R-E-C-Y-C-L-E, Find Out What It Means to Me

So, I've been reading a lot lately about recycling sweaters for the yarn, so I decided to give it a try.


Ann Taylor Silk Vest I Bought for $1.75


I bought this vest at a thrift store. I figured it was a small enough project to start out with, and it was cheap enough so that if I really screwed things up it wouldn't break the bank.

Deconstruction


I dove right in to separating the shoulder and side seams.


Unraveling on to the Swift


I'm holding the scrunched up vest piece in my left hand and spinning the swift with my right. The swift winds up the yarn....

All Unraveled

...until it's all wound up.
This was the swift I hinted broadly about to Steve before Christmas.

All Tied-Up

Then you tie the yarn up to keep it from getting tangled when you wash it.

Washing

Then you soak the hanks over night (in anything other than Woolite...who knew?)

Drying

You leave the hanks to dry, with a little extra weight to help straighten the kinks.


Winding On to the Ball Winder

So, you put the hank back on the swift, take one end of the yarn and thread it on to the ball winder. As you crank the handle on the ball winder, it pulls the yarn off the swift and winds it in to a ball (ahem, hence the name.)

Weigh In

177 grams
6 1/4 ozs.


Finished Product

Pretty cool, eh?



So cool, I decided to try it again.



Pink Cashmere Sweater $5.49

This is where I learn one of the rules of recycling yarn: if you've got a cardigan, you have to be careful about how the front opening is made. Sometimes the opening has been steeked where it's actually knit in one piece then cut up the middle for the opening, making the right and left front unravelerable™.


So now I have a right and left front of a sweater,


but I also have this (194 grams, 6 7/8 ozs.)


White Cashmere $8.99

And this....


...became this......(236 grams, 8 1/4 ozs.)


Impossibly Twisted Cream Colored Wool- Priceless

Don't even get me started on this; I don't know what was going on with this sweater. No matter what point I tried to unravel it from, it simply Would. Not. Unravel.

Hmmm, you live and learn, I guess.

Christmas Knifts

Here's a couple of the knitting gifts Danny and Rachel got me for Christmas



Rachel's Pincushion
Rosebud Pincushion- Reclaimed Wool by Heidi Leugers
http://www.reclaimedwool.com

Dan's Circular Needle Holder
Circular Chicks in a Row
Made from vintage fabric
Handmade in Oakland, CA
http://www.OffhandDesigns.com

Bagel Blogging

So, this was my first attempt at bagels. They came out pretty good- I used John McChesney-Young's (tip o' the hat to John) recipe. The only thing I would have done differently is rotate the sheets on which the bagels were rising (I think one was a little warmer than the other, and therefore rose a little more.)

We toasted them and had them with ham and eggs for dinner...Steve had cream cheese, smoked salmon and capers; I had cream cheese, cherry tomatoes and scallions...mmmmmmm.

Baby Bagels


Boiling Bagels


Blotting Bagels


Bestrewn Bagels


Bare Bagels


Baked Bagels


Breathtaking Bagels

It's Been a Long Time Coming

Celebrate With a Happy Dance!
(If you get a chance, watch the Hi Def version on YouTube...just click on the movie after it starts and it'll take you to YouTube- click on the blue link right under the movie that says "watch in high quality")

Don't Let The Screen Door Hit You On Your Way Out.....

How many people woke up this morning thinking that thought? Going to bed on Monday night I felt just like a little kid on Christmas Eve, so excited that I couldn't sleep (O.K., so maybe it was that afternoon latte thankyouverymuch, Starbucks!)

I can't help hoping that, like Bob Newhart and Suzanne Pleshette, we're just going to wake up Tuesday morning and the last eight years will have been a dream- a really bad one at that.

Well, we're awake now, and as soon as we've had our coffee and pop-tarts it'll be time to get to work, which, I guess is why I've started this blog. I was going to just add a new chapter to the blog that Rachel and I started on our trip across country (see "A Long Strange Trip"), but then I decided that I had a real desire to start something entirely new, my monument to change, if you will. Well, there you have it.

I'm hoping that this will be a place to record the highs and lows of my "January 20, 2009 Resolutions". The title "A New Thread" is a play on words hopefully evoking a feeling of change and/or knitting, with maybe a little cooking, photography (mostly pictures of my knitting and cooking), and, ahem, exercise thrown in. It was only fitting that I launch my new blog on this most auspicious occasion, where everything looks doable.

I'll try to post often; feel free to email me with feedback (especially you young whippersnappers...if you have any helpful blogging techniques, let me know...) There may be a slight lag occasionally between posts; my Wii yoga instructor gets very testy when I don't show up at least every other day- (those Wii instructors can get very snarky.)

And so, in the words of Bob Newhart, "You really should wear more sweaters." Words to live by.

P.S. You can get updates on all new posts by clicking that little link at the bottom of the post that says "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)" or click on the link at the top of the page on the right where it says "Posts"....(go on, click it, you know you want to.) It's really easy, especially if you have a gmail account. All the really cool kids have gmail accounts :)