Yearn-Worthy Yarns: Mango Moon

Mango Moon YarnsReduce, Reuse, Recycle: Michigan based Mango Moon Yarns takes the last two steps of that now infamous eco-mantra to another level. Working with the Nepali Women’s Empowerment Group, Mango Moon creates unspeakably vivid yarns made from recycled fibers.

The N-WEG, an NGO organization, welcomes abused women to their shelter, where they harness their native knitting and spinning skills to “rebuild their lives, while continuing to care for their children. Proceeds provide a safe shelter, health care, education and the dignity of financial independence.”

Woven from the yarn of old saris and sarongs, Mango Moon yarns comes in an infinite concoction of colorways. Their two most popular yarns are their 100% recycled silk and 100% recycled viscose. By integrating other sustainable fibers (e.g. cotton and bamboo), they have also introduced a variety of yarns that have a bit of stretch to them.

The Bumble Bee yarn, made of 100% nylon, is perfect for small accessories, as is their silk ribbon yarn. Not one to leave the fans of felting out, Mango Moon also sells hand spun 100% yak and wool yarns. A noteworthy collection of free patterns are available on their website as well – I’m partial to the Simple Shrug and Throw Blanket.

“I often think of the parable so many of us heard as children: You can give a family a fish and feed them for a day, or you can give them a fishing pole and feed them for a lifetime,” said Mango Moon founder Amana Nova in an article for Wild Fibers Magazine‘s Spring 2006 issue. “And that has been the mission of my inner voice as it leads Mango Moon. It all began with helping just one woman, who helped her village, who helped their families and so it goes – one sweater at a time. I wasn’t the one who started Mango Moon it was Mango Moon that started me.”

[Image courtesy of Mango Moon; 100% recycled viscose Bali Sky Sarong yarn]

Who makes your favorite sustainable yarns?

Which natural fiber is your favorite to work with? (i.e. cotton, wool, bamboo, hemp … etc.)

Let us know what you love to create with and we might feature them in the next installment of Yearn-Worthy Yarns!

6 thoughts on “Yearn-Worthy Yarns: Mango Moon”

  1. I was lucky enough to receive a skein of Mango Moon’s recycled silk yarn as a gift (which I knit into a gift that I gave to another person–yet more recycling, in a way!). It knit up beautifully into a dropped-stitch scarf, but is a bit too heavy for use in sweaters. A short poncho might work, since it’s an shaped garment that could handle being pulled down a bit.

  2. I was lucky enough to receive a skein of Mango Moon’s recycled silk yarn as a gift (which I knit into a gift that I gave to another person–yet more recycling, in a way!). It knit up beautifully into a dropped-stitch scarf, but is a bit too heavy for use in sweaters. A short poncho might work, since it’s an shaped garment that could handle being pulled down a bit.

  3. I was lucky enough to receive a skein of Mango Moon’s recycled silk yarn as a gift (which I knit into a gift that I gave to another person–yet more recycling, in a way!). It knit up beautifully into a dropped-stitch scarf, but is a bit too heavy for use in sweaters. A short poncho might work, since it’s an shaped garment that could handle being pulled down a bit.

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