So while I’ve briefly looked into spinning before, I haven’t ever given a lot of thought to where wool yarn comes from. The simple answer seems to be sheep, but beyond that, your guess was as good as mine.

Wool has many qualities that make it desirable for knitters and crocheters. It’s not only a great insulator, but it also wicks sweat and is wrinkle resistant! More than that, it is a naturally occurring renewable resource, as sheep actually must be sheared. In fact, because sheep can’t shed, the buildup of wool can lead to the sheep overheating and dying.

However, not all sheep are raised equally, and there can be practices that are detrimental to the animals, including mulesing. Mulesing removes strips of skin from a sheep in order to prevent parasite laying flystrike, but can also be extremely painful for animals. This procedure is just one of the reasons that PETA is dead set against any use of wool whatsoever.

I’m personally of the opinion that wool is a great resource when the sheep are treated well. There are even some big names that have tried to be ethical and transparent about their processes! For example, Wool and the Gang and We are Knitters are both committed to sustainable Peruvian wool, and both these companies have made big inroads by creating “kits”. Another big company is Loopy Mango, which uses American wool. I have also lusted over skeins of yarn from Manos del Uruguay, which is a Fair Trade certified non-profit organization that empowers rural Uruguayan women. In fact, the name of the worker who made the skein of yarn is attached on the tag! As you can see, working with wool is a universal kind of thing.

It’s not just big companies that have these commitments either; many independent dyers are also very conscious when it comes to the source of their wool. If you can’t seem to find the information on their website, I would recommend reaching out and asking them where they get their blanks from! Most dyers I have met would love to talk more about where they get their yarn from.

A more local flavour would be Custom Woolen Mills in Alberta! While they don’t raise the sheep themselves, they do strive to work with farms who are committed to grazing sheep and process the wool minimally before selling it. They also offer mill tours!

For those of you who live in Manitoba, there is also Long Way Homestead, a farm and wool mill that offers tours! If I’m ever in the area, this will definitely be on my list of things to do. It seems like Anna and Luke have put a lot of thought in how to raise their animals, gather the wool, and spin the fibre, and I would love to learn more from them about it. They also offer a really cute “SponsorSHEEP” program, where you can sign up to help pay for some of the food costs for an animal, and in exchange, you can get some of the wool when the sheep is sheared! You also get to visit your sheep, which I think is so cool to be able to see firsthand. From what I can tell, the program seems to sell out quickly, so if this is up your alley, you’ll have to move fast.

Obviously, you don’t have to throw out all your current yarn stash right at this moment just because some of it might be from an unknown or unverified source. My motivation behind this isn’t to shame anyone, but just to make people think about where yarn comes from. There are so many steps before it ever gets to your yarn store! Sheep have to be sheared, wool has to be carded and then spun into yarn, and then that yarn can be dyed before it ever becoming a finished object! Anyways, my point is that information is always good to have, and being more aware as a consumer has never hurt anyone!

Until next time, happy crafting!