Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Going "Green" Can Be Fun!

Those of you who have read our latest March/April newsletter know that The Yarn Haven is trying to go "green". We've always recycled our cardboard boxes and aluminum cans, but we are trying to do our part to save the environment. We've switched from using plastic bags to paper bags...and have even provided some Chico bags to encourage our customers to use reusable bags.

One of the coolest things I have done is to knit my own "swiffer covers" with which to sweep up all of the fibers that hang around the yarn shop. Here's a couple of photos of the ones I made. I used Classic Elite's Star yarn...which is in our sale bin right now...and I've already made 3 of the covers. I alternated the main color, so I probably have enough yarn to make at least one more. These are the greatest dusters. The combination of the cotton yarn with its stretchiness and the ball band pattern make for a great swiffer cover. The pattern is not original with me. I found it at http://skullcharms.blogspot.com/2007/05/free-pattern-ballband-dishcloth.html. I used this pattern to make my swiffer covers, but I made a couple of changes. First of all, I cast on 75 stitches instead of 69 because I wanted to make sure the cover fit my swiffer. And then when I came to the bind off, I did it in purl instead of knit because the bind off edge on my first one tended to curl out instead of in. These swiffer covers are machine washable...and the best part is that I won't have to use disposable covers anymore. That will save on my pocketbook as well as be better for the environment. A win/win situation if you ask me. Several folks have started to make these swiffer covers. If you want to make some for yourself, check out the "Star" yarn in the sale bin. I've had more "fun" cleaning the floors the past couple of weeks. Who knew that cleaning could be this much fun!!

2 comments:

Curlysam said...

Here's another blogger who posts a lot of green solutions to life: http://thefeltmouse.blogspot.com/2008/01/go-green-in-2008-composting.html
Starting with this post and the consecutively older ones, she gives helpful tips for green living.

Beata said...

To anyone else reading this, I have to testify that the swiffer cover really works! I saw Sandy sweeping with them several Saturdays ago at the spin-in, and it picked up quite a bit of stuff. I was surprised that a knitted cover did so well!