Recycling Experiment

Anyone who knows me very well, knows that I cannot just do one thing at a time. Undiagnosed ADD?? Maybe. I know that it's just the way I have always been. While I am working on one thing, I am also dreaming up many more. I will not have enough days in this lifetime to finish all my projects, so I can justify (at least in my own mind) jumping from one fancy to the next.

For some time I have looked through the sweaters at my local thrift stores with the idea of recycling the yarn. Recently, I spied a New Zealand wool sweater. While the sweater was nice and wearable, it didn't work for me as is. What could it become in it's new life?

I detached and raveled, washed, dried and skeined one of the sleeves. It yielded a 100gram ball of two-ply at approximately 150 yards.

I then ran a felting test... I knited a swatch in three different gauges and washed it in the machine in hot water, cold rinse. It didn't felt!! Hmmmm....

My son has an incredibly large head...it's all those wonderful brains, right?! I bring this up because it's very hard for him to find a store-bought hat that doesn't cut off his circulation. So the first reincarnation of my thrift sweater is a beanie for Zak. Mmmmmm...warm... Cozy enough to nap in!

Okay, I'm still dreaming... How many other things will this one sweater become? More to follow...