This week’s Meet and Make designer is Nicole Snow of Darn Good Yarn.

In 2008, Nicole Snow created “Darn Good Yarn” by combining her two passions in life—art and helping others. The idea was simple: created high-quality, beautiful yarn without using child labor… all while helping the women of India and Nepal support their families.

Within a short period of time, Snow and Darn Good Yarn had a passionate following. “To our customers, it isn’t just about high quality fibers,” Snow explains. “It really is about helping people. That’s what separates Darn Good Yarn from the other companies.”

As it turns out, however, helping the women of India and Nepal and their families isn’t the only thing Darn Good Yarn has put its sights. Mother Nature is getting support as well.

About a year ago, Snow was being interviewed for a magazine article and an interesting question came up—“How much waste, if any, has Darn Good Yarn saved?” She pulled out a calculator, ran a few numbers, and came to the conclusion that in 2010, they had removed roughly 4,000 pounds of waste from landfills through their recycled yarns—the equivalent of 106,667 water bottles!

“Our recycled yarns have always been extremely popular,” laughs Snow. “But, in all sincerity, I had never realized exactly how big of an impact the sale of those yarns made! Seeing that impact gave me another goal—in 2012, I wanted to get rid of even more waste.”

A week ago, after running the final numbers, she knew she had reached her goal. In 2011, Darn Good Yarn removed a whopping 6,000 pounds of waste from landfills, or the equivalent of 160,000 water bottles.

Let’s meet Nicole!

10 Fun Facts about Nicole:

1- I’ve moved my house and Darn Good Yarn 10 times in 5 years (I’m finally in Maine)
2- I was an officer in the Air Force
3- I love red wine (until my knitting starts to suffer)
4- I can still do a pretty mean cartwheel
5- I’ve met Josh from the Fabulous Beekman Boys (Yes! He’s totally fab!)
6- I have an almost unhealthy love for the show Absolutely Fabulous…sweetie darling
7- I love to cook humungous meals (like Thanksgiving!)
8- I wanted to be an astronaut when I was little
9- I knew I was going to marry my husband after our first date–we’ve been married for 6 years!
10- I had a dream last week and everything in my dream was yarn bombed!

Here’s Nicole’s Project:

An Obi Belt

Abbreviations:

WYIF= with yarn in front
WYIB=with yarn in back
CO=Cast on
RS= Right Side
Sl=slip
K=knit
P=purl

Materials:

• 1 skein of Darn Good Yarn’s Recycled Silk Sari Ribbon in “At the Bahamas”
• 1 skein of Darn Good Yarn’s Banana Glama(If you ever have questions just email me nicole@darngoodyarn.com)
• Size 15 needles
• Optional: Crochet Hook (Q/15mm)

Instructions:

With your size 15 needles and At the Bahamas Reclaimed

Silk Ribbon, CO 11 stitches.

Row 1 (RS): k1, *sl1 wyif, k1; rep from *
Row 2: k1, p1, *sl1 wyib, p1; rep from *, end k1
Repeat row 1 and 2 until your piece measures 26 “.
Bind off. With your crochet hook (or you can use your fingers as well) use both Banana Glama and the remaining at the Bahamas and chain the two lengths of 32” each. Alternately, you can braid two lengths as well. Secure the ends and tie each length to each side of your obi belt as pictured. Weave in ends.