When someone makes the decision to become vegan, most people think about the changes to their diet. However, veganism goes beyond diet, with changes often required throughout their lifestyle. And for knitters, that includes knitting.
Animal Fibres
Many of the common fibres used to create knitting yarn come from animals. These include wool from sheep, cashmere and mohair from goats and angora from rabbits.
Just because the animal is not slaughtered for their hair does not mean that there are no animal welfare issues involved. These can include potentially harmful breeding processes to force the animal to grow more wool or hair.
Alternatives
Fortunately, you can get vegan alternatives for your favourite yarns such as DK yarn. If you are not sure about the origins of a yarn you are considering, ask in the shop or buy your yarns from a good online retailer such as https://www.woolcouturecompany.com/collections/dk-yarn where you can check the descriptions to see where they were sourced.
An alternative option is to use synthetic fibres. Acrylics, polyester and nylon are all plastic with a petroleum base. For more information on how nylon is made,
Alternatively, you could choose plant-based yarns. These include cotton, bamboo, linen, hemp and Tencel. All of the alternatives have their advantages and disadvantages and it is worth experimenting with different yarns to see which one you get on best with.
Other Equipment
Most other commonly used knitting equipment is naturally vegan. Today most knitting needles and hooks are not made out of bone as they traditionally were, but instead from plastic. Items like scissors and tape measures are usually plastic or metal, so again these will not impact your vegan lifestyle.
Making the Change
If you have been an avid knitter over the years, you will probably have your favourite yarns and changing them to a vegan alternative can be hard. The best way to approach it is in the same way as cooking. Just as you have swapped the meat in your favourite recipe for tofu or nuts, similarly, you can swap your mohair for soft bamboo.
