith, Jamieson’s,
Baa Ram Ewe, to name but a few) to websites that compile and link to sources
for British yarn, to organizations that make it their business to promote
British wool. The US sadly is lacking on all fronts.
There are some hodgepodge lists and old blog posts here and
there, but it requires some digging. Additionally, many brands of yarn that I
am pretty sure are American (or show up on lists), do not mention the origin of
their wool at all on their websites, but go into great detail about how it is
all processed and spun in the good ol’ USofA (which really is great, but still
only half of the puzzle). Most farms who have their wool spun into yarn to sell
have little to no internet presence. While each state and breed of sheep has
organizations to promote their farmers, they either focus more on meat or,
well, don’t give you much information on how to get yarn.
Basically, if you want to knit with American yarn, you
either stick solely with the couple of larger companies, buy all your yarn at
festivals, or do a shit-ton of research. Doable, for sure, but really who has
the time and energy?
Have I missed some big website/organization that would solve
all these problems? If so, for fuck’s sake, make yourself more visible – if you
don’t show up in my google searches, you’re not really much help, eh?
As someone with oodles of time on her hands, I am thinking
about creating a website to help people find American yarn. I would call it “Origin
Stories” (resisting the urge to preempt it with “Woolverine”), and I would
start with a list of companies, farmers, small business, what-have-you who deal
in American yarn. I would also conduct interviews/questionnaires with
owners/shepherds/farmers/etc. to offer background on said American yarn.
Essentially, I would like to help people find local-to-US yarn with a story, while also highlighting smaller farms
and yarn makers who don’t do much online. I go to several fiber festivals each year, and can picture
grabbing ALL the business cards and having chats with as many farmers and yarn
makers as possible to aid in this. Would be cool, right?
I’m thinking about it…