Yearn Worthy Yarn: Crafty

Dr. Seuss Yarn I think I have an obsession for bulky yarns. Especially yarn that is hand spun and hand dyed with fantastic color ways. I find myself lusting over the most heavy and super bulky yarns in the hottest dog days of summer; a time when I’m supposed to be knitting and thinking only about lightweight yarns and projects so I won’t sweat to death. But when I came across Crafty Yarn, the shop just fed my obsession and I needed to learn more.

Most of Crafty Yarn’s bulky weight yarns are hand spun recycled yarn made from mill ends and scrap fiber. The other available skeins are made from reclaimed sweaters that have been frogged for their yarn. An avid knitter and recycler, Molly Bachelor, owner of Crafty Yarn, was interested in material reuse and doing something that was about the hand made process. She had always loved fiber and working with it so she learned how to spin and started to sell her recycled yarn a little over a year a go.

Finding good quality sweaters is key for Bachelor. Sourcing much of her material from large clearance centers and thrift stores, she is mostly drawn to natural fibers; especially wool. If a synthetic fiber is of particular interest she will buy it and “if it’s cashmere, I’ll grab it,” she said. She searches for fiber by sorting by type then looks to the sweater’s construction since she deconstructs it for reuse. She ends up with only about 5 to 10 percent of what she originally picks out.

For her hand spun yarn she gets most of her materials through the Sheep Shed Studio, which sells mill end rovings. The materials are the leftovers from mills and are literally what is picked up off of the floor. Bachelor said that you can find some interesting things other than fiber in these leftovers. Things like bits and pieces of leaves and dirt or in one case a friend found a bit of loom.

The hand spun skeins sport great names for their color ways. I love Dr. Seuss (pictured above) and there is something so great about the oxymoron that is Swamp Princess.

Crafty Yarn has a nice mix of both frogged yarn and hand spun even though Bachelor has been favoring spinning of late stating that spinning involves more of the creative process. She doesn’t count frogging out all together though, agreeing that it can be an art entirely of it’s own.

Crafty Yarn also offers more than just skeins of my obsession of bulky and super bulky. Bachelor includes a nice range of weight all the way down from worsted to lace weight.

More Yearn Worthy Yarns:

Image Credit: Crafty Yarn

3 thoughts on “Yearn Worthy Yarn: Crafty”

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top