Love Knitting? You’ll Love These Sheep-Free Yarns by Olympian Tom Daley

An Animal-Friendly Future Award from PETA is on its way to Olympic diver Tom Daley – an avid knitter and crocheter with his own crafting brand.

Jeff Gilbert / Alamy Stock Photo

We are celebrating his cotton blend yarn line that leaves sheep in peace and wool where it belongs: on its original owners. The yarn, called “The Cottony One,” is a plant-powered cotton blend and comes in a wide range of colours, including “Marvelous Mushroom,” “Gold Medal,” and “Olive Twist.”

Daley will receive a letter of recognition and a framed certificate from PETA.

Tom Daley’s soft yet sturdy cotton blend yarn will have even the most discerning knitters hooked on animal-friendly fibres that keep sheep from being shorn bloody. We are delighted to recognise him and urge compassionate crafters everywhere to ditch wool knits and use only cosy, cruelty-free vegan yarns.

Why Choose Sheep-Free Wool?

Sheep can recognise the faces of at least 50 other sheep and will wag their tails when they’re happy. In the wool industry, farmers commonly sever lambs’ tails and castrate the males without pain relief.

A recent PETA exposé revealed pervasive cruelty at “responsible” wool operations in New Zealand, where petrified sheep were routinely beaten, kicked, thrown down chutes, and slammed to the ground by workers. Because shearers are usually paid by volume, not by the hour, they’re incentivised to work quickly and often leave sheep with gaping, open wounds that are crudely sewn shut with no pain relief.

Wool production is also extremely damaging to the environment. Sheep are second only to cows in the global production of methane, which is 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in warming the Earth. The wool industry also produces massive amounts of faecal waste and contributes to soil erosion and desertification of ecosystems.