Famous for its exuberant colors hand-dyed on fine merino superwash, Madelinetosh took a chance this year on a 100% upcycled yarn made from leftover wool destined for the landfill.
Spun in Peru from mill remnants and hand dyed in Fort Worth, Texas, Woolcycle Sport filled the company’s need for a quality sport-weight wool while also giving the hand-dyed yarn purveyor a way to gauge whether customers would embrace an upcycled yarn that might contain merino bits but other wools as well.
It turns out the answer is yes. Since its debut, Woolcycle Sport has become one of Madelinetosh’s top-selling bases and impressed makers with its softness, stitch definition, and color uptake.
“It brings a soft, washable yarn to our line in a weight perfect for baby and children’s garments, shawls, sock and lighter sweaters,” said Madelinetosh CEO Laura Zander. “It also ranks among our best yarns for rendering rich saturated colors.”
The yarn tells a compelling story in that every skein contains 100% wool leftovers from the spinning process. The mill where its spun is also Peru Fair Trade certified and Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) certified (for animal welfare, land management and worker treatment), holds a Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certification (ensuring products are harmless to human health), and it planted 1,250 trees in their city to reduce carbon footprint.
“This represents just one step in our sustainability journey, which is ongoing,” Zander said. “While knitters and crocheters might initially try Woolcycle Sport because of its sustainability cred, it’s Woolcycle’s bounciness on the needles and how it renders Tosh’s remarkable colors that brings them back.”
Madelinetosh has also released a limited run of an all-American yarn, Reno Rafter 7, in a tight 10-color tonal palette to test interest in an all-domestic product that’s not superwashed.
“Becoming more sustainable is like mastering knitting or crochet,” Zander said. “There’s always something new to try and learn.”
Based on her viral “Gap-tastic” cowl (20k Ravelry projects and counting), Jen Geigley’s Mellow Cowl is a lighter sport-weight version that showcases Woolcycle’s gorgeous stitch definition.
Today’s “it” beanie, the 1-skein Manhattan Hat Lite makes for a simple, conversational knit & adorable topper. Fun to knit in bouncy Woolcycle Sport.
This is the poncho everyone knit in 2011, redesigned in a lighter gauge for 2023 with more texture and no seaming. A must-knit.
Based on her viral “Gap-tastic” cowl (20k Ravelry projects and counting), Jen Geigley’s Mellow Cowl is a lighter sport-weight version that showcases Woolcycle’s gorgeous stitch definition.
We re-gauged our popular Baby Raglan pattern for sport-weight yarns to highlight Woolcycle Sport’s dyeability and easy stitching.
