Another 'How I Do It'... Recycled Sweater

I'm always interested in knitting with something different and finding deals in my hobby.  A great idea I'd read some about and wanted to try was reusing a sweater.

One day I found myself near by local thrift store and decided I'd read enough and should try my hand at this.  I'd tried unraveling sweaters we'd had in the house that someone outgrew or got a hole in, rather unsuccessfully.  Lessons learned included the yarn was very small (probably fingering or less) and the original construction created short pieces of yarn instead of long strands.  I decided I would look for heavy yarn (hopefully worsted or more) and make sure the seams were not surged.  I learned after reading some that factory sweaters are often made by cutting large pieces of knit material and surging the seams, which results in the short pieces of yarn I'd experienced myself.  A super cheap price was also a must, I wasn't sure how this would turn out so I needed a real deal!

I ended up with two sweaters that fit the bill.  One tan and the other pastel, they were $2.00 or less a piece and a large women's size so I would get a good amount of yarn out of the deal.  I've managed to find the time to work with the pastel piece so far and the pictures below will be based on that.

This is the sweater, a rather 80s styled pastel with brown

It even had puffy sleeve caps!

These are the inside seams, looked rather hand done

This is a sleeve section of yarn, I found out the brown was from one skein and the others a variegated skein 

This is the entire sweaters worth of yarn

I had one variegated ball and one brown ball for each sleeve, a front and a back

I soaked all the yarn with some Eucalan

And wrapped it around my swift to dry and hopefully get some kinks out

Then I wound it into a cake 

This is all of the variegated yarn from the sweater

In one huge cake

I left the brown yarn in hanks for now and got to work on a project with the pastel variegated yarn cake.  After knitting up a gauge swatch (gasp! This may be a first... but since this was an unknown yarn, it was a necessity) I went to Ravelry to see if there was an existing design; a top down raglan style top, in a girls size (for my daughter), that got a 4.5 st to 1 in gauge.  I wanted it fairly simple with a touch of interesting pattern.  As seems to be my usual result, I found one or two that were constructed and sized right but not having the patterning I was looking for, or some that had the patterning but were the wrong gauge or sizing, constructed in pieces instead of the round... on and on it went until I decided to just start from scratch on my own.

Remembering that the Vouge knitting book I'd bought a while back had a designing chapter I pulled it out and started reading, only to find that top down raglan style in the round was not covered.  After skimming through my other books and magazines I decided I had enough information to get started on my own.

I'm now maybe 1/4 into my second attempt and feeling like I may be on to something.  More than just in this top, I have an idea for creating a formula of sorts for making top down, in the round, raglan tops/sweaters.  This will need to be tested with another top before I can be sure, but I look forward to posting my formula soon!

I finished up the year knitting

Since my last post I've been very busy with work but have managed to keep knitting in my little spare time.  I just haven't had the time to post here and just barely get pics taken of my finished works :-/  So I'm here to recap the last quarter of my knitting year...

I learned how to spin with a drop spindle!  I really enjoyed it and can't wait to try it again... this time I'll be less ambitious (I tried a 2-ply with black embroidery floss)

 I made a fairly simple hat for the DH using two yarns held together... it's really warm but the soft yarn just didn't take away all the itchiness of the wool.

 I made myself a hat using my homespun wool!  I didn't have enough for a whole hat so I had to supplement with some other yarn.  It can get itchy as wool does, but I grin and bear it because it's so colorful!

 Don't mind that woman in a mustache and beard, it's just a creative knit hat!  This was a special order and sure to look better on the recipient than me, but I needed to have a shot for my records :-)

 I did some gift knitting this year... These are fingerless knits for the MIL.  I made her a second pair in a lovely gray recycled yarn that had a beautiful cable on top, but don't seem to have a pic of those.  I like the pattern so much I have them on my mental list for myself.

 I also made some slipper socks for the FIL as a Christmas gift.  They took about 1 1/2 skeins so I used the left overs to make a quick hat.  I seem to have not taken pics of that either, but it's still around the house so maybe someday :-)

 I made another Dandy Neckerchief from Ravelry with a very pretty yarn I found at Tuesday Morning.  I believe I used 1 1/2 skeins and made a matching hat by modifying the stitch pattern.  Of course, I don't have a pic of that hat either...

 Probably the item I'm most happy with would be this lovely blanket I made for my mom for her birthday.  It's in colors to coordinate with her living room.  I really loved the stitch pattern and after repeating it 10 or 20 times I memorized it!  I can tell it's going to be warm because I stayed toasty as I knit.

I made a couple other gift knits that I don't have pics of (yet?  I'm hoping the recipients send me some!).  My sister received a loop scarf/cowl that I made with three color yarns held two together at varying intervals.  The blue, green and purple really do mimic a peacocks coloring if I do say so myself.  Each one of my children received a set of fingerless mitts and a simple winter hat in colors to match their winter coats.

I made another baby blanket (did I post about the first one here???) for a cousin who recently had a baby.  I found a really fitting but a bit complex pattern that included color work of farm characters.  It was my first real color work and I did not like how the back left hanging yarn that could get caught on little fingers or toes.  I ended up deciding to sew on a backing of blue gingham print cotton material.  I did takes pics of that but have not edited them yet so maybe next time...

Just before year's end I started a scarf that may or may not be for DH (depends on what he thinks of the final look) which I've still got on the needles as my standby, easy to travel with knit.  I also got to work on a little something for myself... a sweater!  I had some LBY Homespun from year(s?!?) ago that I made something with that I was not all that happy with anymore so I frogged it and got started.  I didn't really find an existing pattern that I really liked and thought would work.  I used the idea from several top down raglan style sweaters to get my stitch numbers and figure out where to increase.  From there it was all my own mind's idea.  I hope to write up a more official pattern and put it on Ravelry for free.

I was knitting my sweater as the countdown to 2012 began and finished it up first thing 1/1/12.  I've already soaked it and am blocking it now, hoping to wear it to the last holiday celebration tomorrow!

Even though I haven't had much time to keep up everywhere, I have been trying to make an effort to keep my Raverly project page up to date.  There are even some pics there (taken via camera phone) that I'm not posting here.  So go check it out sometime :-)

Still busy knitting...

Wow, surprised to see it's been about a month since my last post.  I have been knitting and posting quick updates to my Facebook fan page, but haven't taken that extra time to write a longer update.

My recent knitting has consisted mostly of family and personal knitting.  I used some mystery yarn found at a thrift shop to create myself a hat.  It's a little lacy and a little baggy, but not the snood I thought it would be.  Turns out, I really like it just the way it is!

I finally finished the strap on a bag I'd started I don't remember how long ago and gave it to my daughter.  It's the perfect size to hold books, but the downside to that is it stretches the strap out bit.  Fortunately, since it's a knit strap, we can just put a knot in it and keep going while still looking fashionable!

My sis really liked my white hat and wanted something similar.  The yarn we settled on wasn't the same thickness of my white yarn, and I changed to a different lace pattern.  This resulted in a hat that was not baggy enough, so my daughter got another knitted item!

I was able to knit up a cowl that met what my sis had in mind, so she didn't end up empty handed.  I knit up this thrift store find with a simple rib to start and end for the stretch factor and knit around in the middle.  It's a basic pattern, but that's all you need sometimes when the yarn is so interesting.

I have also been working on socks for DH.  These have been going on for quite a while (in relation to my other projects).  One sock has been successfully completed, however I now have SSS (Second Sock Syndrome).  I haven't even made it to the heel of the second sock yet and am trying to force myself to knit at least a little on them every day.

Another item I started (and finished) for myself was a shawlette.  I'd never really thought of making myself a shawl, but found some beautiful drapey feeling yarn that I bought ball of without knowing what it might be.  I later got to thinking about a shawl and a search through Ravelry found that I did have enough yardage to make a mini version.  I'm really pleased with the results and overcame a couple of knitting fears in the process; lace patterns really can be memorized & enjoyable and charts really can be read!

I actually enjoyed this pattern so much I cast on another one... however that was rather quickly frogged.  With two balls totaling approximately 240 yds, I was already cutting it close... Then I came to the part of the first ball that was cut.  I should say, this yarn was part of a grab bag, which is usually prone to some kind of issue, hence the awesome price.  After a little playing with the pattern and contemplation, I decided to pull it out and look for something else.  Still looking for that something else...

My daughter was the recipient of one more item that was another first for me.  It's called a Sleeveless Cardi and is knit like a raglan sweater.  I hadn't tried my hand at a sweater yet and never realized how simple raglan sweaters could be!  Once I got the concept of what was happening, I got really excited that I could create all kinds of things and have added that to my mental que.  This project started because in many of my recent grab bag purchases I would end up with a ball or two (or more) of the same yarn, color and lot!  I wanted to do something big with it but wasn't sure what.  A friend suggested a sweater so I started there, coming across the pattern I did was a perfect match as the weather is slowly warming up here.  I think she looks just darling in it!

With so many knit items going to my daughter, my sons (one in particular) were feeling left out.  They really wanted a shirt but there isn't much similar to the above in a less girly version.  At this point, I settled on a simple sweatband for the most left out feeling son to wear for soccer season in the school colors.  I may just get started on some raglan sweaters for them and hope I can finish by the time the weather cools down again!