A few years ago I learned to harvest yarn from old wool sweaters. I don't do it so much anymore, with the exception of if I find a sweater made from more expensive fibers. Last year I bought the holy grail of sweaters to harvest: a worsted-weight cashmere sweater in a nice navy blue.
It came apart easily, and then I unraveled each piece onto my yarn swift. I washed the yarn to de-kink it, and caked it into balls.
The result is a new cashmere pullover for me. The pattern is Caitlin Hunter's Koivua, though my version is edited down from the original pattern: I only did color work in the yoke, and knitted the rest of the sweater plain. It was the feather pattern that originally drew me to this pattern and I like the drama of setting it off by itself.
The light blue yarn was also harvested from a wool sweater and dyed with kool-aid some time ago.
I love wearing this luxury sweater from recycled yarn. I feel thrifty, ecological and cozy all at once.
5 comments:
Very cool! I remember your doing that a long time ago and wishing you lived closer so I could watch you do the process. Are you really able to get the kinks out of the yarn? Hope you've had a very nice Valentine's Day!
PS I think you should re-title your post Sweater Genius!!
I'm impressed! The feathers around the neckline are perfect. They look like jewelry.
Wow, good job!
Would you please add the widget to your blog that will allow me to receive your new posts by email? I've lost track of some of my favorite blogs, yours being one of them!
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