ecobutterfly: Finally, a vendor who cares about animal welfare. . .

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Finally, a vendor who cares about animal welfare. . .

I enjoyed reading about your grandmother, your knitting history, and how your business has changed as you have changed. Reading your story reminded me of many things in my own life. I'm going through a transition in my work similar to what you described. I've decided to run my handweaving business using products that do the least harm possible. I really appreciate having a vendor who understands not just about fair trade and environmental issues, but also about the fact we need to treat animals more kindly. That seems to be the final frontier of social consciousness, and progress does seem very slow at times. Thanks for your vision, and for making these products available to us.

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My Path To Eco~Friendly Organic Knitting

I have been involved in my grandmother's knitting business for all of my 40 plus years. I was born into it. My grandmother was a master knit instructress and opened her own shop in Los Angeles, California circa 1955. I was her first born grandchild so I spent a massive amount of time with her. As a little girl I would run around her desk while she wrote charted patterns for women that loved to knit, but wanted professional guidance. I would go into her desk drawer and grab some change so that I could run down to the corner to get junk food. I was oblivious to what would be my future. My path and Knitting would come much later.

Read more below.....

My grandmother made a name for herself for so many years. Consequently, I began to see the appeal of knitting when I turned 9. No specific person taught me. I just watched many women knit and I just picked up on their different styles. I picked it up well enough that I was able to follow my grandmother's pattern and complete my first project (a beige mohair pullover). I remember it vividly. My knitting was awful! It was completely uneven, but my grandmother had nothing but praise. I then knit two more sweaters and I improved a bit, but not enough for me to keep on knitting the same way. I took it upon myself to change my style all by myself. I was determined to do it. When I thought I could truly be a better knitter I attempted another project. I was able to change so drastically that the 4th project looked machine made. I knew that even though my style was now considered odd and a bit funky by many I had found the solution that worked for me.

Knitting always grounded me. My grandmother, school and knitting were the bright points in my life. I never thought that I would go into business with my grandmother. I always knew that I would go to a good college, because I loved school and was good at it. I went to UCLA for a year, BUT it wasn't creative enough for me. I decided to go to a big name fashion design school thinking that I could cultivate my talent for knitting and get a job in the fashion industry. After an Associate of Arts degree and one extra advance degree later I was ready to start my career. Unfortunately, the fashion industry did not appeal to me at all in the end. At that point I did not know what direction to take. I guess that this made me think about seriously working with my grandmother. I had already been working for her part time, but I thought it was a temporary and fun thing to do as a hobby. Isn't it funny how things can finally fall into place when you least expect it?

I spent many happy years working side by side with my grandmother in a knit shop that she started circa 1955. When she fell ill in the late 90s I took over everything. She died shortly after. I knew that my grandmother's legacy was precious and worth carrying on. I continued the business and sold yarn, made patterns, finished sweaters did repairs and on and on. I completely loved what I was doing. As the years went on my lifestyle started to evolve. I became a vegetarian. Then a year later stopped using and buying animal products, because of my health, the environment and the unethical treatment that animals are exposed to everyday in captivity. I feel that I am more like a strict vegatarian, because I believe that the term "Vegan" seems to have different meanings depending on the individual using it. Over all I felt good about my eco-friendly choices until I realized that my business was not following the same path and it didn't feel right. I felt like a hypocrite in a way. At that time I started to see organic cotton yarn emerge and I was intent on evolving the business in that direction. I was already recycling items by doing professional repairs on sweaters that would normally be thrown out, but I knew that wasn't enough. I wasn't sure if I would be able stay in business just offering organic cotton yarn, but I decided that it was something I had to do for so many great reasons. I wasn't going to carry wool since it went against my way of life and wool in general is NOT completely organic, so certified organic cotton yarn was the obvious choice with hemp being a good possibility. I thought of peace silk too (silk made from discarded cocoons in the wild as opposed to boiling silk worms alive for the silk), but I wasn't really excited about that option either. I realized that there were a few yarn companies that boasted having large selections of "eco-friendly fibers" so I did the research. When they say "eco-friendly" they mean yarn made with natural and renewable sources. It sounded good on the surface. It was interesting to know that you could knit with soy, bamboo and even corn, but I wondered how these things were processed into yarn. If you have ever seen bamboo, corn or soy it doesn't look like yarn could be possible. On the other hand, you can look at a puff of cotton from a cotton bush or fleece from a sheeps's coat and see how yarn is spun into a roving or plied form. This made me question the techniques used to make these "eco-friendly" yarns. I researched as much as possible and found that these natural yarn sources had to go through a chemical process to become yarn. Then the yarn went on to be further chemically processed by being conventionally dyed in chemicals as well. I was really disappointed in a sense. I knew that bamboo, corn and soy had to be better than man made fibers, but by how much? I suppose that by knitting with these yarns it is a step in a better direction, but "eco-friendly" is another matter. The least that could be done would be to incorporate low impact dyes (synthetic dyes that tread lighter on the environment then conventional dyes do), BUT I have not found that to be in practice with conventional yarn companies unfortunately. I ended up being really fortunate to find companies that produced Pakucho & Kusikuy cotton yarn. The yarn is Certified Organic, Vegan for the most part and fair trade as well. The cotton yarns are naturally color grown and/or veggie dyed with plant based dyes, with no use of metal mordants (an ancient tradition that has been around for thousands of years in Peru). I am still coming across more sources and more items that fit my purist way of doing business. I started carrying recycled glass beads, eco-friendly bamboo handles, natural bamboo & corozo (tagua nut) buttons, bamboo knitting needles (Crystal Palace) with a natural resin finish, etc. I was beginning to see the possibilites. My website, www.ecobutterfly.com , became a reality.

I was now looking at the positive, rather than just trying to survive in the knitting business, even though I chose the possibly daunting task of being a purist. I was determined to stay the course. Just like my determination to re-teach myself a better way to knit when I was only 9, I had to just do what was in my heart and my brain would ultimately follow. My business is now evolving into the pure organic knitting niche I had hoped for. I have shed my conventional items and replaced them with the purest, organic, fair trade knitting yarns and accessories I can find. I see more and more of my clients trying the organics and loving them. Like my clients, no one can just change overnight. Taking new and little steps are a great start. I do my best everyday to choose the right things to improve our environment, but it isn't always possible. At least there are more choices as time goes on, and what seems to be the very "old school" way of doing things is coming back to make the future better for us and for the planet's survival. I just want people to have all the facts so that an informed choice is possible. I believe that I have found myself in the right place, at the right time to offer some of those facts and what I consider to be the future of pure organic knitting. I think that my grandmother would be proud of me.

ecobutterfly

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Finally, a vendor who cares about animal welfare. . .

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My Path To Eco~Friendly Organic Knitting

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