Australian Knitting 27
amazing diversity of the world’s fibres
and fibre crafts are not lost.
There is a growing body of research
on the positive effect of empowering
the women in developing regions
through employment and education,
and of the social impact of shared
culture and traditions. You can read
more about this on the International
Women’s Development Agency
website (address). The success of
these projects has been helped by the
growing hand craft movement in the
west.
Alt Yarn was established in 2014
by mother and daughter team of Lee
and Stephanie who aim to both give
crafters a greater choice of beautiful
natural yarns that are produced in
an ethically and sustainable way, and
to support and promote the work of
these community projects.
In sourcing stock, the Alt Yarn team
have discovered two projects that are
producing exquisite unusual yarns in
traditional ways for the craft market:
The Rocking Yak is committed
to helping alleviate poverty among
Tibetan families living in rural villages
on the Tibetan plateau. Aiming to
empower these families in their choice
to live a more traditional lifestyle,
they are bringing economic value to
the Tibetan skills of rearing yak and
spinning wool. They strive to provide
families with sustainable employment
and a greater income while instilling
self-worth and pride in their unique
culture. The Rocking Yak is working
with rural Tibetan women to produce
quality hand-spun yak-down yarn and
ready-made hand-knitted garments.
The yak-down yarn is exquisitely
soft and amazingly warm. It comes in
both natural colours, undyed (ready
to dye) and some vibrant naturally
dyed colours for both hand spun and
machine spun yarn in DK and a 10ply.
From the Mountain, along with
the woman spinners of Fayzabad,
Afghanistan, produce Fayzabad Twist
100% Cashmere Handspun Yarn.
Fayzabad Twist is a soft handspun
yarn that comes in 4 beautiful natural,
undyed colours: natural white, grey,
light brown, and dark brown. The
cashmere is available in in DK and
10ply weight.Above: Spinners of Fayzabad,
Afghanistan
Image supplied by From the
MountainOpposite page: Spinners from The
Rocking Yak, Tibetan Plateau
Image supplied by The Rocking YakProfile
Lee Scott has been
knitting and crafting for
some 50 years. Alt Yarn
was established in 2014
by Lee and her daughter
Stephanie to combine their
two passions, one a soapbox
stand for fair and ethical
trade and decisive action on
climate change and the other
for knitting beautiful yarns.