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.