Eco - Local Eco News

POSTED: Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009

Worldly Goods: Suggestions for making more earth-friendly lifestyle and purchasing choices

Uncommon threads

It's sweater and scarf season in the Northwest, and while shoppers are out picking premade scarves and sweaters, knitters know better. Cut costs and provide yourself with a handy hobby for stormy days by knitting up a few items of your own this season. For an organic knitting option, try Rowan yarns, which are colored with plant dyes and created in an environmentally and socially responsible way.

Sublime Merino Wool, $10.95 for 113 yards

Sublime Cotton DK, $8.25 for 120 yards

Apple Yarns

2915 Newmarket St., Suite 104, Barkley Village

756-9992, appleyarns.com

Pail play

Composting is a helpful activity for the garden and the environment, but it isn't always pretty. Now it can be with this chic little bamboo pail that can sit on your kitchen counter without anyone guessing it's filled with food scraps. It has a removable, dishwasher-safe liner for easy cleaning and filters in the lid to prevent odors. Cutting down on waste never looked so stylish.

RSVP Bamboo Compost Pail

$44.95

Greenhouse

1235 Cornwall Ave.

676-1161

Greenhousehome.com

Into the woods

Shopping for new furniture is even more fun when you find a one-of-a-kind piece made by a local craftsman. Jim Franey makes benches, coat and clothes racks and planters using a variety of woods he gets from small local mills and people who have trees cut on their property, as well as old barn wood. If you've got an idea for a piece floating around in your head, he also does custom work in his shop, which is open to the public.

Jim Franey Woodworking

5274 Sand Road

592-9433

Glove love

Gloves are fine and dandy for lounging and snowball fights, but for the perfect mix of warmth and dexterity, try these fingerless mitts. They provide stylish insulation for cold offices and outdoor sports. And they're made from Texture.home's scrap fabrics, which include organic cotton and hemp, so they're eco-friendly on two fronts.

Knit mitts

Texture-home.com

$32

1425 N. State St.

734-0660

Good brews

Start the day in a green way with a cup of Guadalupe's Coffee. Brewer Dana Ellis uses beans are from organic farms or are naturally grown by small farms for a living wage. The coffee bags are also compostable, the stamps are made with nontoxic ink, and excess grounds from the roasting process are given to local farmers and gardeners for composting. Plus, you can't go wrong with blends with names like the popular Day of the Dead, the holiday Feliz Navidad or the decaf Chupacabra, inspired by the goat sucker of Mexican and Central American folklore.

Guadalupe's Coffee Roaster

$11 per pound

Available at Bellingham Farmers Market and at Northwest Gifts and at Guadalupe's Espresso Bar in the lobby of the Meridian Cost Cutter.

715-1900

Evening light

Give your porch or your living room a woodsy touch with this Smoky Mountain Sconce. The warm amber light and three-dimensional pine cone combine the romantic and the rustic with ease. Just flip a light switch and let it cast a perfect glow on a cool fall evening. Available at Village Lighting in Bellingham, Fish Trap Creek Interiors in Lynden, and online.

Avalanche Lighting

Two sizes, $220- $245

(888) 841-1810, avalanche-ranch.com