5 posts tagged “yarn”
I recently got an email from Dana Zukofsky from New York. She started knitting about 4 years ago, making scarves for family and friends. And you know how it is, you start knitting and you simply do not want to stop. She kept on making scarves & donating them to the Bronx Jewish Community Council for them to distribute to those in need. In her first year allow, she donated 100 scarves, over 3 years ago.
Obviously, knitting 100 scarves can get expensive so Dana is looking for donation of either yarn or finished scarves for the project.
I'm starting "Knit for Necks" at Granola Yarn. If you have extra stash or hand knit scarves sitting around, please send them to me (along with your name and email address) between now and November 15th. I will box up everything I get and send it off to Dana. In return, I'll email each participant a 10% off coupon their next yarn purchase at Granola Yarn.
I thank everyone for their help with this. It's starting to get cold out there, so let's show the world. Please send me an email at heather@granolayarn.com if you want more details or for the shipping address, visit the Charitable Page (also has information about Granola Yarn's ongoing charitable project).
In this heat, I still had the energy to get my new yarn and new patterns from Peace Fleece up today. I added two new colors - Soyuz Apollo Teal and Hemlock. The teal is pretty straight forward - it's a great deep blue teal with a bit of a greenish halo around the edges. The Hemlock can best be described as the offspring of Ancient Fern and Shaba!
I also added three, count 'em, THREE new patterns up from Peace Fleece as well. More to come!
Ok, ok, I'll admit - the title is a little mellow dramatic but last Saturday Randy and I returned from an afternoon out and our ever-so-vigilant neighbor informed us there was no power. Panic set it immediately. It was hot. Not just Whew-I-Need-Extra-Deoderent hot but Check-On-Your-Elderly hot. I'm convinced August in Ohio is some kind of weird global warming experiment. It's humid, hot, sticky and downright nasty and as much as I want to help the earth, I loves me air conditioning. No power = no cool. Eek!
It's been years since the power was out for more than a few minutes. So we had to sit back for a moment and make some decisions. When we were out, we picked up a few items from my favorite local grocery (including the best organic iced tea EVER) so we had to get everything in the fridge quickly. Then it started to dawn on us. We were going to watch 300. Couldn't. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on the Wii? Out of the question. Scheduled Tivo programs? Forget about it. I didn't realize how much we (ab)use electricity. There's so much I take for granted and although I'm not giving up these luxuries any time soon, I have to say we had a blast that afternoon.
Once we ruled out what we couldn't do, we could concentrate on what we could do. First of all - sit in silence. It was nice. Randy perused the book shelves for something new to read while I picked out which Peace Fleece I want to use to make a winter hat (I went with Samantha Katya Pink). Then we chatted a bit and played a board game. The house was buzzing. Not with buzzing with electricity, but with talking, laughing and general happiness. And it was nice. I'm a very lucky woman - I not only love my husband but I like being with him too. He is my bestest friend and my protector but on this day, he was also my entertainer and my co-star. I can only hope the power goes out in the winter for a while so he can be my furnace too! :-)
Anyway, it turned out to be a great afternoon and I have to say that when the power came back on a couple hours later I was really only thankful for the air conditioning part of it. I need to realize that a lot of the best things in life come from unplugged sources. Sometimes, all it takes is the loss of electricity to find that spark.
You recycle! You conserve! You craft! It’s time to face facts that the yarn in your stash might not reflect that you are trying to do your part to help the environment. I’m not here to bad-mouth synthetics. There’s no way I will throw away my grandmother’s crocheted afghans lovingly made with acrylic yarn from K-Mart, nor will I toss the funky polyester cap I knitted in my quest for greener crafts. No, after all, acrylic was created out of innovation and need.
By 1953, sales of top loading washing machines surpassed those of the wringer models that had been around in both electric and non electric forms since the 1700’s. A washer that needed no human assistance - a blessing to the “modern” housewife. Acrylic made laundry day so much easier. It dries quickly, it’s colorfast, warm, wrinkle resistant and it holds its shape. Women were just getting into the workplace they were up for anything that saved time in the home. I should be more thankful – it sometimes takes me days to fold my towels!
But the automatic posed serious problems to wool and cotton garments and when it’s paired with electric dryer in the next decade – the results are disastrous. But by this point, less and less clothing were made from natural fibers. In 1944, DuPont began developing acrylic and it was sold commercially by 1950. I won’t get into the science of acrylic, but it’s a long chain synthetic polymer produced from a petrochemical called acrylontrile. Really, all you need to know is acrylic is produced from a petrochemical, so the process and chemicals used to make it are hard on the environment!
What I’m suggesting isn’t that we abandon synthetic yarn and non-organic altogether, but think about slowly introducing organic or sustainable yarn into your stash. Maybe use it for special gifts – that way you’re giving a beautiful hand-crafted item plus you’ve given back to the earth! Or maybe buy a skein or two of hand dyed or hand spun yarn to use for smaller projects or accents! These are also less taxing on the environment because there’s less machining involved and much more artistic to boot!
Welcome to my wonderful world of green knitting and crocheting! Please see my profile on the right for more information about me and my company, Granola Yarn. I'm aiming to help change the face of yarn by offering greener yarn - organic, undyed, sustainable and support a growing community of artists who hand spin and/or hand dye beautiful unique yarn. I also love when I can find a supplier that's helping women in other countries become self-sufficient. We all win that situation - they can support themselves and their family and we get gorgeous yarn!
Granola Yarn isn't quite open yet. I'm still waiting on shipments and working on the design and layout of the site. No worries, I will be sure to mention the grand opening here when we're up and running!
In the meantime, if you have any questions or just want to introduce yourself - please do! Write me!
Heather
Owner - Granola Yarn
