I have a short AND a long winter coat from Vaute Couture. Love finding wool alternatives!

I get so sad when I think about wool!!!! Sheep are sooo cute and lovely and I'm sure we all used to think that wool came from happy sheep that NEEDED to be sheared every once in a while.

How wrong!

Such great information about wool!  I remember seeing that video a while back.  I'm so glad you shared this.

Sarah

http://veggie-kids.blogspot.com

I don't wear wool, but I actually worked on a farm for a summer a few years ago. They had llamas and sheep. Once a year they shear the animals for the fiber and spin that into yarn. They sell it in pure fiber form or as a yarn. I actually learned how to spin it, too! I like knowing firsthand where everything comes from, and I know they treat their animals well, especially since it's a very small farm, and the owners love their animals dearly. This would be the only way I'd wear wool. 

Oh gosh, this is awful. I've definitely avoided wool for years... I doubt that guy would like to be handled like some sort of lifeless object and cut all over! There are so very many alternatives, it's just unnecessary. All I can say is ugh. 

I would probably want to knit the sheep something to wear instead.

I have a great winter coat from The North Face. It's made with a down alternative. It keeps me really warm even in Chicago, especially if I wear a fleece jacket underneath. It's cute too!

Cruelty-Free yarns at Knit-for-Brains.com

I couldn't wear it if I wanted to... Allergic to wool. Last time I went to a petting zoo I learned not to go to the petting zoo. They had the most lovely sheep that kept following and nudging me to be pet and silly me... It was so cute I totally forgot why I hadn't been petting it and ended up with awful hives and scratching like crazy. The sheep was a real sweetheart though.

So, as with everything, it all depends on where you get it from.

My parents were trying to figure out what type of livestock to purchase for their newly purchased 10 acre farm in Purcellville, VA. in Loudon County we receive tax breaks for having a "working farm" and livestock is one of the ways to do it. We've always had sheep dogs and with my knitting it was easy to convince my parents to buy sheep. I also explained to my mom that there was no way we would want to eat any of our animals since they would have names and personalities (our chickens are a prime example of that!) so wool was a great way to go!

My parents recently purchased 5 ladies and 3 baby girls. We love our sheep. They all have names and get lots of care and treats. This is the first year we've had sheep and we are loving it!

We are starting to get ready to have them shorn. (We need to shear our sheep. Without being shorn they will overheat in the warmer months. If they were living on a mountain side where is was cold all the time, it might be a different story.( The woman who we have picked come to our farm and does it right there in their living space. This woman also loves sheep and takes great pride in her shearing abilities. She is best around!

I am a knitter myself. If you love to knit or want to wear wool, I suggest purchasing it from a local source. We have a great shop in The Plains, VA that carries lots of local wool. You can ask questions about its production and often the farm isn't too far away to visit. It also allows you to ask about the dying process which is always another cause for concern. You want to know if the color is eco-friendly, too. Etsy can also be a great source if you ask the right questions.

I understand the concern completely and it can be nasty business, but for those of us who love our sheep, don't eat them, and let them live to a ripe old age, wool can be a means of great joy! xo

Just a quick question. Why are the sheep slaughtered afterwards? Why aren't they kept to be used for their wool once it regrows? I don't agree with how cruel they are to these animals by shaving them while not providing shelter afterwards, but I'm just wondering why they don't take the time to treat them humanely if their wool is considered to be a product. You would think these animals would be taken care of very well. I'm guessing it's because it's cheaper to kill them? ugh! I'm so sick of how much money dominates human desency.

Ugh! My stomach hurts right now thinking about these poor sheep. Did you see how fast the one ran away after they were done shaving them? Why is this from one extreme to the other? Why can't we do things right the first time by providing equality and humanity for all living beings - workers and the sheep. My heart hurts right now. We are in a world now where what occured in that video can be obsolete, yet, people still choose to do it. It's heartless. 

while i agree with the cruelty in which sheep can be sheared, i have also watched documentaries on farming methods from the past. (BBC) i remember watching the scene in which the farmers must shear the sheep, and the farmer was explaining that because sheep have been bred to produce thick coats, it is important to remove them because they get infested with maggots and other natural bacteria. the maggots burrow into the skin, causing pain, skin rot, and death. so my question is this: yes, it is inhumane to shear the sheep in a cruel manner, and yet, because of human intervention, sheep are bred to have thick coats which must be removed to ensure their health. so what do we do? let these sheep die out from skin rot and hope other sheep with thinner coats replace them? it also seems inhumane to me to let that happen. not buying wool is not the solution to the bigger issue at hand.

I occasionally knit with wool but prefer man made materials for coats (depending on the manufacturer and eco methods that the materials are made).  I only buy the wool from known sources that I can visit the source and see how the animals are treated.  This costs more but I know my money is being invested in the proper treatment of animals by supporting small farms that humanly care for their animals.  I grew up visiting my relatives farms and I know there are kinder methods of shearring the sheep.....it just depends on the farm.

So sad, and a good reminder to avoid wool when you aren't sure it comes from a humane place.  

I like to find wool items at thrift stores, where my purchase hopefully isn't driving demand for the inhumanely obtained wool.  It's fun to get creative and repurpose older wool items, even throwing them into a hot washer to get felted wool and make that into some new warm thing.

@Brynn -- if no one buys wool, no one will raise sheep for wool. These things occur because there's profit in it. The wool-bearing sheep population dies out in a generation at the longest. Or more likely, they are slaughtered for food. Not that that is going to happen 100%. When the market shrinks, others will look to enter by trying something new: on the plus side, that might be sheep with less thick coats or farming methods that are less cruel or less intensive and less likely to incur infestation; on the minus side, that might mean chemical intervention or worse, genetic modification. But the *only* way to stop the chain of events is to stop buying wool. Yes, there will be cruelty at the end of the chain, but to do nothing is to continue this cruelty forever.

But we also need to think about the fact that alternatives are generally petroleum based, and also not good for the environment. So in that regards, less consumption is our best bet for an overall kinder, healthier world.

I am also curious about vitamin D3 supplements. Those come from lanolin/sheep's skin but how do they get it from the ski?. Does that come from sheep raised for wool?