Vegan Kniting...as mentioned in Day 26 of Sister Vegetarin's 31 Days of Drama-Free Living Book

Vegan Knitting? Is there such a thing? Yes. Vegan Knitting is when you do not use yarn made from animals, but use the beautiful other alternative yarns available to create knitted and/or crochet projects.

In my book Sister Vegetarian's 31 Days of Drama-Free Living, I talk on Day 26 about Knitting and it's correlation to us being grounded and strong in our vegetarian or vegan journey. Being creative and realizing it's okay to be an individual in our journey because we are all unique with a wonderful vegetarian or vegan story to tell.

Here's an article from VegNews on Vegan Knitting (click here). Want more, VegNews did a great video (click here for Vegan Knitting 101 by Veg News) showcasing the "yummy yarns"...yummy in this case means beautiful colors and textures of non-animal yarn of course! Yarn such as wool, mohair, alpaca is not used. So, what do vegan knitters and crocheters use to knit and crochet? We use the wide variety of beautiful yarns made from acrylic, nylon, cotton, soy, corn, and other non-animal products. Man-made or natural yarns are ubiquitous these days, so its not uncommon to go into your chain stores as AC Moore, Michaels, Jo-Ann's, even Wal-Mart's Yarn Department and find the beautiful, colorful, wide-assortment of yarns for your creative projects.

In my picture above of some of knitting projects, within two months of helping my mom as a caregiver for my dad before he passed away the end of this past December 2011, I knitted 4 scarfs to help reduce the stress of being a caregiver as my dad battled pancreatic cancer. These are not all the projects I worked on during that 2 month time frame as I gave 2 scarfs to relatives as presents. One was a lace knitted scarf in hot red, and another was a cabled pattern thick vegan yarn scarf in a denim color. I am currently working on an afghan (the mixed purple colored one above)and finished 3 more scarfs in 1 month...one being the ruffled psychedelic scarf in this picture and the other a basket-weave patterned black and white scarf...whew...I have been a vegan knitting queen and loving this craft! I love to give my knitted masterpieces of various knit patterns as gifts or just keep some as a present to myself....a love present to myself. Remember, in my book Sister Vegetarian's 31 Days of Drama-Free Living I speak about loving and appreciating who and whom you are to remain encouraged in your vegan or vegetarian journey! Reward yourself with some knitting or crocheting gifts done by you. If you do not know how to knit...it's easy to teach yourself through the various videos available on You Tube and through book. This is how I taught myself to knit 5 years ago and never looked back. I was a knitting queen in 2 days of learning to knit!! I never regret learning to knit, I just regret not starting earlier in life...smile...but, stop it with the regrets...I am a knitter know and darn proud to be one!

It's best to start later in life than never to start at all! A great lesson for potential and newbie vegetarians and vegans who would like to become vegetarians or vegans for life :)

I've knitted socks, shawls, vests, sweaters, afghans, scarfs, belts, mug cozies, and more!!! It's a beautiful age-old craft that grounds us to Mother Earth whether we use natural yarn fibers, or man-made...we feel grounded because we are using our hands to create a garment of beauty rather than relying on technology. It's good to get away from technology and appreciate age-old crafts that we make ourselves. I am even making gifts for Christmas, birthdays, and Mother's Day, and more rather than purchase presents...crafts made from your hands are always treasured and adored more than gifts purchased. Here's an idea, give a different scarf, shawl, socks, or afghan every year to your mother, sister, brother, husband, niece, or best friends...the different patterns in the scarfs, afghans, socks, or other knitted or crocheted gifts are treasured and the recipients are looking forward with anticipation to the knitted or crocheted gifts every year.

I mentioned in my June 13, 2010 post entitled "Creativeness in Vegetarianism as a Knitter and All Aspects of Life" (click here to read the post), knitting (and, crocheting) relaxes the mind, body, and spirit. I taught myself to knit 5 years ago at age 40. I was always a crafty person and made my own clothes as a sewer as well as made clothing for my Barbie doll and other dolls as a pre-teen and teenager; however, I was never a knitter or crocheter. My sister crocheted as well as my police officer dad who took up the craft of crocheting when it was discovered that it was a great tension reliever and stress reducer for men in stressful jobs who were particularly police officers. A Harvard Medical School Study (click here) also supports knitting or crocheting to reduce stress in women and men (click here for article).

Did you know that The Mayo Clinic did a study on knitting and crocheting? The Mayo Clinic study found out that knitting and crocheting reduces memory loss, pain, stress, depression, and increases the immune system (click here for a CBS News Video on Knitting For Your Health)

So, take up some needles to knit or hooks to crochet....purchase some vegan yummy yarn...and knit or crochet. Knit or crochet to relieve stress in your vegetarian or vegan journey. Stress maybe that accumulates daily from non-support of family or friends. Knitting and crocheting centers you, keeps you grounded, and focused. It's like a massage without the costly price. You can purchase yarn for less than $2.00, swap yarn, or even go to thrift stores for yarn if budget conscious. Knit. Crochet. Love it. Love you!
~ Donna M Beaudoin "Sister Vegetarian"