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Known for making affordable yarns available directly to crafters, Knit Picks has a larger mission: to offer sustainable yarn options accessible to every knitter.
Anne Merrow4 min read
When Knit Picks was founded by husband and wife team Kelly and Bob Petkun in 2002, the company began with a mail-order catalog and soon added online purchasing. Buying yarn online seemed both strange and inevitable: knitters began choosing yarns that they could only see onscreen, in the early days of functional search engines, at a time when many people had internet only at the office if at all. But for crafters who lacked easy access to a local yarn store or even a big-box craft store, being able to order craft supplies online broadened the horizons of knitting.
After carrying other companies’ yarns for several years, the Petkuns began working directly with mills in South America to create yarn lines that were exclusive to Knit Picks. Several of their first yarns, including Wool of the Andes, Andean Treasure, and Alpaca Cloud, are still available (though the Butterfly Kisses eyelash yarn that was a staple of the early 2000’s has been discontinued). With the success of their exclusive yarns, Knit Picks began working with manufacturers to create their own tools, most significantly an extensive range of knitting needles.
High Desert is the Responsible Wool Standard-certified, 100% American-made yarn that Knit Picks produces using wool from Shaniko Wool Company. At left, High Desert Worsted; at right, High Desert Tweed.
By making their yarns available directly to knitters, Knit Picks was able to keep their prices low and developed a reputation for affordability. Perhaps less well known, though, have been their efforts to offer sustainably produced yarns. In this episode, Alexis Wilson explains that the company recently completed the process to certify their warehouse to the Responsible Wool Standard, the last link in the chain that makes their 100% US-made High Desert yarn line fully RWS-certified. High Desert yarns use Shaniko Wool, sourced from ranches that meet multiple environmental and social responsibility standards and are demonstrated to capture carbon in the soil.
Even before the official RWS certification, Alexis observes, Knit Picks purchased their wool, alpaca, and mohair from certified Responsible Alpaca Standard, Responsible Mohair Standard, and RWS sources. In addition to natural-fiber yarns, they have added several lines that use innovative methods of recycling or reclaiming waste fibers: Oceana, which features Seaqual Upcycled Marine Plastic; Salvage, which contains recycled cotton; and Samia, which includes cupro, a silky fiber made from waste cotton produced in a closed-loop process. The environmental concern extends to their wooden needles, which are made from sustainably harvested forests.
In addition to their natural-fiber yarns, Knit Picks offers several yarns that take a high-tech approach to sustainability. Oceana, at left, combines loose superfine alpaca fibers in a chainette spun from polyester reclaimed from ocean waste. Samia, right, combines silk with cupro, a fiber made from waste cotton fiber in a closed-loop process.
Although “knit” is right in the name, Knit Picks offers products for other crafts as well (and not just through their sister brand Crochet.com). In addition to finished yarns, Knit Picks offers the Bare line of popular yarns ready to be dyed by consumers, as well as a variety of natural and synthetic dye products. Spinners can select the wool blends used in some popular Knit Picks yarns as processed wool tops to make their own yarns. For weavers and machine knitters, the popular Dishie cotton comes on cones as well as in balls, and Alexis reveals that some weights of their staple yarns Wool of the Andes and Palette will be offered on cones soon, too.
For nearly 20 years, Knit Picks produced almost every product offered on the site. In recent years, though, they have started supplementing their offerings with select yarns that they believe customers would enjoy, such as Kelbourne Woolens Germantown and Baa Ram Ewe Woodnote. Alexis looks forward to adding yarns from Berroco in upcoming months.
In this Spotlight Episode, discover the sustainable side of Knit Picks.
KnitPicks.com has been serving the knitting community for over 20 years and believes knitting is for everyone, which is why they work hard to make knitting accessible, affordable, and approachable. Knit Picks responsibly sources its fiber to create an extensive selection of affordable yarns like High Desert from Shaniko Wool Company in Oregon. Are you looking for an ethical, eco-friendly yarn to try? Look no further than Knit Picks’ Eco yarn line. Need needles? Knit Picks makes a selection for knitters right at their Vancouver, Washington headquarters.
KnitPicks.com—a place for every knitter.
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