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Knitting is a hot hobby these days — raise your hand if you received a hand-knit scarf as a holiday gift — and stitch ‘n’ bitch regulars are eager to break out from toxic-dyed, pesticide-sprayed cotton yarn. The next time you’re in the yarn store, keep an eye out for a to-be-sweater of soy, corn, bamboo, or milk fiber, organic wool, or recycled crustacean shells (really!). Of course, many yarns are still shipped from afar, and some chemicals are necessary for anything dyed. “You really want to be really environmentally friendly?” says Clara Parkes, author of The Knitter’s Book of Yarn. “You raise your own sheep. You spin it, and you knit your own wool.” Not a baaad idea.

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