Frequently Asked Questions
If you have any questions, check this page out first before contacting us using the form at the bottom, because there's a pretty good chance the answer is here. Even though we love hearing from you, responding to questions already covered here does cut into our knitting time. ; )
Pricing
Pricing is in CAD (Canadian Dollar) but the site automatically converts to some of the most common currencies.
Shipping
We offer shipping worldwide from Canada. Pricing varies greatly depending on the size of your order. To find out, place the items you want in the cart and use the shipping calculator provided on the bottom left of the cart page. If your order is significantly different than the default size (12" x 9" x 4"), we may get in touch to discuss shipping options.
Shipping Days
Orders are typically shipped Monday to Friday, Canadian holidays excluded, within a day or two of ordering, however, if things get busy in the shop and there's a lot of order to fulfill or it's a special or custom order, it might take longer.
Cancelling Orders
We're charged a $5 bank fee and are not refunded for transaction fees when we run a cancellation, so a 5% or $5 fee applies to cancelled/refunded orders to cover these costs. Orders can only be cancelled before they've been shipped.
Lost or Late Packages
On occasion packages can take a bit longer than expected, but it's extremely rare for them to go actually missing. If it's been longer than you expected, just hold tight, it'll probably show up soon.
If it's been more than ten weeks, you have a tracking number, and you still haven't seen it, call Canada Post or your local postal system, and have your tracking number ready.
If mail is undeliverable (not picked up from the post office, wrong address etc), it just comes back to us and we'll let you know if it's arrived back here. The best thing you can do is actually to get in touch with your country's public postal system, or post office. The most common issue is an incorrect address, and the local post office can't find you. Sometimes, customers are able to intercept their package by calling to edit their mailing address, but it's not guaranteed.
Ball Winding Services
Sorry, we do not offer ball winding services
Dye Lots
Each batch I dye is completely unique. Please keep this in mind when ordering to make sure you have enough to complete your project. About once a week I get an email asking if I'll be dyeing more of something because someone didn't order enough to complete their project. I don't want this to happen to you, so remember, every colourway is treated as limited edition, so once it's gone, it's likely gone forever.
I'm combining some high-contrast colours in my project. How can I prevent the chance of back-staining?
While I follow a rigid, quality control process to fully set the dye and rinse yarn thoroughly, high-contrast colour combinations can sometimes run a little. If you are planning some high contrast combinations, first soak each colour separately overnight and rinse thoroughly before hanging to dry. We rinse and soak all of our yarns at least overnight after the dye phase, just to be sure, but a little residual dye can sometimes be released during drying even after thorough soaking. After completing the project, wash in cold water and rinse thoroughly before blocking.
Using cold water is also a good way to prevent fading and back-staining, and extends the life of your project.
Washing you finished project on the cold setting in a high efficiency washing machine is a great way to thoroughly extract the most water and reduce drying time.
Recommendations for Regular Washing
While animal fibres prefer slightly acidic conditions while washing (like using an apple cider vinegar rinse for your hair), plant fibres prefer neutral to slightly alkaline. An environmentally friendly laundry soap, gentle detergent or hand soap is perfect. Less is best for the longevity and softness of your project. Most items (except things like openwork lace that may catch inside the drum) can be machine washed in a high efficiency washing machine on a regular cycle. and dried warm or cool, or laid flat to dry. For cotton and linen yarns, about ten minutes in the dryer after laying flat to dry will revive the softness. Cold water is best for the longevity of your finished project, but it can tolerate warm just fine. Avoid using hot water as this will cause it to wear out sooner and cause stiffness.
Returns
You are welcome to return any items for refund or exchange if they are flawed. We accept exchanges within 30 days but not if the label has been removed, or the item is in an unsellable condition (stains, odors etc).
Please direct returns to:
Vegan Yarn
422 Fader St
New Westminster, BC
V3L 3T1
Canada
Please make sure to indicate that its a return when you mail it. Thanks!
Wholesale
I'm no longer taking on more hand dyed yarn wholesale clients but...
New! Base yarn for dyers is now available wholesale, no application required.
General Yarn & Pattern Guidance
While we would love to be able to help you with any situation, due to our growing volume of production we are simply not able to offer one on one assistance in regards to choosing patterns, or general knitting help, but if you would like help, try out these fantastic resources: knittinghelp.com and Ravelry.com.
To get ideas, try searching by the yarn you are interested in on Ravelry, and see what other people have made with it. This is also an excellent way of getting a feel for how much yarn you'd need for your project.
Also on Ravelry, you can visit our fan group in the forum and post questions or requests, where we're certain some of our awesome fellow makers would love to help out. Lastly, we highly recommend that you check out your friendly local yarn store to see if they offer lessons or workshops.
How much yarn will I need for my project?
To find out how much yarn you'll need, have a look at your pattern, it will likely give you an amount required in yardage. Choose the number of skeins that will, when added up, be able to accommodate that amount, plus a bit extra. For example, if a pattern calls for 700m of fingering weight yarn, and you've chosen Albireo Fingering, which is 402m per skein, you'll need two skeins. If you are making a project that has a definite beginning and end, and cannot be cut short like socks knitted one at a time, or a sweater etc. Make sure you have enough yarn. The general rule of thumb for garments, is to get one additional skein just in case.
Blanket yardage calculation: I have made a blanket using Pakucho Worsted, and I used garter stitch throughout. I have calculated that I used roughly .0855g per cm square, so if you take the dimensions of the blanket you would like to make, ie 100cm x120cm, you'll get a rough estimate of the yardage needed for something similar.
Example: 100cm x 120 cm x .0855 = 1.026 kg/1,026g or 21 balls that are 50g each.
This is an estimate only and depending on your tension and the stitch pattern you use, it will vary, so I recommend getting extra to allow for that variability.
I am making a garment (sweater, cardigan, leggings etc) or large project. Any suggestions on how to get the colour(s) to look evenly blended?
When knitting or crocheting with hand dyed yarn, its normal for the colour to vary slightly from skein to skein even when they're from the same batch. The 'best practice' is to prepare two balls of yarn, and alternate them every two rows if working flat, or every other row if you're working in the round. This will even things out and reduce pooling, or noticeable shade differences that are more apparent on garments.
Sustainability
We are currently in the process of making changes to enhance the sustainability of the business in various ways.
-We no longer purchase single use plastics for any of our packaging or to use in production and we avoid plastics wherever possible in general. While we still send some orders in plastic mailers, these are the last of what we have before we switch entirely to recycled kraft boxes and can be re-used if you have items you need to mail. While there is still an environmental impact associated with paper products, boxes can be more easily re-used, then recycled and are biodegradeable. We are transitioning to paper tapes as well. We don't like void fill, but sometimes need to use it. In that case we'll use recycled tissue, or reuse plastic pillow-style void fill that we've saved from inbound shipments. If you deflate these, most recycling centres will take them in their soft plastics.
-Items are usually wrapped in recycled tissue instead of plastic before shipping. This is ideal since we're based in a temperate rainforest, and breathe-ability is key. Our labels are printed by a local small business on recycled paper. I pick them up by bicycle.
-We have reduced our water usage by about 40% by recycling our rinse water and sometimes capture rainwater for natural dyeing. We use high efficiency, on-demand hot water.
-The dyes we use are non-toxic, and we choose highly concentrated, environmentally-friendly, scent-free washing soap that we get from our local refill store, no packaging needed.
-We regularly request our suppliers to reduce the amount of plastic packaging they use in sending yarn to us and encourage them to consider reducing their waste. We then re-use what packaging we receive for our larger orders. Occasionally, you may receive your order in a re-used box. This helps keep costs in check, and reduces our environmental impact.
-Whenever a new yarn is being designed, sustainability is top of mind. Our manufacturers know this is important to us.
-New! We're getting solar panels, so our electricity needs will mostly be met with solar energy.
What do you use to dye the yarn?
For the brightly coloured yarns, we use a non-toxic fibre reactive dye. For the natural, earthy shades of Libertas we use natural dyes that are ethically sourced, homegrown, or wildcrafted, which means gathered responsibly with consideration to wildlife and vegetation in nature or in municipal parks where permission has been allowed.
Why Vegan?
Are you curious about why we choose to work without wool or animal products? We're pretty passionate about animal welfare, and if you're wondering what is going on in the wool industry that made us want to do what we do, you might want to check out some resources. Warning: Some of these sources show upsetting images.
and
Here's a great video by Bite Size Vegan.
To be really simple, we prefer to allow animals to live their lives free of the intentional or unintentional violence of a human-made industry. Like the saying goes, 'live simply, so others may simply live.'
There is also growing evidence that shows that wool and silk have a high impact on the environment, even though they are natural, and biodegradable. The Pulse of the Fashion Industry report ranked the production of sheep's wool as more polluting – for cradle-to-gate environmental impact per kilogram of material – than that of acrylic, polyester, spandex, and rayon fibres.
Please keep in mind, we're not here to judge other people's yarn choices, or make you feel bad. Our goal is to be a positive presence in a wool-dominant yarn world, where people who want awesome artisan yarn made from plants can enjoy knitting again. We also offer a variety of fibres for any crafter to explore and enjoy. Even dedicated wool-people enjoy a change of pace from time to time.
If you'd like more information, feel free to send us an email or ask in our fan group on Ravelry. We'd love to hear from you.
If none of these topics answers your question, feel free to contact us using the form below. Keep in mind that a real living, breathing human with feelings reads these emails, so please be respectful. If you need help with an order, we'll be very happy to help you out.