Before:
I'm not sure if you can see in this photo that it's really acting like 3 strands of yarn rather than a 3-ply yarn. But you can definitely see that the kink from it previously being a sweater is still very much present.
As you can see, I still had a lot of tiny balls left over from the Recycled Wool Project. So I separated the yarn into bigger balls and smaller balls, tied them together as I was plying and then gave it a good long soak.
After:
I now have 1268 yards over 3 skeins and 7 5/8 ounces of recycled lamb's wool in a lovely 3-ply yarn, all ready for my next project.
I will make a mental note to take more care when separating the panels of the next sweater I recycle. Fortunately the plan I have for the yarn means the knots should not be issue... let's hope that's true.
In the meantime, I hope you are having a lovely Fiber Arts Friday. Be certain to see what everyone else has been up to over at Wisdom Begins in Wonder.
18 comments:
It looks lovely all skeined up, hope the knots don't become an issue. What are you planning for it?
Wow, what a difference! I just bought my first goodwill sweaters to recycle and they're sitting in a heap because I'm a little bit scared of them. Thanks for the inspiration!
Ooops, left that part out... I have two hats planned. They will take a while since it's sock-weight yarn.
So I've only actually done it twice but I love unraveling sweaters to recycle the yarn. I don't know that I would have the patience to add twist back in however. Awesome job!
What an amazing transformation! I will be excited to see this wool in it's next incarnation, any ideals what it will become?
When I learned knitting as a little girl, I always had the job of ripping out sweaters, skein the yarn on the back of a chair, wash the skeins, and then hand-wind them back into balls. I love the rhythm of ripping out a large piece of knitting, although nowadays I'd be concerned about the sanitary of a donated garment.
That's great transformation from little balls to big skeins of yarn. Look forward to seeing the hats!
Your reconfigured skeins of yarn look amazing! I, too, am a little intimidated at the thought of recycling a used sweater ... but am nevertheless interested in attempting it to see the deconstruction.
Will look forward to the hats!
@Carlin - given what I know about your spinning and plying skills, I would seriously expect that you have plenty of fortitude. ;-) It actually went quite quickly.
@Vivian - fortunately this sweater was mine already, so I know where it has been. But I think if I were to recycle a donated sweater I would ensure it was properly cleaned first.
@VdV - it took a lot longer than I expected to deconstruct the sweater, but re-plying the yarn took relatively little time.
I am very curious to see what you're going to knit that won't be effected by lotsa knots!
Now that is a labor of love! I'm excited to see what you knit with it!
Jess
The finished product is beautiful.I think you'll be surprised how quickly your hats will knit up even in sock-weight yarn. I knit a double cap for my son in just a couple of weeks last year. Hats are so fun that they just fly off the needles. Have a wonderful weekend.
WoW! What a difference all that hard work made. Your skeins look beautiful. Now...are you ready to knit another project. Cast on!
They look great, I think skiens of yarn always look more exiting than balls, not sure why!
@ALittleBitSheepish - I have to agree. I almost forgot to wind the yarn into a ball so I could start the first hat. ;-)
That turned out great! I can't wait to see what you make with it.
Kathryn - my future d-i-l told me about the Russian Join instead of spit splicing, which is what I had been doing. It replaces knots and is so easy to do. You can find YouTube videos that show it very clearly. Super easy. That said, I also just tore apart my first sweater, wrapped the yarn around a home make niddy noddy, washed, balled and made felted slippers. Lots of work, but the slippers cost less than $1 considering all the yarn I still have left over.
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