For this week’s Yarn Corner, we’re diving into one of my favourite corners of the craft world: recycled yarn. As you know from my Dogfish Diaries, I’m always looking to explore with the more eco-friendly yarn options, especially as practical replacements for the real thing.
New in at the shop this week is ReTwisst’s T-Shirt Yarn, a completely different take on yarn from the ground up.
Recycling Specialist brand ReTwisst launched T-Shirt yarn as the first product of their entire company. This line's production is a bit different from your typical recycled yarn, which is why you can actually tear up your makes in a form of easy frogging to reuse yarn for re-recycled projects.
In terms of dimensions, you're looking at about 55m and 300-500g per ball. These chunky cakes are definitely on the hefty side!
T-shirt yarn is produced by taking fabric remnants from textile companies that don’t use chemical processes to make their cotton shirts and other garments. Production surplus comes to ReTwisst as fibers or fabric pieces, which are then sorted by quality and assembled in their factory.
They turn these bits and pieces into solid stretchy T-shirt Yarn by adding a bit of elastane to the recycled fibers.
Because fabric and fiber remnants are sort of ubiquitous in the manufacturing world, ReTwisst never runs out of material with which to make more yarn. And they have a large production capacity, which means dozens of different shades are available to stock at all times. I really appreciate a well-thought-out supply chain, and I’m definitely more likely to invest my time and energy into making projects that use less resources over their full life cycles.
T-Shirt yarn is brilliantly designed. But since they use real waste fabrics from big textile factories, each shade of yarn will be a bit different from season to season depending on fashion trends and popular colours. Also, the weight, length, and thickness may vary due to the type and content of the fabric. Some ideal projects for this yarn are bags, rugs and placemats.
Crochet or knitting with T-shirt Yarn is super easy. Because the strands are so thick and lack the headache-inducing fuzz that comes with some regular yarns, you can make up your projects in such a short amount of time. Your colourful project will work up quickly, and will look great with simpler designs and stitches.
If you don’t like the finished project or you are tired of it, you can simply rip it and crochet another design. Your yarn won’t have any damage by ripping. This will give you the chance to try to crochet again and again with new designs.
Best for: baskets, bags, rugs, poufs, mats, jewelry, accessories, etc.
There is no limit to what you can crochet or knit with T-shirt Yarn—just your creativity!
Free Patterns Galore!
Because T-Shirt yarn looks a bit different from the usual chunky options, it might help to see it in action. Luckily, ReTwisst has quite a few video crochet tutorials available for free to watch on their YouTube channel, as well as a few free downloadable patterns.
Most of these projects call for an 8mm crochet hook and single sewing needle, along with a ball or two of yarn.
First up, we have a full tutorial demonstrating how to crochet a big recycled basket:
This is a completely free video pattern with over a million (!) views, easy to follow instructions, and really catchy background music for a mindful making experience. Here’s a download for the free pattern in PDF format.
Make sure to turn on captions to get the full pattern while you watch along, as shown below:
Next, we have a Crochet cat house! This is such a utility yarn, good for making just about anything you can think of. Click below to download the free pattern!
ReTwisst used to sell cute projects like the Fringed Cat House and this Fox Basket as all-inclusive craft kits. Although they only supply the individual cakes now, you can still watch full pattern tutorials for free on YouTube and buy the materials separately, as well as download a few of the free patterns.
This mini rabbit basket looks like such a quick make!
Even this Lion Rug won’t take up too much of your time! The pattern costs €1.99. Here’s the link if you’d like to purchase a digital download.
A nice pattern to save for the autumn months.
A cute gift for kids!
What an adorable cow! This basket might be my favourite.
There’s so many reasons to try out this unique line of yarn for your next project. You’ll get 15% off as a premium In the Wool subscriber for 3 weeks this time, as our next edition isn’t until the beginning of May. So make the most out of your discount!