Wrap it up

the baby, that is.

This is why I’ve been away.

Well, that’s not completely true.  It is why I haven’t had anything crafty to share, because on the rare occasions I felt like knitting, I had to work on this, since I missed the baby shower deadline and just barely got it finished for the kid’s birth.  My lack of desire to knit is no doubt linked to the lack of freedom I felt on this project.  But, all in all, it was worth it.  It was for one of my closest friends who just had her first baby, a little boy named Caleb.  I hope he’ll enjoy this blanket forever (and that it will not unravel and blatantly disclose my lazy, half-assed “technique” in weaving ends in).

The blanket is the OpArt pattern from the Fall 2008 issue of Knitty, which I thought was perfect for this particular child and mom.  My friend is a speech pathologist, very tuned into the subtle developmental stages and patterns of babies and children.  While she’s tapped into the auditory and verbal development of children, this pattern touches on their visual development:

“This pattern also appeals to the developmental process of infant vision. Babies are born color blind, and with very poor vision (about 20/400 for a normal infant at birth. They are naturally attracted to high contrast, black and white images, since these are more distinct to them. From a distance of a foot or so, a newborn will be able to distinguish only the larger stripes on the edge of the blanket, with the thinner ones fading away into a solid gray, as the baby matures, the thinner stripes will become distinct.”

The blanket is made of Be Sweet Bambino (one of my most favoritist yarns ever) in sea green and natural.  I used two size 5 circulars and 5 balls of each color–which still left me short, but I cut off the pattern 2 stripes early rather than finding 2 more balls of yarn (which can be very difficult).  The blanket seemed big enough as it is anyway.

It’s really soft, organic and I think will be quite nice to its new owner–a very adorable and mellow little baby.

What the what…a month?

It’s been almost a month since I wrote last and I really can’t believe how quickly time is passing.

Many things have been going on that deserve blogging, but this is a short little request for help.

You all may recall the homemade deodorant I made and used happily for a few months–note the past tense.  I even made it for others I was so excited about it, including a manly scented version for my partner who still uses it every day.

I, on the other hand, apparently have sensitive skin…which i never ever knew before.  And it’s come to my attention that baking soda is the culprit…being kind of basic and causing all sorts of rashy painfulness when mixing with my kind of acidic sweat.  So I tried a couple of recipes with less baking soda and added glycerin.  Still rashy–even after months of respite and just a day of going back and trying it out again.

So now the question is, what do I do?  I want a cream deodorant, but I obviously don’t really enjoy the rash from hell.  Perhaps I will try even less baking soda…though 95 degree days are going to start here pretty soon and I’m a seriously smelly person and I bike to work every day and don’t have a shower at work…so I’m not sure this is the ideal solution.

I’ll keep you posted on the saga.  Will my armpits ever be satisfied?  Let’s hope so.

I Dye

*This post is a draft from a hundred years ago…but it may have some value for others that foolishly do not buy their yarn from a single dye lot*

Well, my friends, it’s finally finished, my Phildar meshy sweater, made with Rowan Purelife Organic  Cotton in Logwood.  I dyed it (using Logwood natural dye) and did not kill it.  It’s soul is hardened, but it is better for it.  Actually in reality, it’s not nearly as soft as it used to be.  But it kind of went through hell, so I can’t blame it.  I hope that it will soften with wearing and eventually trust me again as a loving owner.

So, I said I would report on the dyeing process and I will.

I had to do quite a bit of research and found some great online resources, mostly through Ravelry, and I also relied on some instruction sheets from the shop I bought my dyestuffs from, Griffin Dyeworks.

So I’ll try my best and share my process in using logwood to dye a cotton sweater–natural dyeing seems to have a different process than conventional dyeing and cellulose fibers (cotton, linen, hemp, etc) have different prep and requirements than protein fibers (wool, alpaca, anything from an animal).

There are three important steps in the natural dyeing process, which I’ll go over…

1. Scouring

This was not something I was aware would be necessary until I read on a Ravelry forum that cotton yarns are very particular.  If not dyed properly it can be difficult to get bright vibrant colors–especially with logwood (which apparently has been known to fade and rub off pretty quickly).   Apparently cotton yarns come to us with quite a bit of waxy residue, which was very clear to me when I dunked my sweater in some plain old water and soaked it for a bit (in a vain hope that the dye was crappy enough to even out if just soaked) and the water was completely brown.  So in order to remove the residue so the cotton can take dye better, it must be scoured.  I got this scour mess (powder detergenty stuff) from Hillcreek Fiber Studio and followed some simple directions using a big enamel pot on my stove: 5% scour to the weight of the fiber, simmer for half an hour, and then thoroughly rinse.

2. Pre-mordanting

The next step is this thing called mordanting, which *I think* is necessary for natural dyeing only (?) to prepare the fiber for taking the natural dye.  Different mordants are used for different dyes, different fibers and to get different colors with certain dyes (like using iron for darker colors).  There’s a good table here, showing the different outcomes with different dyes using different mordants.  It can also be done two different ways–mordanting before dyeing or mordanting and dyeing at the same time.  I did the former.

So of course, cotton also requires a different mordant than protein fibers: aluminum acetate.  There’s a great blog post on the different mordanting methods for cotton here.

This was also really easy, basically following some simple directions for the alum acetate method: using 5% mordant to the weight of the fiber (or 4 Tablespoons for 1 pound), dissolve the alum acetate in boiling water. Simmer for an hour (longer is fine, too), drain water and do not rinse (though some would argue that you should rinse…I did not).

3. Dyeing

The most exciting step is the actual dyeing.  I used logwood extract, which is a finely powdered dye concentrate.  Logwood is a bark that would require a more intensive preparation than I was willing to do and the extract seemed like a perfect lazyish solution.  I don’t remember exactly how much dye I used, but it was a very small amount–maybe a teaspoon of dye in total.  The kit I bought from Griffin Dyeworks came with an instruction book, and I would imagine any dye you bought would also come with specific instructions.  It followed the same general process of dissolving the dye in a bunch of boiling water and then soaking the fiber for a while.

One interesting thing was the addition of soda ash to the dye.  If you look at the first picture the dye is a reddish purple and in the second it’s a dark bluish purple…it was like magic–it just turned the instant the soda ash hit the dye bath.

The rest needs no explanation.

A 4th obvious step of Rinsing

And finally, Drying

I may have to find a good method of softening this up again…conditioner maybe?

Liberty

Dear Friends,

I want to apologize for my extended absence.  I have been in a weird little funk for a few months now…I think perhaps called “winter”.  A few days ago something turned–shifted–in a major way.  I was home sick in bed Sunday watching unbelievably and unjustifiably bad “reality” TV on MTV.com (yes, I clearly sought it out enough to first see if MTV showed the episodes online and then to subsequently watch them online) and then magically decided to sew a shirt.  It sounds minor, but there was a palpable click, turn, shift in my mental state of being.  Like I was re-excited, re-motivated and reinvigorated.  Going to work the next day didn’t seem so painful and it actually got interesting for me again. All the extra obligations in my life stopped feeling so burdensome and actually seemed like the opportunities I thought they were when I first took them on…not that I’ve really gotten moving on them, but at least my mind and spirit are on board again.

A lot of this is really just seasonal.  I think it’s getting worse as I get older and I’m seeing why people retire in Florida.  I’m always ok at the beginning…even hopeful that I’ll enjoy it a little.  But it never sticks.  The bare branches, the grey skies,  the fact that I literally would get around 15 hours a week of exposure to even a hint of sunshine, all concentrated on the weekend (I work in a windowless office where it’s easy to forget that there even is an outside with weather and sun).  And although spring has taken a long time to come this year, once it did, my will to live made a full 180.  What’s strange is every year it’s such a surprise as though I have absolutely no long term memory.  Maybe it’s because I do feel like it’s getting worse, but maybe I only feel like it’s getting worse because I can’t seem to remember that this is obviously going to happen every year…so I’m caught off guard and then strangely shocked that I could be so seasonally affected.  It’s the hope that gets in the way–the hope that this year I will like winter.  I’m not much of an optimist, so whenever I attempt it it really throws the rest of my brain functions, like logical reasoning, out of whack.

And now, I will share the first piece of physical proof that things are looking up.

I think I’m getting more patient, detail-oriented and just better at this with each project…which is ****ing fantastic.  On this one, I made up the (relatively simple) pattern using an old shirt for fit and an Anthropologie shirt for the design.  I’m still in the copying stage, so I can build up techniques and then go crazy with my own designs later.  My case in point that I don’t know what I’m doing yet is facings. Facings!!!!  Arghh!  I didn’t realize until I had no fabric left that it would have been far better to have done an all-in-one facing than separate armhole and neckline facings, which when overlapped get a little bulky.  It’s not too bad in this case since the fabric is Liberty of London cotton lawn, which is very light.  But I also had a lot of trouble keeping the damn facings down, which forced to me do some research on proper techniques.  Hence the (organic) lace trim to weigh the facings down a little and this simple, yet surprisingly effective little trick called understitching.  Ultimately, this was the first time the inside of the piece looks just about as neat as the outside. Maybe my laziness is seasonal, too.  Here’s hoping…

Speaking of hope and change…I’m hoping to come back to this space with greater regularity…my life has been consumed lately with the purchase of a new bicycle (or I should say the saga of an attempted purchase), which is a story/issue I want to share soon…

Until then, happy Spring!!!!!

…and the city

Every so often I spend (waste) a few hours watching my old Sex and the City DVDs.  I knit and remind myself of every detail in those shows…which I kind of know by heart and am generally very embarrassed about.

But this isn’t about that.

Watching a few episodes today reminded me about something that I think usually gets lost as background: the city.

I know the show did some great things for tourism in New York City in particular.  In a sea of cop shows, it was one of the few truly positive portrayals of the city on television.  But it did more than make New York accessible to masses of women. It portrayed this fantastic lifestyle of walking to meet your friends at some interesting new restaurant or bar or gallery, having countless interesting new people to meet, and having so many exciting amenities at your fingertips.

Kind of like how I think many people view college.

But then something happens and many of us let those completely desirable things go when we graduate as though it’s to be grouped with other college activities that probably should be left behind…like binge drinking.  And we move to soulless places and live insular lives.  I don’t want that statement to be confused with living in suburban places.  I’ve seen some suburban places (all older suburbs, though) that are pretty nice and very different from the cul-de-sac ridden, completely unwalkable, and demographically homogenous suburbia in which I was raised.

My ultimate point is that I hope Sex and the City does more than make New York City a great place to visit.  The city was a real and significant character in the show.  And it seems clear that this should be the case for all of us.  The places we live should be real and significant characters in our lives.  They should excite us in some way and relate to us so that they are not just meaningless collections of roads we must drive on to get some buildings we must go to.  I currently live in a city and probably will live in one for the rest of my life if I’m lucky, but I don’t think this only need apply to cities–which I understand don’t work for everyone.  The problem is I see the great things about cities being touted as luxuries, as though in order for homes to be affordable, we have to grit our teeth through hours of congestion, zero public spaces and even no sidewalks.

Maybe a buyer’s market is our time to ask for places that engage us.  Maybe cranes halted by a bad economy and kept from creating more far off islands of not-actually-affordable housing are an opportunity to rethink what we’re doing with the land in and around our cities.

While New York was definitely more exciting than my current home of DC, the city and I do have a relationship.  It’s not always good–but it’s engaging and interesting.  It has a personality, whether the city and I are meant to be or not.

Or maybe all of this is just a sad indication that this nerdy lady watches Sex and the City and misses the whole sex thing in favor of the whole city thing…

Something new

I need some new obsessions. I’m a bit cliche with the predictable timing of this need in that it’s almost springtime…but it’s a cliche for a reason.

It may be apparent that I am a list-maker, so I’d like to share my new interests in list form (apologies for the picture-less post):

1. Cooking.

I have been following some blogs where lots of amazing vegan and vegetarian treats are made and recipes shared. Being the negative nancy that I sometimes am, I would actually not read through the beautifully photographed and no doubt well-written posts because I knew I would be very sad that they didn’t apply to me.

All that is going to change.
This lady is putting away the pirate’s booty and making her own delicious treats.

My foray into the science of cooking was last night with vegan mac and cheese.  It was really tasty, using this recipe here.  One observation that even this novice cook took note of: if you follow the recipe exactly it’s like a salt lick.  I read some of the reviews and it seems you can just eliminate the salt (or vegesal) altogether. Next time.

Next on the agenda are Parikha’s Russian Tea Cakes.

2. Music.
I’m running the Monument Ave 10k in Richmond next month and need good running music to keep me motivated until then.  I’ve run a few 10ks before and I don’t actually think this race will be too difficult for me, but I would love to do better than I did in the last 10k I ran…which means I need to stick to my running schedule.  Which means I need to have something to keep me going.  Which has always been music–of the hip hop variety.  Which I used to keep up-to-date on.  And now…I don’t.  The problem with hip hop (and I guess really with any new music) is you can’t just turn on the radio and find great stuff–unless you live in one of those musically blessed cities like Seattle with their unusually badass KEXP.  So I have to go looking for it…I will try to do this by finding good hip hop blogs to follow.

3. Reading.
I have realized that I don’t read.  Like ever. Seriously.  I read some news clips I get in my email and I read some things for work…but other than that nothing.  New authors?  I can guarantee I wouldn’t know any if you asked me. It’s pathetic…

So, in retaliation the less pathetic side of me is joining a small group of fellow urban planners and we will discuss anything about a particular corner of the world–this month is Kazakhstan.  I am to read something about Kazakhstan. Or watch a movie.  Or knit something in a design from there.  Or make cookies from there.  Basically I can wrap all of my hobbies into this activity. This may be more exciting when we pick a country that’s a little less limiting.

What really started this post were two thoughts/concerns about how I choose new activities:
1. I am worried that I have been so thoroughly conditioned by the commercialization of everything, that a new hobby generally makes the cut into a real obsession for me if it requires purchasing pretty new toys.  Running clothes and shoes, yoga mats and props, knitting needles and yarn, and so on.  The new one: baking pans and the countless cooking implements that are so lovely and interestingly functional.  Looks like cooking may be here to stay.  I’m not sure it’s worth trying to de-condition myself.

2. I am obsessive…but then I burn out.  Meaning I do actually have a pretty addictive personality–with everything except the normal addictive stuff like drugs and alcohol.  I actually find myself incapable of drinking alcohol in anything but moderation.  Maybe I’m obsessed with moderation.  Is that possible?  I don’t think that makes sense.

If I do in fact become obsessed with cooking, I hope the running balances it out.

Oh, by the way, if I never post anything every again about any of these new interests…maybe let’s not mention it, yeah?

Baby Boom

Is there one going on right now?

I feel like everyone is pregnant.  A few of my coworkers, a few of my friends, a few of all their friends, some folks on the television, some knitters whose blogs I read–EVERYONE.  I even had a dream I was pregnant.  I woke up relieved.

I heard an interesting theory that lots of babies are conceived/born during recessions.  Times is tough, so let’s just stay in…

Just goes to prove that long-term financial planning seems to be beyond the capabilities of many people or maybe they’d realize that dinner and a movie is probably way cheaper than a child.

IRregardless (use of that “word” both amuses me and makes me cringe), I have quite a few baby gifts to make use of my knitting skills for my first really good friend who is pregnant, including Knitty’s Op Art baby blanker.

But first, I made the Curly Purly Soaker for a friend/coworker who is also pregnant.  She’ll happily be using cloth diapers and these wool soakers are made for such a lovely eco-friendly practice.

I intentionally used nontraditional baby colors.  As I believe will be appreciated by the receiving mom-to-be.

This is really cute.  I’m not a huge baby person, but this is CUTE, for a cute little baby butt.

I used Cascade 220 in Italian Plum and Charcoal Grey, which I hope will make for a chic little baby of either sex (she’s waiting to find out).  I used short rows which messed up my stripes…but I don’t think the baby’s life will be ruined.  It has a “pleated” waistband made from strategically placed columns of purled stitches.  Simple detail, but I really love the effect.  The pattern was very clear and simple, and it was a fast one night knit…meaning this will be my baby gift of choice for some time to come.

Oh, and Happy Valentine’s Day…a day that might exacerbate this baby boom I think is occuring.

Blogtastic

I first started knitting about 2 years ago–my best friend gave me some Manos del Uruguay yarn and some lovely size 10 bamboo needles and I made a simple scarf for my boyfriend. I taught myself through the fantastic videos on knittinghelp.com, but it started to become a real passion once I found so many blogs that took my simple scarf-making hobby and made it into art, environmental and political activism, and high fashion.

I think it took about six months of reading some fantastic blogs like Knit Lit, Lekkercraft, Another Shopgirl, Six One Seven, and others before I thought maybe I should start my own.  And there was one thing I noticed with just about all of them…they all got tagged as blogs that inspired someone–which they all deserved, because they definitely inspired me…but I always hoped I’d get tagged.

And I did!!!  Yay.

***This award is bestowed upon a fellow blogger whose blog’s content or design is, in the giver’s opinion is brilliant.

Thank you Lauren, of the best Etsy vintage shop I’ve seen to date: Dear Golden Vintage.  I honestly don’t really want to share it because there are so many things that are beautiful and I don’t want the competition.

So here we go.

The rules: When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to said person so everyone knows he or she is real.

Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have 7 friends. Show the 7 random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with “Honest Weblog.” Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon. List at least ten honest things about yourself. Then, pass it on!

10 random honest things about moi.

1.  I’m strangely proud of a “skill” that my friends used to call my “party trick”: being able to sleep absolutely anywhere under any circumstance.  My favorite example is when I was doing the Annapurna Base Camp trek in the Nepalese Himalayas and my friend and I were staying at a lodge along the way.  She woke me up in a panic, informing me that Maoists were attacking the village on the next hill.  I went over to the porch and saw fire across the hill and thought it looked pretty scary.  And then I went back to sleep.  She had to find comfort from the lodge owner.

2. I love TV.  It’s taken me a while to come to terms with that, but it’s true. I love all TV.  Even the bad reality shows, you ask?  Especially those…

3. I am girly.  This is another thing I’ve been fighting…I mean I love to play sports and get dirty and all that…but I’d just like to wear a dress and some nice tights while doing it.

4. I find it difficult to like someone that has at any point made assumptions about me without bothering to ask me about myself.

5. I require at least 10 hours of sleep a night. Require. Waking up for work is nothing short of hell for me.

6. As an adult, I pretty much never lie.  In high school I pretty much never told the truth.  I think I’m fortunate that it’s not the other way around.

7. Ever since I’ve been socialized people have always told me that I am intimidating. I can see it in people that I meet.  And it makes me sad.  But I feel like if I tried to act any different it would be blatantly phony.

8. When I graduated from high school I won the art department award and the physics department award.  I think this dichotomy has always been a point of pride for me.

9. I wish I was 4 inches taller.  I honestly believe that when my dad found out I was done growing at 5′4, he was disappointed.  He is short and stout, by the way.

10. I remember the first time I cussed.  Let me preface this story with the fact that my brother is five years older than me and taught me bad things.  I was in first grade and I called a boy on the playground an f-ing a-hole. Wowsa, right? Yeah, everyone was a little taken aback as well, but not enough to not tell on me immediately.  I cried all the way to the principal’s office and when he heard the story and saw my red puffy face he literally laughed and barely got out the obligatory “don’t say that again.”  I got in trouble a week later and had to spend 1 week of recess sitting outside of the principal’s office.

Now onto some new award recipients:

Restless Grace — I knew there was some real inspiration here when I saw a post on her own textile painting…and it was beautiful.

Knit Lit — I know Kate’s got to have been tagged before, maybe even more than once, but I really just love her blog.

C is for Candy — Ok, so Candy is my hero.  That is all.  Her site speaks for it’s own bad self.

The Discerning Brute — My friend Josh is an ethical, activist genius.  And when it comes down to it his blog is just a really awesome resource for vegetarians and vegans that still need normal things like men’s dress shoes.

I Knit This – This is a blog where the design and photography are just so lovely that she could type blah blah blah over and over again and I think I’d still check back pretty regularly. Luckily there’s more to it than that in reality.

Nadine’s Blog — Probably also been tagged before, but she just has such thoughtful posts about my favorite physical and mental activity–yoga.  And she’s a knitter!

The Boiling Point — Cartoons, awesome design, lefty politics, smart commentary, and again–a knitter.  Love it.

See you!

Happy Obamauguration!

Hope you all had a warmer weekend than I did.  But I also hope it was as endlessly memorable.

Day #12, A Year of Non-Denominational and Green Hand-makery

For my final day in this 12 day series (that extended about 18 days in reality…), I offer you my 2008,  year in review: My first year of green knitting.

As you all know, my goal for 2008 was to only use yarns meeting at least one of my green criteria:

1. Organic

2. Least resource-intensive production (for example, the growing of flax for linen requires little to no pesticides naturally–so while it may not have the organic label, for all intents and purposes, it meets that criteria).  I did try and take into account the resource intensive process of producing yarns from the plant fibers.

3. Natural dyes

4.  Socially responsible (non profit cooperatives, for instance)

5. Otherwise sustainably sourced, such as bamboo, which is rapidly renewable and can actually help prevent soil erosion.

6. Locally sourced raw material

7. Recycled material

8.  From a small farm or is otherwise animal-friendly

Within all five categories are products that are not as “green” as I would ideally prefer, meaning the producers don’t limit their impact on the environment nearly as much as I would like.  However, it is impossible to live a life without impact, either negative or positive, so as time wore on I eased my expectations a little.  Overall, I think I did a decent job sticking to my goals and discovered that there are many more choices than I ever expected–from organic cotton and wool to soy silks, bamboo, and hemp.  Even as the year progressed I would notice more and more “eco-friendly” products come on the market than I could even keep track of.

So I thought I would share some of my findings.

First, there are some great online shops that specialize in green/organic yarns:

Annie Sherburne — For me, this site has served as a fantastic source of information.

A Second Chance — Great shop selling recycled/reclaimed yarn from old sweaters, items handmade from reclaimed materials, vintage clothing, etc.  I really love that the shop is completely dedicated to materials that deserve a second chance–I can’t stress enough that this is as green as it gets.  Also, 10% of each sale goes to Kiva.org (a microfinance organization).

Blonde Chicken Boutique — Tara of Blonde Chicken specifically sources animal and earth friendly fibers and creates beautiful, unique yarns.  I’ve worked with her on some custom yarn and she was extremely helpful.

COLORBOMB Creations — This shop sells really interesting, crazy yarns, three of which are tagged with the COLORBOMB Greenish™ label: ‘(S)craptastic’, ‘Shaganator, and ‘Raggedy’, all made from 100% repurposed/reclaimed materials (like mill ends and vintage yarns, scraps and threads). Like I’ve said before–recycled/repurposed is my favorite kind of eco material.

defaceReconstruct — Lovely Etsy shop with recycled yarns and other pretty goodies.

Earth Friendly Yarns — Self explanatory, decent selection.

Freecycle — A great place to find yarn ready to be discarded by others, therefore not requiring any new production (and it’s associated impacts) for your project–the most eco-friendly option in my opinion.  Even organic production pollutes…it’s just way better than conventional.

Hands and Notions — Yarns come from small family farms and have minimal processing (I haven’t bought anything from here yet, so can’t review personally).

Insubordiknit — She uses alternative fibers, such as soysilk and tussah silk, and eco yarns, like organic cotton to create very cool, funky yarns.

Knit for Brains — Lots o’ vegan yarns (bamboo, hemp, soysilk), but also a great selection of pretty organic cotton.

Martha’s Vinyard Fiber Farm — The purveyor of the oh so fabulous yarn CSA…which I never joined.  Someday…

Midnight Sky Fibers — Has a great menu structure so you can shop according to your values: local (if you’re Pacific NW), vegan, undyed, etc).  They also have this amazing “Recycling” option, where if you add it to your order you are pledging that you will recycle the packaging that your order comes in and you get a discount!  Very cool.

Naturesong Yarns — One of my favorite collection of shops (with Colorsong Yarns), which specifically offers naturally dyed or organic yarns (like Habu and Fleece Artist).

Near Sea Naturals — A fantastic online shop where all knitting supplies and sewing supplies are eco-friendly, from sustainably produced knitting needles to natural elastic and organic thread.  There are also yarns grouped by fiber (animal fibers you can feel good about, plant fibers you can also feel very good about, and blends) and fabrics grouped by type–all of which, yes, you can feel good about.

The Yarn Grove — Great selection of “natural, organic, and hand-dyed yarns.”  Not everything meets my criteria, but there’s a lot of good stuff.

Second, there are a number of Organic Cottons and Blends, and throughout 2008 it seemed like the different brands with organic cotton lines were exploding.  I’m only going to comment on the ones I’ve used, which are quite a few…

Be Sweet Bambino Yarn — This yarn is 70% organic cotton and 30% bamboo.  I LOVE this yarn.  It is so soft, the colors are incredibly rich, and it’s just beautiful with a cloud of cotton wrapped with shiny, gorgeous bamboo.  DK weight.

Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton — This yarn is incredibly soft and I will definitely use it again.  My one complaint is the pilling (which is not insignificant), but again, I would more than consider it for future projects because of the softness, the rich colors and organicness.  It’s also nice that it’s a bulky weight, as many of the other cottons are DK (like their newish Organic Skinny Cotton).

EcoKnit Organic Cotton

K1C2 Recycled Cotton — I haven’t used this, but love the idea of creating recycled cotton yarn.  I wish there was more of this!

Lion Organic Cotton

Inca Cotton

Malabrigo Limited Edition Organic Cotton — Really smooth and beautiful in very rich colors.  It’s not as soft as other organic cottons, but that makes it great for more polished pieces.  There definitely won’t be any pilling with this yarn.  It’s a DK weight, and I highly recommend it.

Nashua Natural Focus Ecologie Cotton (naturally dyed)

Pakucho Organic Cotton

Rowan Pure Life Organic Cotton — Very soft and smooth, with an almost bamboo or silk-like sheen.  I love this yarn, but definitely recommend buying all your yarn from the same dye lot, as the  natural colors can vary significantly.  Also a DK weight.

Sublime Organic Cotton

Tahki Eco-Friendly Yarns

Third, there are a number of fibers that lend themselves to production processes that have a less negative impact than other commonly used knitting materials, such as Linen and other Alternative Fibers:

Berroco Naturlin Yarn

The Fibre Co Organik

(Louet is obviously a major manufacturer of linen yarn, which I decided met my green goals since the production of flax would generally meet organic standards, but is not worth the hassle of certification to many producers.  More information on the benefits of linen here)

Fourth, Organic Wools, etc:

Fleece Artist Organic Wool

Green Mountain Spinnery

Lorna’s Laces Green Line Worsted — I really love this yarn and plan to use the DK weight again and the worsted weight for the first time at some point in the near future.  The colors are chic and the yarn is soft and smooth–really very beautiful.  I highly recommend this yarn–it’s definitely in my top 10, possibly even 5.

(There are many others that I haven’t tried, like the O Wools, but they are available at the shops listed above)

And, last (but certainly not least), Socially Responsible:

Frog Tree Yarns — This company is non-profit and you can tell from the prices–which are extremely affordable for some very very nice yarns.  I’ve used their Merino Melange, which is incredibly soft and lovely, and their fingering weight alpaca, which is equally nice.  I highly recommend these yarns.

Be Sweet — Another favorite of mine in this category. The yarns are gorgeous, great quality, and supportive of job creation for mostly women in South African villages.  The only problem I have found is that they can be difficult to find and are not cheap.

(I also put companies like Manos del Uruguay and Malabrigo in here, because they are small family businesses or support cooperatives.)

There is a fantastic knitting green resource here, with a matrix of many, many different green yarns to give you an idea of what’s out there and what you can try.  Hopefully you can piece them together with some reviews to see what would work best for you.

If you have recommendations you’d like to add, I’d love to hear them.  I’ll continue to update this post with new findings and recommendations.