Hello all
I would be interested to hear your thoughts on how best to take environmental sustainability factors into account when choosing weaving yarns. Depending on what you weave, why you weave and for whom you weave, certain yarns and fibres may, all else being equal, seem like the best choice, depending on characteristics such as strength, texture, colours available, drape of resulting fabric and not least, cost to buy etc.

Taking the sustainability factor into account complicates things a bit as it is presumably going to narrow down the options, or at least will mean you need to prioritise some yarns ( e.g linen, organic cotton etc.) over less sustainable/ more environmentally damaging options. Has anyone developed such a list, based on all steps/ stages of the production of the different yarns available? I have seen some recycled yarns available, but most seem to have a synthetic component which would put me off as I like the idea of whatever I weave being completely biodegradable.

Anyway, this may not be something that is of general concern or interest, but if any of you can offer advice or your own personal view ( which may well be very different to mine!) I would welcome input from all perspectives! Thank you.

I am very interested in this as well, but I don't have firm or deep thoughts. I think not using synthetics is a big one because otherwise most of our weaving yarns are biodegradable. Unfortunately I do have a large stash of knitting yarn with nylon in it that I am trying to use up for weaving scarves etc, but I have resolved not to buy anymore. These days I am trying to focus on plant-based yarns too, but it is hard to escape regular cotton and it is not the greatest for the environment.

For me sustainability in weaving goes beyond the yarns. In addition to yarn choice, I try very hard to minimize loom waste. I sometimes feel guilty about weaving samples and gamps because they are not "functionally useful" but I know they are important for the stage of learning that I am in. One day I will do something with them. These days I put on shorter warps for playing and experimentation and try to be more strategic with my weaving choices.

Another cool, sustainability-adjacent thing is that weaving has replaced all gift purchases. So now my gifts are useful, long-lived, but also biodegradable, and I get to experience the joy of making them slowly.