You never know how things come around and go around, until you can look back. Recycling is totally about things coming around and going around, and here’s what I can tell you about that.
My family has been into recycling since I was a kid. We started by collecting aluminum cans and selling them for 10 cents a pound. My brothers and I got to split the money.
For a long time, I despaired about old, worn, torn clothing and household textiles. I hated to throw them away, but at some point I had to, because what else could I do? Then my brother Van and his wife Kathy discovered American Textile Recycling Services at a green building event. They told me about it and solved one of my life’s dilemmas.
Since then we’ve recycled lots of textiles with ATRS, including shoes, pillows, old toys, and even fabric scraps and trimmings from my knitting, crochet, and art-making.
And then, yarn made from recycled textiles came to my attention. You can read more about these yarns in the Autumn 2015 issue of Crochet! magazine. The article is “How Recycled Textiles Become New Yarn,” on pages 10-12.
To write the article, I spoke to Debra, a very friendly and informative person at ATRS. She mentioned the ATRS blog, Our Greener Tomorrow. Maybe I could write a post for the blog at at some point, she said.
I did, and here it is: Suzann Thompson Retells Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Flax” Since this blog post was published, ATRS discontinued their blog. You can find the rewritten HCAndersen tale on this blog.
The flowers are the Rounded Petals version of “Millefiori” from Crochet Bouquet: Easy Designs for Dozens of Flowers, crocheted with Berroco’s Remix® which is made from recycled post-industrial textiles.