I Have a very amusing 10 year old knitting nut…lol
I like to go out to the local thirft store looking for neat finds. During this I found 2 huge balls of Navy 100% mercurized cotton. 2 Navy balls of sock yarn -made in France)
I thought I would take a wonder to the sweater section to peek at some recycling possiblities.
I found a beautiful wool sweater in a pale yellow with cream and grey flecking.
As I was checking out that, my daughter wanted a quick lesson on finding sweaters that are suitable, so I told her the low down on fibers, and how to check the seams and wether it will unravel easy.
Out of nowhere I hear, mom I scored big time. She comes running up to me with the most beautiful teal sweater, that was half angora and half alpaca and so soft. You couldn’t have picked a nicer one. (needless to say she claimed the first item knitted from it (perhaps a new winter hat
while I was getting the stuff gathered to photograph I found in the ball of cotton a brand new one of those darning needles with the curved tip on it (always wanted one of those)
A close friend of mine came shopping with me at our thrift store once, they have 99 cent colored-tag sales there every monday, and in the mens section she found (and claimed, of course )not one, but two 100% Alpaca worsted/DK weight sweaters for 99cents! That was the last time I took HER shopping with me :grrr:
Kool! :cheering: I just got some natural sock yarn and a bunch of KA packets as well. I’m can’t wait to get experimenting! I hope mine turns out as well as yours.
so wait. you got all that yarn just from the back and collar of the sweater? you still have the front and sleeves left??? I’m going to have to go check out my local thrift stores!!!
I really need to try my hand at recycling sweaters again. I tried with one of my grandpa’s old sweaters following the online tut that’s out there. Needless to say I got quite frusterated and it off getting dusty in a plastic bag. :wall: I’m just glad I didn’t get too and and take scissors to it (well, not too much… :oops:)
When you are out looking be sure to check the seams to make sure they aren’t cut in any way or it is fustrating.
It did take about 3 hours to undo all the stitches but I think it was worth it.
I started knitting a sock with the purple and I really like it. I’ll post a pic tomorrow to show how the varigated worked.
Iam not a patient person by any means so I did a quick and easy dye to it, since it wasn’t an expensive item.
I used a glass bread/meat loaf dish. Emptied the kool aid in it, and addedd about 3 cups of hot water. Stirred it around and layed the wool in it, and pushed it down till it covered the yarn (added more hot water if it didn’t). Nuked for 1 min, picked the wool up with plastic tongs and flipped over. Nuked another min. Let it sit for 10 or 15 mins, ran lukewarm water in the dish until the wool was cool to touch. Pulled it out, gently squeezed until mostly all the water is removed. Hung on the hanger on my balconey till dry (about 24 hours).
Iam going to scavenger hunt again tomorrow to see what is out there.
I did it. i went to the Salvation Army last night and found 2 sweaters! Actually, DH found one of them for me. It’s a long womens sweater that kinda looks like a lab coat and it’s super thick!!! Don’t know what i’m going to do with that one… :happydance:
)not one, but 
