this is how i made yarn from yarn scraps 🌷

as a knitter + crocheter who works with yarn, i’ve managed to accumulate a bottle of yarn scraps over a span of 4 years! I came across the idea of recycling yarn 🧶 from a tt video I had watched long ago, & the idea has been stuck with me for a long while now.

I’ve attempted spinning yarn from a mix of yarn scraps + fibres, but didn’t really like the colors I had chosen (I had used a pastel color palette previously) & decided to revisit the idea using a new color palette.🎨 I decided to use yarn scraps in the colors salmon orange (which I hated), dark green, purple, black and light green.

🍁here are some basic steps on how to recycle yarn:

1. brush out your yarn scraps

- only yarn made from natural fibres should be used! (some acrylics work too)

- decide if you want to separate your yarn scraps by colors. 👀 if you don’t, and decide to brush them together, they’ll turn out muddy-looking like mine 🐌🥔

- brush until your scraps are fluffy, then flip them over and brush more! make sure that all of your yarn has separated and becomes a fluffy fibre mess

2. pre-drafting:

- collect your fibres together and pre-draft (aka pull them apart slightly and gently)

- pre-drafting helps when you’re looking to spin a thinner yarn!

3. spin using a drop spindle (or yarn spinner if you have one 😍)

- the methods I used were park and draft, as well as drop spinning (youtube has many tutorials on both!!!!)

- I definitely recommend park and draft method for beginners!

❣️Things to note when spinning:

- thicker yarn = less spin needed (if more spins used, yarn tends to curl against itself)

- thinner yarn = more spins needed (if not the fibres are weak and the yarn can be easily pulled apart)

- how much spin you need really depends on personal preference and experience!

- different fibres have different lengths, which means how you draft them will be different too! for fibres with longer fibre length, you need to place your hands further apart to pull/ draft. 📏

- take note of the direction you’re spinning! in this case I’m spinning in the clockwise direction⚠️ (ie. s direction)

4. after spinning, consider plying!

- your yarn is currently single ply (ie. one strand)!

- plying means spinning this yarn that you’ve made onto another yarn

- to ply, transfer your yarn onto a bobbin/ a toilet roll

- you can choose to spin another single ply/ use yarn you already have (I used mohair, which is thin!)

- spin both yarn together in the OPPOSITE ❗️Direction that you spun your handspun in!!!!!

🌸 benefits of plying:

- makes stronger yarn! so it doesn’t break as easily

- creates more colors & textures (you can look into making fun yarn such as boucle 🤭)

5. after plying, I like to let my yarn rest on the spindle for a day before washing and drying to set the curls! 💦

these are some basic steps on how to make your own yarn from scraps! it’s really hard to explain over text and if you like, here are some resources I used:

- https://youtu.be/-_et_Lnz7f4?si=tOTOzhzB6oZ2qGWM

- https://youtu.be/jOZOs5rmMbM?si=Ek9bIscwpDVzZqd-

🧶 hope you have fun! feel free to dm me on ig (@knitb6y) if you need help~

#mindfulspending #MyFreeTime #hobbies #yarnspinning #crochet