Cascade Yarns introduces 2 lines of yarn with Recyled PET in 2020

[qfknit]

Cascade Yarns has just introduced 2 lines of yarn with Recycled PET: ReBound and ReVerb.

ReBoundis made from 100% post-consumer recycled materials, 70% Polyester (Recycled PET), 30% Cotton (Recycled).

The care instructions are "Hand wash cold. Lay flat to dry."
ReBound is assigned a yarn weight of 4, based on Yarn Council guidelines, and skeins contain 164 yards.
ReBound shown as being available in 10 colors:

01 - Pearl
02 - Sand
03 - Peach Blossom
04 - Charcoal
05 - Black Plum
06 - Chili
07 - Nectarine
08 - Denim
09 - Teal
10 - Ink

Three free patterns are offered by Cascade Yarns for the ReBound yarn, and Cascade Yarns asks that readers download, print and share:

A344 Do it Again Cowl
A348 Elycpso (Cowl)
A353 Hat for Ella

ReVerbis made from 100% post-consumer recycled materials, 70% Polyester (Recycled PET), 30% Alpaca (Recycled).

Like many alpaca yarns, the care instructions are "Hand wash cold. Lay flat to dry."

ReVerb is assigned a yarn weight of 3, based on Yarn Council guidelines, and skeins contain 273 yards.
ReVerb shown as being available in 10 yummy colors, representing a subdued, earthy pallete of neutrals:

01 - Oatmeal
02 - Silver
03 - Olive
04 - Jet
05 - Apricot
06 - Navy
07 - Cinnabar
08 - Peach Blossom
09 - Flint
10 -Coffee

Three free patterns are offered by Cascade Yarns for the ReVerb yarn, and Cascade Yarns asks that readers download, print and share:

DK658 Climbing Wall Hat
DK661 Abundance of Cables Cardigan
DK663 One Row Mobius (scarf)

What is PET?

PET is described on wikipedia, as recycled bottles.

A recent email newsletter from LoveCrafts describes:

"new recycled yarns from Cascade
made using recycled bottles!
1kg of fiber contains 20 plastic bottles!
*approx 20 bottles per 1kg"

[Char]

What a wonderful use of recycled bottles! I had never heard of this.

[lovestostitch]

qfknit - Have you seen it in real life? Touched it? I would be curious to know what it feels like after washing. I'm wondering what happens when someone tosses it in the dryer by mistake. Melts? Yikes, I can picture a dryer disaster. I put a microfiber towel next to my cooktop to catch drips between the pot on the stove and the dish I was ladling into. That towel melted into hard plastic on my cast iron grate. I could not get it off. I even heated the grate up, thinking I could then scrape it off. Nothing worked. Fortunately, I had an extra grate.

[qfknit]

I've not seen the yarn locally... just received email notice.

[EllenDeKnitter]

Just curious --- What processes are used to turn the bottles into yarn?

In a number of communities the largest point source of pollution is the recycling plant. I am all for eco-friendly recycling, but many items cause terrible pollution to recycle and we'd be better off putting into the dump.

[lovestostitch]

I refuse to recycle peanut butter jars because I waste so much soap and water trying to get them clean.

[qfknit]

EllenDeKnitter - Great question. I wondered about that as well, especially when I made a related post in
Forums > General > Fiber-Inspiration-and-News > Cascades' new recycled yarns... and recycled plastic bottles in many products!

I also wondered whether people may be surprised to find they may already own something which was once a plastic bottle!

I believe that if this process of fiber-making is occurring, it is good for people to aware of it. Possibly Consumer Reports or another organization will take a look into these fibers and weigh in on them with some insightful compare/contrast, regarding both manufacturing and use...?

[WeeBizzom]

lovestostitch Yes, and some of them have plastic lids that can't be recycyled anyway

[WeeBizzom]

I love the idea, but I agree that recycling itself can cause problems, so I think we need to know a bit more before rushing out and buying. I had a look on Cascade’s site to see if there were any stockists near me (Glasgow, Scotland) so I could have a look in person, but the nearest one is in Maine, USA, so maybe it’s Plan B, then!