Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Potential

This is an all cotton sweater I bought at a thrift store for $2.99.  But wait!  Since it was Half Off Wednesday, $1.49!  I liked the condition of the knit, the plain color, and it's smooth hand. 


See how there are two strands of yarn running parallel?  Each is a fine two ply twist.  As I unknit the sweater, I separated the two strands and wound them into hanks on my skein winder.  Have you seen my skein winder?  Here's an old clip of it in action (sorry, the audio of me is not very clear, but you get the idea).



Here's the resulting yarn, which makes me crave Ramen noodles.  It's soft like a pile of milkweed.

Pick a color ... top row is MX (for cellulose), bottom row is acid (for wool).

Dye.  This time in my washtub, but there are tons of ways to dye with MX dyes.  I'm teaching a day-long Fiber Reactive Dye workshop at Fiber College in September - join me!


And swatch.  This was knit on my old Singer 360 knitting machine, which I am trying to relearn.  I believe there's enough yarn to make a dress ... a strappy and lacey tank dress that can be worn over another dress ... maybe some beads or embellishment.  I'll get on a drawing - been a while since I've made a drawing.   But it could also be a lovely lace shawl, or a gossamer tee, ... what do you see?

3 comments:

craftivore said...

Reclaimed yarn, you are a madwoman! I completely admire your dedication and without a doubt it's the thriftiest way to come by some nice yarn. The green swatch looks great! I keep thinking that I'm going to do some dyeing one of these days.

Jani said...

Well, now you've got me really excited! I'm already signed up and anxiously anticipating Fiber College dyeing day with Ellen! Yeah!

magnusmog said...

I'm so envious, I want to come to your class too!