Yearn Worthy Yarn: Redhart Eco Brands

Even though I live an a large metropolitan area, getting yarn can be tricky. You would think that more people found in an urban environment would equal more LYS, but no that is not the case. So every so often I find myself begging friends with cars, or jumping in a Zipcar myself, to whisk away to the ‘burbs in search of yarn at the big box stores.

I recently needed to make such a journey and found myself staring down the yarn isle at A.C. Moore. In amongst all the horrid, scratchy, acrylic yarns, I found a new addition to what big box stores have to offer in ways of eco-friendly yarn.

Redheart yarn has joined the ranks and now have an Eco-Cotton yarn. This yarn is about 75% recycled cotton and 25% acrylic. It isn’t the most environmentally friendly yarn, but it is encouraging to see reuse in a big brand name like Redhart.

The yarn comes in a small selection of solids and marbles. It isn’t very soft, but perhaps it would mellow a bit once worked and worn.

Redhart also has a yarn called Eco-Ways, which is made with only 30% recycled polyester and 70% acrylic. It seems kind of laughable to market a product with so little recycled content, but again for a company whose line is made up of mostly acrylic, I have to begrudgingly give them a small gold star for a step in the right direction.

The other interesting thing about both of these yarns, is that their labels are printed on recycled paper. Now if they could just get that into their other labels.

[Image from Redheart’s website]