Reclaiming Yarn, Or $200 in Cashmere for $5

One of my favourite men and women (Angela) got me back again in the swing of knitting. I had stopped knitting when I moved out on my very own, and hadn't been that proud of the benefits. It turns out that I am a yarn top quality snob. The sweaters, scarves, etc... just weren't that much exciting to put on or indicate off when they were manufactured with inexpensive, artificial yarns. Now that I dwell in a excellent city (thank you, Seattle), with so a lot of choices for every hobby and hobbyist, I have occur to adore wool yarns. I used to think I was very allergic to wool, but the merino and cashmere kinds really don't look to bother me. The downside to that realization is that I expend a lot more on a modest bit of yarn. (It really is value it, although.)

A handful of weeks ago, my partner's choir, the Northwest Chamber Chorus had a fund raising auction. One particular of the products that I quite a lot desired, but someone else bought at the max bid correct away, was a set of three hand-knit, felted teddy bears. They looked amazing. The undertaking facts of that can be located on my Ravelry profile. The pattern was not meant to be felted, so it has that standard, fluffy teddy bear look, but when the ones at the auction had been completed, they looked lovely and vintage, like some thing out of the time of horse and buggy. I made a decision to make the first 1 for our friends' little girl.

Considering that this was going to be for a two yr outdated, I made a decision I almost certainly didn't want to invest the typical sum on nice merino wool, which would be wonderful for these bears. Following a bit of digging on the web for bargains on yarn, I stumbled upon an post regarding reclaiming wool from thrift keep sweaters by Lee Meredith. Nicely, this appeared like awonderful idea, and it was confident not to be a expensive experiment (and as a gentleman in appreciate with physics and rockets, I know about costly experiments... lol). A few of us obtained together to check out our nearby Goodwill retailer, I found 3 sweaters that had been of a good top quality, and picked the victim to be torn apart first - a $five dollar cashmere, camel coloured sweater with a few holes in the sleeves.

With the support of my companion, a yarn winder, and a swift, we speedily pulled apart the sweater, winding it into a ball, and then unwinding it onto the swift to make big loops of curly yarn. They had been soaked, hung to dry, and wound back again onto balls... for the most element. The only difficulty I had was when I tried using to wind them back again into balls after the drying phase. There was a bit of tangling, and for that, I would suggest tying the yarn loops in at minimum 8 spots before soaking them. Other than that, the guidelines Lee gave had been excellent, and I ended up with about 200 grams of lovely, soft cashmere prepared for my project. (120 grams was misplaced to the procedure, and to the places exactly where the sweater was currently broken.)