Saturday, December 9, 2017

What The Heck Is An Ort?

What do you do with your orts? I keep mine in a jar.

OK, like most people I only recently learned that I have orts. The dictionary definition of ort is a scrap. Any crafts person has lots and lots of orts. I have yarn scraps  and embroidery thread scraps and sewing thread scraps. Those pesky little ends that we cut off when we finish. As much as I tried to keep them under control till I could throw them out, some always escaped and wound up on the carpet or tucked in the chair cushions or even on the dogs. I wore a few too.

Then one day  a fellow knitter mentioned her ort jar and I had to look it up to see what she was talking about. Then everything changed. I found a tall glass jar. Any container will work but glass allows me to see all the pretty colors I've used and reminds me of certain projects that were fun or meaningful.
I try to keep my ort jar going for a full year, then at the end of that time, I move my orts to a suet feeder in the tree so that the birds can use the scraps in building their nests. Birds are attracted to bright colors so it's fun to see what they choose first.
This year my jar started to overflow before the end of the year so we filled two suet feeders and now I can start over with an empty jar for the new year.
Recycling those threads seems like a better idea than throwing them in the trash. What do you do with your orts?

4 comments:

Bella Roxy & Macdui said...

Never heard of that term before...probably because I'm not crafty. Love the idea of putting them out for bird nests!

Ruby said...

Wells, if Ma COULD do the yarn thingies and make FABulous stuffs like your Moms, then we would have TONS of those orts I'm sure! I thinks the burdies around her would loooooves ORTS! I thinks I would likes them too...they looks like fun to play with and good teeth flossers!
Anyhu, I hopes you guys are warm and snuggly...if you needs some warm and sun, come on overs, it's gonna be near 70 all week!
Kisses,
Ruby ♥
pees: that means margaritas for everyones!

Molly the Airedale said...

Mom tosses her scraps. This is a brilliant idea!

Marjie said...

Bird nesting orts is a great idea! Like you, I've never heard of orts. But if small bits of fabric that might be somehow useful some day for some thing count, then my ort bucket runneth over.