I had 30 minutes to kill the other day, so I ducked into a thrift store for a little window shopping. Guess what I found! A sweater exactly like this one.
My lap afghan just doubled in size!
Have you found any thrifty surprises lately?
unraveling another sweater
I don’t have a plan for this yarn yet, but I really do enjoy unraveling sweaters. These colors are so nice together. Any project recommendations? I’m open to suggestions!
project finished: recycled sweater blanket
I finished the petite afghan today and oh my is it ever thick and warm! I started with a large women’s bulky knit sweater and ended up with a 30 x 30 inch granny square.
The yarn was eleven untwisted plies and I used a K-10.5-6.5mm hook. The border is a round of half double crochets with three stitches in each corner.
I can’t decide if this is going on etsy or in my holiday gift pile. It would nice to have one finished gift to cross of my list!
project info: Original sweater and pattern details.
my creative space
This week in my creative space I’m unraveling a sweater. I wasn’t planning to buy anymore sweaters. I don’t need anymore yarn. But I saw these little sparkles and all I could think of was a patchwork baby blanket.
I love the primary colors. New parents are always swimming in pastels. Bright colors are a nice change, don’t you think? Plus, take another look at those sparkles!
I’m planning to crochet solid color squares, so this will be the perfect vacation project. (Yes, I’m planning ahead for vacation projects.) I’ll seam them up when they are all finished. It would be easier to join them as I go, but I need a portable project for the plane, the beach, sitting in traffic, etc.
I’m getting pretty good at this unraveling thing. I hardly had any waste yarn — just a bunch of pesky knots at the end of each color change. And even they didn’t go to waste. My daughter took the pile of ends and put them in a bowl for her stuffed dog. He had ramen yarn noodles for lunch.
Make sure to visit more creative spaces over at Kirsty’s blog.
thrifty thursday
I was all ready to post about something else when this sweater literally came over to my house and never left. My friend Tana is destashing some of her hand knit sweaters. I told her I’d be interested in the cardigans and she stopped by this afternoon with them. There were a couple of pullovers in the bag, but I’m constantly hot/cold/hot/cold/etc. and don’t wear them much anymore.
I couldn’t stop looking at this one, though. It was such a lovely color blue. I loved the gray accent. I didn’t think I’d ever wear it, but Tana said I could do what ever I wanted with it, so you know what happened next, right?
I’ve abandoned that silly vintage wool for now and have started making the Chromium Star blanket out of this yarn instead. It is already turning out much better than I had even imagined. Thanks for the two fabulous cardigans and this wonderful yarn, Tana!
reuse: Hand knit sweaters are such a joy to unravel. They are always seamed together with such care. I wish all sweaters unraveled this nicely. I didn’t lose one bit of yarn!
thrifty thursday
Last weekend I hit a few church sales that turned out to be a total bust. I decided to stop by Goodwill on the way home just to window shop. (Hey, I was in the neighborhood!) Not only did I find this great sweater, but when I checked out it rang up half price!
I have been thinking of making some Nebraska football inspired (i.e., red, red and more red) accessories for my shop in the Fall. I really like the black and red plied yarn for Husker Blackshirts fans.
recycle: The sweater is a super soft cotton/acrylic blend with perfect seams for unraveling. Score!
recycling a sweater directly into a blanket
Toward the end of last week, I wasn’t feeling very inspired. Maybe it was the high pollen count? Maybe it was the non-stop conversation with my three-year-old? Maybe I just needed a little creative break? I decided a few days on crafty autopilot would be good for me, so I grabbed a sweater and started unraveling.
Since I only unravel when my “helpful” daughter isn’t around, I still have some of the original sweater to show you. This is one of my trade sweaters. I usually don’t mess with acrylic, but this sweater was so pretty and soft. Plus, it’s super bulky weight yarn and it’s working up fast.
I’m crocheting a petite afghan with a simple granny square pattern. The yarn is even more lovely after being unraveled. The kinks are falling out as I crochet, so I’ve eliminated that whole soaking and drying step. I’m curious to see just how big it will get.
Has anyone ever gone from sweater to blanket? How did it work up for you?
recycle: I wonder how many people we could keep warm if we turned all of the sweaters destined for the landfill into comfy blankets?
my creative space
I’ve got some tough decisions in my creative space today. I was given this beautiful hand-knit sweater from my friend Tana. It’s big. Really big. Too big to be refashioned with my ’80s sweater tutorial. She was thinking I could use it to make a felted tote bag. I can’t bear felting it. The stitch work is so beautiful.
This is what I’m thinking: take apart the seams and make smaller bags out of the front and back each. I would serge the edges to keep them from unraveling. I really like the colorway of the yarn, which is Cascade 220. I think I might unravel the sleeves and use the wool for some granny square scarves.
What do you think? What would you do with it?
my creative space
I am becoming known as the Master Unraveler. A friend of mine had two knit tablecloths, but didn’t know how to take them apart. They were seamed together, ruffled and hemmed with elastic. I took the first one from this:
to this:
In my creative space today, I’ll be tackling tablecloth number two. Did I mention that I get to keep some yarn for myself? Score!
Check out more creative spaces over at Kirsty’s blog.
a weekend of sweater unraveling
I’ve been thinking about white lately. Not bright white, but ivory, soft white and ecru. I’ve been keeping my eye out at the thrift stores, but all I could seem to find was that yellowish cream. Yuck. I even strolled down the yarn aisles at craft stores, which I haven’t done in a long time. I couldn’t bring myself to buy new. Not when I had so much at home.
Then one day while I was digging around in my stash closet I saw a beautiful, un-felted Gap sweater. It was the perfect color white and so soft: wool, nylon, angora rabbit and cashmere. And it had perfect seams for unraveling (those Gap sweaters always do!)
Friday evening I used a seam ripper to carefully take apart the front, back and sleeves. Saturday evening I unraveled it with the help of my swift and ball winder. This is what I had Sunday morning.
Don’t you just love how un-knit yarn looks like ramen noodles? Usually I will just work from noodle-y yarn, but I decided to try and get some of the kinks out. I soaked each bundle in cold water for 15-30 minutes.
After soaking, I hung them up to dry. I put a few wooden blocks in plastic grocery bags to weight the yarn at the bottom.
Look at what I have now! Isn’t it beautiful? Goodwill is having their 99 cent sale this weekend. I might have to check out the sweater rack.
thrifty reuse: I bought this sweater at a garage sale for $1. Can you believe it? Here’s my favorite online tutorial for unraveling a sweater for yarn.