Cheap great yarn...recycle

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I recently found there is great fun in taking an old sweater, unraveling it and re-knitting it into something else. I did this with a sweater I bought at Goodwill with the purpose of felting it but it did not felt. The sweater was $3 and the yarn was beautiful and soft...unraveled and reknit made a great pair of mittens. Buying wool yarn is expensive and the super soft stuff of natural fibers is even more expensive. Also I have bought yarn and swatched it only to find out I did not like it is an expensive trial. But at the used clothing store you can see the yarn in action, feel it, see the drape. You don't even need to worry about yardage...if you buy a mans sweater you will have enough yarn for a basic childs sweater, a vest, hat, scarf, mittens/gloves, or slippers.

 

It's cheap, earth friendly, and fun.

[Colleen in NS]

I recently found there is great fun in taking an old sweater, unraveling it and re-knitting it into something else. I did this with a sweater I bought at Goodwill with the purpose of felting it but it did not felt. The sweater was $3 and the yarn was beautiful and soft...unraveled and reknit made a great pair of mittens. Buying wool yarn is expensive and the super soft stuff of natural fibers is even more expensive. Also I have bought yarn and swatched it only to find out I did not like it is an expensive trial. But at the used clothing store you can see the yarn in action, feel it, see the drape. You don't even need to worry about yardage...if you buy a mans sweater you will have enough yarn for a basic childs sweater, a vest, hat, scarf, mittens/gloves, or slippers.

 

It's cheap, earth friendly, and fun.

 

I keep saying I'm going to do this someday. I need to remember to look for wool sweaters when I'm in thrift stores. Very inexpensive way to get wool yarn.

[I talk to the trees]

I hear people talking about doing this all the time, but I have never found sweaters at my local thrift store that are in any type of wool I would want to re-knit. I have found sweaters for felting, but no luck with "luxury re-knits." We do have a very small thrift shop, through.

[ashfern]

I have a sweater that my sister got me from Nordstroms. It's beautiful & soft but it has a cowl neck. I live in GA. No need for that type of sweater. I keep thinking about taking it apart to make a shawl or shrug.

[Lizzie in Ma]

My BFF taught me how to do that last year! Such fun!

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I have a sweater that my sister got me from Nordstroms. It's beautiful & soft but it has a cowl neck. I live in GA. No need for that type of sweater. I keep thinking about taking it apart to make a shawl or shrug.

I would.

I keep eying my husbands cashmere/wool sweater he only wore once last year. I keep thinking I would make much better use of that lux yarn then he is and appreciate it more too...to him it is just a soft sweater, troglodyte:glare:

[Cinder]

I've been doing this too, but haven't had great success. I did get caught once with a sweater that was cut and seamed. I actually purchased it thinking I could wear it; I was also going to try dyeing it. But it was probably at the thrift store because it wasn't made to fit properly--the wrist openings were too tight. I thought I could then recycle the whole thing but it was then that I noticed it was cut. :sad:

 

I also got two sweaters that said 100% wool, dry clean only. Well, one was definitely a blend--I tried the burn test. So disappointed as it felt and smelled like wool and it even had vegetable matter in it. I figured it must be rustic, not acrylic. :glare: The other I didn't know about the burn test so I knit something up to be felted and it didn't felt!

 

I'm not giving up, though--I make a lot of hats for various charity groups. Just hard to find wool sweaters here in GA.