Where to Buy Plant-Based Knitting Yarns
Plant-based knitting yarns are gaining steady support among knitters. They offer a responsible alternative to animal fibres and synthetic materials, while packing in texture, colour and a gentle impact on the environment.
From soft cotton to strong linen, these yarns provide something for every style and season. Here’s a full look at top plant-based knitting yarns you’ll find both rewarding and easy to work with.
This recycled cotton yarn is made ethically and perfect for knitting, crochet, weaving and macrame projects. Perfect for summer makes, it’s super-soft with wonderful drape. In 16 colour choices.
Despite the image of kittens playing with balls of wool, it’s a choking/tangling hazard, so keep it secured away, for the safety of feline friends.
Organic Cotton Yarn
Organic Cotton yarn is one of the oldest and most popular plant-based fibres. It’s smooth, cool and holds its shape, which makes it a favourite for summer garments, children’s clothes and lightweight accessories. Absorbent and soft next to skin, it can stand up to frequent washing and daily use.
Organic cotton yarns add another layer of appeal, reducing chemical use and protecting the soil. Because cotton yarns can be mercerised (treated to make them shinier and stronger), you’ll find a huge range of textures and finishes, from matte to glossy.
Linen Yarn
Linen comes from the flax plant and has a rich history in textiles. It’s known for its strength, crisp feel and natural shine. Linen yarn has a slightly rustic texture that softens with every wash, turning into an elegant fabric that drapes well.
This yarn is a top choice for summer tops, beachwear and homewares like towels and dishcloths, thanks to its durability and moisture-wicking properties. Linen can be blended with other fibres, bringing a bit of shine and strength to softer yarns.
Bamboo Yarn
Bamboo yarn is prized for its silky feel and eco-friendliness. Bamboo grows fast without much water or pesticides, making it a good pick for people looking to lower their environmental impact.
The yarn is light, smooth and soft, with a natural sheen that stands out in finished projects. It drapes beautifully and feels cool, which is perfect for warm weather garments, shawls and baby items. Bamboo yarn can also be blended with cotton for added structure or with wool for warmth.
Hemp Yarn
Hemp yarn is one of the strongest natural fibres around, and it has a raw, earthy texture that holds up under heavy use. The yarn is tough but softens with washing, becoming more comfortable without losing shape.
Hemp is a low-impact crop that needs little water and grows in poor soil, so it’s a smart choice for knitters who care about the earth. The finished fabric resists mould and stretches less than cotton, making it handy for bags, market totes, hats and hardwearing accessories.
Ramie Yarn
Ramie is less famous but deserves a spot on any list of plant-based fibres. Made from the Chinese nettle plant, ramie yarn shares some traits with linen, including strength and a subtle shine. It resists mould and mildew, making it practical for summer wear and kitchen items.
Ramie doesn’t shrink or lose colour easily, so your projects stand the test of time. While it feels stiff at first, ramie softens up with use, developing a gentle drape and hand.
Soy Yarn
Soy yarn is spun from the leftovers after soybeans are processed for food, so it’s a great way to use resources fully. This yarn feels soft, smooth and almost buttery, with a texture similar to cashmere or silk.
It’s not as strong as hemp or linen but gives a lovely drape and gentle warmth, perfect for scarves, wraps and close-to-skin garments. Soy yarn often comes in soft, muted colours that showcase its natural character.
Seacell Yarn
Seacell yarn is made by blending cellulose with fibres from seaweed. The result is a soft, light yarn with a silky touch and a hint of marine freshness. Seacell holds dye well, so you’ll find beautiful, clear colours.
The seaweed component claims to offer added skin benefits, though the science is still developing. Knitters pick seacell for its softness and a unique story, often using it for luxury items, baby clothes and special gifts.
Corn Fibre Yarn
Corn fibre yarn is a newer addition to the plant-based line-up. Made from the sugars in maize, this yarn is smooth, bright and holds colour exceptionally well. It feels much like acrylic, but it’s biodegradable, which gives it a strong environmental benefit.
Corn yarn is light and resists moisture, so it’s handy for garments that see a lot of wear or are washed often. It’s still not as widely available but worth trying if you’re curious about innovation in yarn.
Knitting Patterns for Plant-Based Fibres
Knits from the Greenhouse is one of the first books to show how to knit clothes and accessories with plant-based yarns. You have to use them slightly differently so this book lets you do that.
The book features 18 projects designed to show off the best properties of plant-based fibres, with helpful tips from designers who work with them. From soil to skein to finished project, enjoy working with plant-based fibres – no green thumb required!
Use with Bamboo Knitting Needles
Bamboo knitting needles are warm to touch (over metal) and good for arthritic hands as they are easier to hold, and offer better control of stitches.
Why Choose Plant-Based Knitting Yarns?
Although sheep do need shearing to avoid over-heating and be able to see predators, the conventional wool industry has many issues.
Some sheep are sheared too early (leading to hypothermia) and others suffer ‘mulesling’ (having chunks of skin sliced away to prevent flystrike, without painkillers). And many sheep are killed, when they get older and their wool production slows down).
If you wear wool, choose companies that don’t kill the sheep, simply shearing the wool: like vegetarian wool or sheepskins.
Pregnant sheep can sometimes roll over onto their backs, and can’t get back upright, and soon die if the farmer is not aware. Some sheep can also fall over, due to wool being waterlogged from rain.
If you see a sheep on its back, just firmly right it back, then stay with it, until rain has drained off, so it won’t happen again. Then inform your local farmer.
An Aussie Vegan Knitwear Brand
Willow & Claude is a vegan knitwear brand, to help save the millions of sheep slaughtered each year for meat and wool. Profits support the work of collective fashion justice. You can also contact them for a discount if you are an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
A Vegan Wool (made from weeds!)
Described as ‘more sustainable than dirt’, Weganool is a new type of wool made from weeds! Made in India from carefully extracted calotropis stem and pod fibres, then blended with organic cotton.
The woven material is lightweight with remarkable thermal-regulating properties, giving the warmth of wool, without animals.
Made without chemicals or waste, the material can be used to make shirts, dresses, scarves and inner linings, plus single jersey and fleece knits.
The fabric also thrives in drought-prone areas so saves water over cotton, and is good to provide jobs. It’s also dyed naturally with plants, flowers, roots, seeds and minerals.
