When I designed Mi_Crochet Lab I wanted to embed sustainability as a core feature of the project. I try to lead a lifestyle whereby I minimise my impact on the environment, but like many people, sometimes other types of sustainability, such as financial or time, take priority. As a full-time carer, all my resources are precious and maintaining a balanced lifestyle always involves compromise. This compromise is evident in the design of Mi_Crochet lab as I will discuss later.

I spent two decades of my career researching how microorganisms could be exploited to make valuable chemicals and break down our waste products. I completed my PhD thesis with BP as an industrial partner, looking at the redesign of one of their industrial lubricants to determine if it could be made more “biologically sustainable”. Whilst conducting this research I gained first-hand experience of some of the challenging aspects of sustainable design. Designing a biodegradable lubricant that is easy to break down when it needs to go to waste treatment seems like a desirable outcome, but this same product will be more likely to suffer from unwanted biodeterioration during its working life. This may inevitably reduce its lifespan, require a replacement and further use of resources, hence lessening its sustainability. Designing a less biodegradable, more robust lubricant was just as challenging because, being a liquid, it could no longer be placed into landfill following the introduction of new EU regulations in 1999. If it wouldn’t biodegrade due to its innate stability, and it couldn’t be “hidden” in a landfill, then what would manufacturers do with it when it needed disposing?

In my work we labelled this the ‘microbial conundrum’ due to the opposing attributes needed for such a design. There are many ways to overcome this problem, some involving clever design by engineers, materials scientists and a range of other professions. We can also look at the conundrum from another viewpoint – perhaps we make products that are so robust that we never need to replace them. This would also reduce our consumption of resources and lessen the volume of waste we need to store and degrade. But how would this impact businesses – it could mean less product sales and less profit – not a desirable financial outcome I imagine? So, yet another conundrum has been created. Ultimately, when embedding environmental sustainability into a project, the key factors to consider are to consume less resources (e.g. chemicals, energy, land, water) and make less waste (by-products, gases, water). Lessening these will reduce the detrimental impact of a project on the physical environment and biodiversity.

Sustainability & Yarn

The materials used to make yarn can be separated into two simple categories: natural and synthetic. Natural materials include fibres derived from living organisms, particularly animals and plants, and include wool, cotton, linen (flax) and more recently fibres from microorganisms. When found in the natural environment, these materials provide specialist functions, usually protective properties, to the organisms that produce them. These materials have been generated within ecosystems over thousands of years of evolution. And when their host organism dies, they are assimilated back into the earth via nutrient cycling. This is nature easily solving that microbial conundrum that I talked about earlier – something that is robust when it needs to be, and vulnerable when it is not (e.g. life followed by decay).

But even when using renewable resources, there are factors to consider in terms of how sustainable those materials are produced by their manufacturers. They still must go through a process to get from their source to your door – the specifics of which have a huge impact on the environment. Cotton is an example of a natural material which has intrinsically positive attributes (breathable, biodegradable), but the processes used to mass produce cotton can have a negative environmental impact if not managed sustainably. As wool is harvested from animals, the impact of the farming process needs to be considered alongside animal welfare. And further downstream, when wool is processed from fleece to skein, the sustainability of cleaning, dying, machine spinning and possibly blending with other materials needs to be considered.

Synthetic materials are human made, usually from non-renewable natural resources such as crude oil and derived petrochemicals. The difference between natural and synthetic fibres is that the molecular structure of synthetics is one that is not usually found in nature. They are often designed to mimic natural compounds but have small additions or changes that mean the synthetic material has properties that are more advantageous to humans than the natural version. Acrylic is a common synthetic material found in yarn that is made from fossil fuel. As a completely synthetic material, it does not readily biodegrade, hence if it is disposed of in a landfill it would persist for hundreds of years. The environmental systems involved in nutrient cycling that have maintained the planet for millions of years did not encounter acrylic until less than a century ago. Hence, there will be very few microorganisms that can use it as a food source. Nature is rarely wasteful, and specific pathways that can break down novel chemicals such as acrylic fibres do not evolve easily. But biology is capable of adapting, and researchers are already finding microorganisms capable of utilizing these synthetic materials in our ecosystems. Another problem associated with synthetic textiles and fibres is that they shed microplastic particles into the environment, predominantly into wastewater whilst being washed. The detrimental impact of these particles is now becoming evident, but possibly at a time when it is too late to mitigate the damage.

My Yarn Buying Habits

When I buy yarn, I tend to buy for specific projects and with a final design in mind. If this is clothing, I will usually select based on material type for comfort and warmth. Being from the Northeast of England, the weather is changeable and seasonal. So, for instance if I am knitting a sweater, I may use some 100 % merino wool for warmth during colder months – perhaps aran or DK weight for a winter jumper. I might use a lighter 4 ply wool for a spring / autumn jumper that will see me through chillier and fairer days. For summer, I would usually use cotton or linen that will be lighter and more breathable in warmer weather. I have favourite brands that I prefer to buy, but cost and colour and two important factors for me. I will often take advantage of discount days and sales of clearance colours to purchase a higher percentage wool product that I can afford. Wherever possible, I will avoid buying yarn made from synthetic materials (such as nylon / acrylic) that are less biodegradable and provide less beneficial properties that fit with my personal needs. But even when selecting from natural materials, there are many other considerations that will make a project environmentally sustainable as discussed earlier.

The trickier part of being a yarn enthusiast is that it can be a costly hobby. However, I don’t buy pre-made knitted items anymore (except socks) and hence my hobby has helped me slow down my fashion consumption. I have my own handmade collection of jumpers, cardigans and slipovers that I love and wear consistently through the seasons. Shawls, hats, mittens, and summer tops are also items I enjoy making.

Slow fashion is on the rise – we are becoming aware of the impact that our consumption of clothing has on the environment. We can support a more sustainable fashion industry by buying less clothes from “fast fashion” outlets that promote the consumption of super cheap, low quality, synthetic items. We can do a bit of research – find sellers and designers that embed sustainability into their product lifespan. There are plenty of companies that thrive at this – some of my favourites are Lucy and Yak and Seasalt. In the further reading page of this website, you will find links that provide a more detailed overview for those who want to gain a deeper understanding of this topic.

A full list of materials used to make Mi_Crochet Lab can be found here.