Unravelled // Yarn

My need to create has lingered into...

Knitting?

Sure, I've always knit. I use super chunky yarn, making up the pattern as I go.

But now... you can find me scouring the internet for cute baby knits, adding patterns to my new fangled Pinterest board, and increasing my "to knit" list in my Ravelry queue.

I'm new to this world of patterns and commercial yarns, and as much as I can swoon over a particularly soft skein of something pretty at a yarn store, it's so far out of my budget right now. So my love for knitting and my love for thrifting have come together!

Here's my mission: unravel a bunch of lovely/ugly thrifted sweaters, dye, and to fulfill a huge baby-garb-knitting urge. So I'm taking this sweater apart (merino/angora blend, yum) and SURPRISE! It's not one continuous strand, it's two. What a pain! I've disected quite a few sweaters by now and this is the first to be knit with two strands, alternating rows. How interesting!

  

This was a super chunky sweater (4th one down in the top picture). I got four skeins, approximately 560 yards total... for $3? Now that's my kind of yarn score.

   

Over-dyed to create lovely heathered hues and one vibrant purple. The second and fourth hanks were pleasant surprises as I was trying for brown. Over-dyeing is certainly tricky!

xoxo

Fallen in Love with a Fleece

Seven pounds of luscious merino locks

wrapped up in an old bed sheet

it was shoved in a closet

traveled with me through three moves 

(including a cross country move)

and I wonder... how the heck did I ignore it that long? 

 There is very little vegetable matter,

the lanolin washed out fairly easily 

(I use baking soda and Bright Green dish soap)

and it absorbs dye beautifully.

I can thank Ewe & Me Merinos for selling me on this fleece at the NY Sheep & Wool festival. I always get really anxious because there is so much to look at, so many beautiful works of fiber art, and way too many possible fiber purchases (not to mention the amount of people, everyone swimming through the wave of other humans) I usually feel like I've forgotten to go back to a certain artist/farm booth as I sit in the festival traffic and travel the two hours home.

 

This was a super score.

I do hope I can get ahold of them and order more!

xoxo

Wiltons Dye

I bought some Wiltons dye last weekend and dyed a bunch of falkland and merino wool. They are sooo soft! I definitely want to keep them all, but my etsy is starting to develop cobwebs from neglect haha. See mister Blog? It's not just you...




I need help naming a few of them! You can just hover over a picture to see if it's already named.