As a weaver, I am fortunate to have a huge stash of yarn! If you have read my blog post on “My Weaving Journey” you know that I worked as a commercial textile designer for about a decade.
When the textile mill was closing, I remember looking out my office window, and watching them throw boxes and boxes of yarn in the dumpster. I ran over to my boss, and asked her if I could take some of the yarn home. Fortunately for me, she said “yes!”
I asked my husband to come to the mill with his trailer, and we loaded the boxes yarn into his trailer. And, then we went back with the trailer multiple times, and brought the majority of the yarn home. It ended up being literally tons of yarn. I will never be able to weave this yarn in my lifetime. Over the years, I sold some of it, but its hardly made a dent in my stash of yarn.
The vast majority of the yarn is rayon (viscose) which can only be used to create clothing. As a handweaver, I decide to mainly weave scarves with this yarn. I am not a sewer so scarves is the perfect item for me to weave.
Bringing home this yarn, I believe was a win-win situation. All of this yarn has been given a second life. Using these up-cycled yarns, I am able to weave women’s fashion accessories that can be enjoyed for years to come. My weaving process, is totally by hand, the way our ancestors made textiles. This is sustainability at its finest.
It prevented literally tons of yarn from ending up in the landfill. Our landfills are getting filled up with so many items that have such a short life span, like fast fashion apparel. I feel good about rescuing this yarn, and giving new life!
Some of this yarn is still stored in boxes since I do not have enough shelves to display it. When the yarn was at the mill and now in my house, every cone is in a bag inside the box so it cannot get dusty or dirty. Some of this yarn, is stored on my shelves, so I can clearly see the colors. It creates a colorful backdrop!
I have created many items using this yarn, but I have only scratched the surface. Check back often to see the items I create with this up-cycled yarns.
