As far as I know, Perfectly Knotty is still the only Allergy-Conscious yarn shop in North America. If you’ve come across another one, please send me their info — I’d love to connect with a fellow yarn business who’s out there helping stitchers in this way.
Whether you’ve got an actual medical diagnosis, or you just feel itchy whenever a certain fiber touches your skin, it doesn’t matter to me. I’m here for you either way. 🧶
I dig deeper into what textile allergies can actually look like in this More on Textile Allergies post, but for today, let’s talk about what “Allergy-Conscious” really means.
A phrase I coined back in 2014
This wasn’t a term floating around the yarn world when I started using it. I believe I was the first to put “Allergy-Conscious” into the fiber space, way back in 2014.
I steer away from the word “hypo-allergenic.” Recent research shows that even the blandest, most “safe” things on earth can still trigger a reaction in someone. Plain white rice. Undyed organic cotton. I promise you, somewhere out there, someone reacts to even those.
What’s changed in the last decade
Back in 2014, when I first started using this term, I felt completely alone in it. By the time I originally wrote this post in 2017, I was starting to notice something — other local yarn shops were quietly shifting their inventory too.
Now, when I visit shops, I see it consistently. Allergy-conscious options aren’t the exception anymore, they’re becoming the norm.
It reminds me a little of the slow shift toward gluten-free food. What started as a niche need that a handful of us were vocal about has slowly become something more shops just factor in as a matter of course.
I’m not saying I started a movement single-handedly. But I do think I touched a nerve that hadn’t really been touched before, and I’m glad the whole industry is catching up.
What I do and don’t carry
At Perfectly Knotty, here’s where I stand on fiber:
🚫 No sheep wool, cashmere, angora, or mohair in my shop — these are the highest-allergen fibers out there, and honestly, I react to them myself in ways that are anything but pleasant. Lovely fibers for those who can use them! No judgement!
✅ Alpaca and llama, from the camelid family — much friendlier on sensitive skin, and the backbone of my collection, including a yak and cotton blend that gives you that same cozy depth with less allergy risk.
Having allergies doesn’t mean you’re stuck in the acrylic aisle at the big box store, or limited to cotton for the rest of your stitching life. And it definitely doesn’t mean quality yarn fibers have to be out of reach financially.
That’s why my shelves have always held a beautiful variety of luxury acrylics, elegant cottons, alpaca, llama, and silk. Over the years I’ve brought in luxury acrylics, bamboo, cotton, linen, modal, and blends of all of those — every single one hand-selected and tested on myself before it ever made it into the shop.
My inventory isn’t growing anymore. What you see in my Online Yarn Shop today is the final, curated collection I built over years of testing, and I stand behind every skein of it.
Stay tuned as we keep learning and exploring this together. If you’ve got questions, send me a message anytime, I really do read and respond to every message; and share this article with anyone who needs to hear that knitting and crochet are still very much possible without animal fibers wrecking their skin.
Happy Stitching! Love, SuziQ
I updated this in August 2026