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Fair Trade Hand Crocheted Baby Hats (click here to view all styles - some on sale)  
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Why Organic Wool? Organic wool is pure and natural from the inside out. The animals that the organic wool comes from are free range alpacas and llamas that graze on the tough organic grasses of the vast Andes Mountains...just as they have been doing for 5,000 years. Bolivian alpacas and llamas are cared for humanely and deeply honored in the Andean culture and traditions. The llamas and alpacas are of original pre-Inca stock and have not been genetically modified in any way. If an animal gets hurt it is treated with naturopathic cures: herbs and balms. There are no antibiotics, hormones or other drugs administered to the animals. The fleece is hand shorn using scissors. The animal is not harmed in this process. The fleece is then hand washed with a mild, biodegradable, detergent specially designed for the Bolivian altiplano environment. Finally the fleece is carded and spun, often by hand using a drop spindle. Organic wool has not been treated chemically throughout the entire production, from the farm to the end garment. Organic production is based on positive holistic management systems, which reduce or eliminate the need for most agricultural chemicals and promote healthy soils, air, waterways and responsible animal husbandry practices.
Why Organic Cotton? Organic cotton is much
different than standard "natural cotton". All cotton is natural,
but only "organic" cotton is grown without pesticides that harm our environment
and enter our water supply. "Conventionally grown cotton uses more
insecticides than any other single crop. Each year cotton producers around
the world use nearly $2.6 billion worth of pesticides -- more than 10%
of the world's pesticides and nearly 25% of the world's insecticides.
Cotton growers typically use many of the most hazardous pesticides on the
market including aldicarb, phorate, methamidophos and endosulfan." - Pesticide
Action Network
Effects on Birds: "It has been estimated that pesticides unintentionally
kill at least 67 million birds in the U.S. each year, and it’s likely they
kill many more. Estimates of bird kills from pesticides are notoriously
low because many birds remain hidden in brush, are carried away by scavengers
or die away from treated areas where they won’t be counted. In one case,
a breeding colony of laughing gulls near Corpus Christi, Texas, was devastated
when methyl parathion was applied to cotton three miles away. More than
100 dead adults were found and 25% of the colony’s chicks were killed."