What do we do with sweaters that
don’t make the cut? Do they lurk in dark corners, gathering dust? Do you hide
them in the back of your closet, like the evidence of a crime? That’s what I have been doing,
but no more. I’m chucking my failures into the recycling bin so I can start over.
The knitting makeover has begun!
Tim Gunn, Veronica Webb & Scott Stone, Photo by Frederick Brown: Getty Images
Television fashion experts always
stage a dramatic scene when the victim is stripped of her wardrobe. They cart her clothes away in giant bins, as if to emphasize the enormity of her bad taste.
It’s a horrifying, but cathartic moment. When you see Tim Gunn pull out the
blue garbage can, you know that he means business! And what he leaves behind is an empty
closet, symbolizing new, exciting possibilities!
I can’t help but be attached to the
handmade things that I spent hundreds of hours working on. But I've already learned everything I could from them. It's time to move on! At least, with knitted
clothing, there’s no need to throw it away—with enough patience, it will be unraveled and reborn, like a phoenix rising from the flames!
Joe Hastings, The Shape of Fire, http://www.flickr.com/photos/joehastings/408552223/in/pool-theshapeoffire
Yarn, Reborn!
The process of recycling yarn
seems to be relatively simple. I’m not an expert on doing this. But my experience
is that, once you unravel a sweater, the biggest problem is finding a way to
get the kinks out of the yarn. I’ve found that fine wool is more plagued by
this problem than anything else—even in the midst of a project, I had to
wash the kinks out of a ball of 4-ply wool that I’d half unraveled before I
could finish the bodice! Otherwise, I got a weird bumpy texture
when I knitted the unraveled yarn that didn’t match the rest.
Recipe for Reclaiming Yarn
1. 1. Take the yarn and wind each section into a skein, securing the bundle with a yarn tie in a contrasting color.
2. 2. Wash the skeins of yarn in a sink full of tepid water with mild detergent, just as if you were washing a sweater. Rinse thoroughly and pat dry with a towel.
3. 3. Hang the skeins of yarn up to dry, each on an individual hanger. Preferably a plastic hanger that will not leave a stain on your yarn.
Following
that procedure, I was able to convert this boring ribbed sweater:
Into this cabled vest!
Kidsilk haze is the exception I’ve found to
this rule. Maybe it’s me, but in a lace pattern the mohair just seems to graft
together, and when I try to separate the strands from each other, they break.
If anyone knows of a technique for unraveling a lace sweater knit in kidsilk haze, please post it in the comments section! I’d
really like to be able to do something else with this:
What Projects Will be Reborn?
I have my
eye on three sweaters that I am planning to unravel & convert into something stylish by September of next year. I’ve chosen my sweaters to be unraveled because I like the color of their yarn, and the yarn was darned expensive, too!
1. The Sausage Casing:
The $150 cocoon sweater is at the top of the list. This was a very generous birthday gift one year, and I'd like it to be a gift that keeps on giving! What can I make with this bulky yarn? A fitted
garment is probably not ideal. In fact, I’m not wild about using chunky-weight yarn for any kind of
formal top. Since what I like about cocoon is its delicious softness, I’m going
to make it into a cozy turtleneck that will keep me warm while hiking in the
ocean wind:
This is Louisa Harding's Truro, from Jaeger Handknits JB36
2. The flying bluebird sweater:
Something went wrong with the gage of my moss stitch at the top of this sweater. The sleeves seem to have wings of their own, as if they’re about to flap away and roost somewhere! I’m a broad-shouldered woman to begin with, and I really don’t need all that loose fabric flapping up there. Why not just reknit the sleeves? Because I don't like the closed neckline and overall look of the sweater, now that I've lived with it for a while.
Instead, it will soon be
reborn as a lovely, fitted cardigan (I hope.) I've had mixed results with reclaiming thin, wool yarn in the past. Here is my dream destination for this yarn:
This is Basic Black, by Genna C. You can find her free patterns at: http://crazyknittinglady.wordpress.com/free-patterns/
3. The Walking Waffle:
This shapeless sweater has been annoying me for some time. Your candid comments have given me the courage to destroy it! Rowan cotton glacée is lovely yarn, and particularly easy to recycle. I have my eye on several new creations for this yarn:
Top left is Vanessa, from Rowan. Top right is Slinky Ribs from Wendy Bernard. Pictured lower left is Rickrack Rib Pullover by Kat Coyle, and lower right is Evening Star by Esther Yun-Mancini. Does anyone have a vote?
Off I go,
to start unraveling! It’s just like pulling off a band-aid. Just grit your
teeth and grab onto a thread!