Yarn power
Next time you !nd yourself craving a new ball to bump up your stash, consider how the yarns you choose to buy can make all the di"erence.
When buying yarn, our love of texture and colour often takes over, but have you thought about how your purchases could improve the lives of others? Across the world, skilled artisans, many of whom are women, depend on the income they make from yarn they card, spin and dye. We speak to the people who have sought out ways to support the livelihoods of people all around the world, while producing exceptionally beautiful yarns.
GOOD INTENTIONS
Susan Inglis was moved to found From The Mountain Sources (www.fromthemountain. com) after falling in love with Afghan cashmere yarns and discovering the plight faced by many families in the country. “I love the way the yarn feels. I love the colours. I love using every scrap of it,” she enthuses. “Most of all, I love my connection to the hands that spun it, my fingers running over the same fibres the spinner’s fingers ran along as she was making the yarn.”
These 100% cashmere yarns provide sustainable livelihoods for women in Afghanistan. “Cashmere is a valuable commodity,” says Susan. “In a war-torn country where opium poppies have long served as a major cash crop, cashmere is an important alternative. Fortunately the country has many cashmere goats in rural areas.”
Julie Colquitt established Yarn Yarn (www.yarnyarn.co.uk) in 2008 after falling for sari silk yarn and discovering that of tons of silk waste goes to landfill every year. “Not only do Indian sari silk yarns offer a remarkable spectrum of colour and texture, but the ethical properties excited me,” she says. “These are handmade unique yarns made by women from waste in very poor areas of India. It’s a win-win situation!”
Julie sources the silk waste from Indian sari mills, which local artisans then spin into gorgeous yarns. This provides a vital income as well as helping skills to thrive. As Julie states on the Yarn Yarn website: “We want to create a sustainable cycle of employment and women’s empowerment. If we continue to buy these products, these villages continue to survive.”
Manos del Uruguay (www.manosyarns. com) was founded in 1968 by Manila Ch. De Vivo, Olga Artagaveytia, Sara Beisso, Dora Muñoz and Maria del Carmen Bocking. “They were ranch owners who shared the goal of creating jobs for the hundreds of skilled craftswomen in Uruguay’s countryside,” says Cecilia Lelanne from the company.
The initial idea was to market the handicrafts of women “whose skills, creativity and working potential was wasted. The founders wanted an organisation that was not only for the women but also by the women, so the idea of co- operatives was there from the start.”
Getting Manos to where it is today took a lot of work, faith and enthusiasm, Cecilia tells us, “as well as lots of training and support, plus the efforts of countless volunteers.”
The Mirasol Yarn Collection (www.mirasol. com) supports the Mirasol School, which is an initiative of Michell & Cia and yarn distributors in the US, Canada, UK and Scandinavia. Their aim is to improve the education of the children in the Muñani area of Puno, Peru. Raul Rivera is Marketing Manager at Michell, the leading alpaca yarn spinner in Peru. “We’re always involved in activities in the Peruvian Highlands, since that’s where all the alpaca breeding happens in Peru and where we obtain our fibre,” he says. “Michell currently buy between 55 to 60% of the Peruvian alpaca clip.”
FACING UP TO CHALLENGES
The ongoing war in Afghanistan continues to create challenges for Susan. “There are few roads in Afghanistan and when one closes it causes a severe interruption of supply for us,” she says. “At the moment, fighting in Kunduz is particularly problematical, but the problems it causes our business are nothing compared with the problems for the citizens of that province!”
The co- operative nature of Manos means that artisans maintain their independence, but this required a steep learning curve. “They’ve had to learn how to organise themselves, administrate the co- operative and direct Manos, as the directors’ board is elected amongst the artisans,” explains Cecilia. “They also need to achieve the levels of consistency and quality that are our pride and which our high- end clients expect.”
For Manos as a company, the biggest challenge is “how to take care of our social aim, while remaining competitive with other
“We want to create a sustainable cycle of employment
textile suppliers. To do this, we need to find ways to communicate our story and connect with clients that appreciate and value it.”
The Mirasol School hosts nearly 50 children, and has been accredited by the Ministry of Education of Peru. However, in the beginning, even the building was problematic. “Michell donated the space for the school and we had to build from scratch,” says Raul. “The altitude – 4,000 metres above sea level – and the weather conditions made this a challenge.”
They also had to be flexible in their thinking for the school. “In the first year we started teaching all the classes in Spanish, but we soon saw that many of the children were struggling. So we changed to teaching in Quechua, a native language in the Peruvian Highland and second official language in Peru. Then the magic happened, as all the kids started learning so much quicker.”
Maintaining the school is an ongoing issue. “At Michell we support about 70% of the project, with 30% coming from the distributors we work with at Mirasol Yarns,”explains Raul. “We’re trying to get more and more people involved to share the costs of financing the school year on year.”
Julie has spent years making Yarn Yarn successful. “Working with people so far away can be difficult,” she says. “There have been many, many obstacles such as buying in huge bulk, customs and taxes, the language barrier and money, which are the reasons I now visit and work directly with these people.”
She warns: “Setting up your own business and sustaining any sort of living from it is a very long and difficult process. The main element behind setting up your own business is passion! All things lead from this.”
IMPROVING CIRCUMSTANCES
In 2007, Michell initiated the building of a school. “We identified that the children were getting poor education in the area and the kids had to walk very long distances – up to three hours each way – to reach their classes,” Raul says. “Most of these kids are the children of alpaca shepherds.
“We came up with the idea of making a boarding school, for first to sixth grade, where the kids could stay from Monday to Friday, get a proper education, and do extra curricular activities such as weaving or planting vegetables, as well as being fed properly.”
Julie relishes the fact that through Yarn Yarn she enables her customers to help to alleviate poverty. “We want to give back to these communities, use up waste and also keep ancient crafting traditions alive,” she says. “With every purchase our customers make, with every sale of our yarns and hand crafted products, we aim to support and provide sustainable living within these communities.
“In many parts of India, spinning yarns is their only source of income. The artisans that make your products have a quality of life and do not need to go to the cities in search of work that doesn’t exist, and live in slums.”
In Afghanistan, years as a conflict zone has resulted in many civilian casualties, which has left women needing to support their families. “This is problematic because there are few opportunities for women to work, especially in rural areas,” explains Susan. “Spinning the yarn for us provides a network of about 100 women a way to earn income from home as they also care for their families.”
Another significant change over the ages is that school is now available to many more children, providing that the fighting isn’t too severe where they are. “School fees must be paid, however, and that’s an important use of household income in today’s Afghanistan.”
At the time when Manos launched, there were few possibilities for women in rural Uruguay to find work. “There was great poverty and women were highly dependent on their husbands,” says Cecilia. “Usually they wouldn’t finish school and stayed at home to raise children, occasionally doing laundry, cleaning or sewing jobs.”
Becoming part of Manos has the potential to change these women’s circumstances for the better. “It allows the women not only to provide for their families, but become more independent and aware of their own
“There are so many exciting projects using yarns other than wool. ”
possibilities,” says Cecilia. “It gives them the tools to own their lives.”
In the 1970s and 80s, many people were forced to move from their villages to find work in Uruguay’s capital city, Montevideo. But being employed in Manos co- operatives enabled the artisans to stay at home, keeping families together and helping them to retain their roots and quality of life.
Cecilia works with local spinners to develop the yarns and colours that will become new lines for Manos. “The co- operatives are located in very small towns and take an active part in the village community, so the benefits spread through it,” she says.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
The efforts of the companies we’ve spoken to allow families to stay together and retain age- old skills, even as their needs have altered. “These days, most household textiles and clothing is made elsewhere and the household now needs cash income,” says Susan. “Having a market for their handspun yarn continues to sustain the families and the communities in their current lifestyle.”
There are ways we can ensure that our own yarn choices have a positive, rather than a detrimental, impact. The first step, Susan says, is to ask the right questions.
“Always ask what it’s made of. Always ask where it’s made,” she says. “Favour natural fibres, and minimally processed ones. Fortunately, many yarn companies have very good answers for our questions, and will be eager to share their story.”
Happily, as Julie points out, yarns made from upcycled, recycled and waste materials are on the increase in people’s crafting consciousness. “We’re making jumpers, bags, hats and more out of old T-shirts and other materials,” she says. “There are so many exciting new projects going on out there using yarns other than wool. These offer so many possibilities for contemporary crochet, and fibre artworks.”
Cecilia urges us to buy less and buy better. “Consumption frugality means making more thoughtful purchases, taking sustainability into consideration, and thinking about the social and environmental impacts,” she explains. “This is especially true when we’re talking about a yarn, as you are going to invest a lot of time, care and effort into a crochet project. There’s no point in selecting a cheap, use-and- discard yarn. You should choose a yarn that feels good to crochet and wear, and doesn’t give you buyer’s guilt!”
It helps that the Manos yarns are a delight to crochet with. “You can fall in love with it for its buttery softness and gorgeous colours, and feel good by knowing that your purchase is helping a very good cause,” enthuses Cecilia. “Each skein that you purchase helps a woman in Uruguay to provide for her family. You can see her name on the yarn tag, so you know who you are helping and you can feel the connection with her.”
Raul has been struck by the increase in people’s interest in where the yarns they buy are made, and whether producing them has any social impact. “The Mirasol Yarn Collection is a truly social yarn line, since it’s making such a significant improvement in the lives of children attending Mirasol School,” he says. “We have seen how the kids are learning better, and gaining more confidence without losing their own traditions and culture.
“I personally visit the school once or twice a year and it is such a joy to see the kids being happy, well fed and getting an education. When you see that, you know your efforts are making a difference.”
Quite simply, by putting some thought into your yarn choices, you really can help to change lives for the better. And in our opinion, that knowledge can make your next crochet project an even more satisfying endeavour.