Yearn Worthy Yarn: Darn Good Yarn

With a name like Darn Good Yarn, it’s hard not to like this yarn and their principals. This U.S. based company offers a small variety of yarn but specializes in recycled silk sari.

The yarn is spun from the remnants of the production of silk saris in Nepal. Darn Good Yarn only works with co-ops in Nepal that offer fair trade pricing for the spinning of the yarn.

From their website:

Not only will you get some great yarn from Darn Good Yarn you’ll be contributing to a grassroots economy in Nepal. When you knit and craft up this yarn you’ll automatically be connected with the people, mainly women, living on the other side of the world…We only do business with co-ops who provide fair trade and wages to the people who create Darn Good Yarn’s yarn. This in turn provides locals with wages, healthcare & education benefits for them and their families.

Their recycled silk sari yarn is quite beautiful. The yarn is very reasonably priced and comes already balled, so you can get to knitting right away.

For the more “adventurous” yarn-a-holics, there is the blender. This yarn is a far less refined recycled silk sari yarn. It is louder, bumpier and has bits and bobs of whole silk thrown in for good measure.

Darn Good Yarn also carries a raw looking hemp yarn and a wild wool yarn that is spun in Nepal as well.

All in all, Darn Good Yarn has a great selection for anyone who wants to support fair trade and perhaps try a new yarn.

Written by Kelly Rand

Kelly covers visual arts in and around Washington, DC for DCist and is editor of Crafting a Green World. Kelly has also been published by Bust Magazine and you can find her byline at Indie Fixx and Etsy’s Storque and has taught in Etsy’s virtual lab on the topic of green crafting.

Kelly helps organize Crafty Bastards: Arts and Crafts Fair, one of the largest indie craft fairs on the east coast and has served on the Craft Bastard’s jury since 2007. Kelly is also co-founder of Hello Craft a nonprofit trade association dedicated to the advancement of independent crafters and the handmade movement. Kelly resides in Washington, D.C. and believes that handmade will save the world.

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