I found something today that made me really happy (I hope this doesn’t sound too sad).

I haven’t had candy in about a month, mostly because I haven’t wanted any, but also because the amount of crap that’s in them (milk, egg, gelatin).

This chocolate on the other hand is not only vegan, but it’s not even processed in the same plant as anything dairy. As an added bonus it’s organic as well.
And it tastes good.

It’s a plamil foods product, but distributed here by Alternativ Mat, the same people I get my rice milk (with almond flavor) from it seems like.

Small things like finding that in the store today makes me happy It’s the first time I’ve seen the Vegan stamp on something as well..

Tags: milk, Vegan

Two books I’m reading right now

No Sheep for You is a great book all about knitting with non-animal products. It does include silk, so the book isn’t completely vegan. But it does contain a lot of information on how and why different yarns behave like they do. And when a pattern calls for wool, this book gives you a lot of help picking the best alternative. Be it soy, cotton, hemp or synthetics.

The book even takes it a step longer, and not only tells you, but gives you an example. The editor of the book (Amy Singer) has said that she tried to show that everything you do with animal fibers, you can do without them as well, except felting…

For me right now, the only problem with the book is that it makes me want to spend lots of money on yarn, so that I can knit some of the projects. I am knitting the tuscany shawl out if it already…

Vegan Freak: being vegan in a non-vegan world is basically a book about how you can be vegan without losing your marbles. It talks very briefly about why you need to be vegan, and the rest is tips about how to interact with friends and family, the world, shopping and some other stuff.

I haven’t finished the book yet, but so far I really like it. The things I’ve learned so far are mostly stuff the people around me are going to benefit from, not me though. Because it forced me think about not being to preachy. I know I have preached a little about veganism on my blog lately, but that’s why I have a blog, here I talk about stuff to get them out of my system

The podcast the authors of this book produces is great as well, and I recommend it highly. It’s what made me seriously consider cutting out the crap and go vegan instead of vegetarian.

Tags: Books, knit, podcast, Vegan, vegetarian

So today is World Vegan Day
In honor of the day I pledge to not buy animal fibers to knit/crochet/ spin with for at least one year (and this includes silk).
Because even though I love knitting with wool I cannot ethically support the meat industry indirectly with my cash.

If you like merino, read this and watch this.

The sheep we get our wool from is going to end up in a slaughterhouse. And really…

Tags: meat, slaughter, Vegan, wool

People keep asking me why I’m going vegan.
It’s actually a hard question to answer without getting too preachy or going on a long rant. So I’m doing that here instead.

I’ve been sort of vegetarian for years; I quit eating mammals but not fish. For ethical reasons. I’ve seen pictures and read some books (like Animal Liberation).
A friend I had growing up was vegetarian, with her entire family, so I always knew of the possibility. And I loved their food! It tasted so much better than the one I was getting at home.

Being that kind of half-assed vegetarian wasn’t hard. It wasn’t hard giving up fish later on either.
Something I did after I started reading up on the fact that humanity is over fishing every single sea on the planet. Fishing has become an industry very few people actually benefit from; a couple of large ships (trawlers) basically vacuum the seas.

I have been exposed to some vegans in the last couple of years, not all of them nice people, but healthy. I’ve read up on enough nutritional advice on vegetarianism to know how little the human body needs meat (of any kind). The same sources talk about milk and eggs like stuff you can eat if you want to but advices you to get what they contain of nutrition elsewhere as well.
Want calcium? Eat some broccoli or almonds. Protein? I actually get almost too much protein in my diet right now, (beans, fruits, nuts… orange juice).

The ethical side of this is another cup of tea.
Watch Earthlings. Then we can talk about ethics.

Tags: calcium, earthlings, egg, fish, meat, milk, Vegan, vegetarian

I’m going to a class with Amy Singer the 19th october. If you are in the area around oslo, or can be, you can too. Just go here and see.
Actually, the info on the page isn’t that good, but still, it’s a knitting festival! In this part of the world!!!

Oh, and Opal has came out with a new rainforest collection. One of the colors are called the same as my sweetie, so I’ll pick that up soon. Probably.

Why probably?
Because I’m having some issues, not with opal. I love Opal yarn, it’s not the softest yarn to knit with, but the socks lasts a lot longer than the softer nicer yarn.
No, because I’m thinking about going vegan.

Yup, vegan. The crazy people that don’t drink milk or knit with wool or silk.
It’s possible to still be a knitter as vegan. I can even get great boots as a vegan.

I’m thinking about it. There are lots of good reasons for it, but right now it’s too much for me to think about to talk properly about it right now. More on that later.

Tags: amy singer, milk, opal, Vegan, yarn