Before and After

Here are just a few of the sweaters that I purchased at the SA that I have begun to reclaim the yarn on. This first one is the "Northern Isles" 70% Shetland new wool, 30 Acrylic in a fingering weight, two strands held together. When I took it apart, I lost the V neck area of the front, but as you can see in a later photo, I have more than enough yarn from this one. It was a men's XL.

This is the one "Made in the Republic of Ireland" of Pure New Wool. And believe me, it looked like it was taken out of the gift box, put into a drawer and NEVER worn! I am not sure of the size of this one, I would say it was a Ladies Medium. A truly odd shape as the arms were way long. I didn't try it on, and at may have fit me as it was, but I want to make something more to my liking with it.

I was so hesitant to put this into HOT tap water, as the instructions said in the article on reclaiming yarn. So instead, I did tepid water, with a little liquid Ivory soap and it came out nearly free of any waviness. It just came out so yummy it makes me want to find MORE of it.

This is that Shetland Wool Sweater that I talked about yesterday. It is 100% Shetland Pure Wool in a Men's Large. I was able to reclaim ALL of the yarn from this. It is a fingering weight or perhaps even lace weight yarn, two strands held together and it was so soft and squooshy knit up. It was the first sweater I took apart and so far the easiest. I have saved the label, from this and all the others, simple because I believe this is probably a vintage sweater, that once again was probably given as a gift and never worn.

The back pile of skeins, in the next picture, is of the Woolrich, Men's XL sweater. This is also vintage, because when was the last time you saw a tag that said "Made in British Hong Kong"? It is 85% wool and 15% nylon. I will probably use this for hats, scarves and mittens that match for all of us, with enough left over to make something else.....

The skeins in the front of the picture are of the "J. Crew" Mens Large sweater in 100% wool. This is the one that I just loved how smooshy it was knit up. I am hoping that it will be as nice when I do it. This one must have sat in a very dusty corner, because as I was taking it apart, I decided to do it outside, you could just see all the dust flying out of it as I went along.

NOW, here are the pictures of the wool from Ireland and the wool/acrylic blend sweaters while drying in my bathroom. Perhaps you can see how nicely the Ireland wool has straightened. the other still has a bit of kink in it, but much less than it did have.

One of the nice things about doing this with yarn, is that you get very LONG skeins. Most of the fronts and backs are continuous pieces of yarn. HOWEVER, I have learned, rather well, how to felt two pieces of yarn together. It really isn't that hard, just takes some practice and is well worth learning how to do.

The one thing, or rather two things I am going to need are a swift and a ball winder though. Currently, I am making due with what I have, and that is, an embroidery stretcher that I am putting the yarn onto to skein it. I usually ball wind by hand and with this much yarn, my wrists and fingers will never make it. I will have to keep it in skeins until I can get one.

On a sad note, my coffee maker died this morning. It's a good thing it was after it perked the pot of coffee. I truly enjoy my coffee in the mornings.... so I will be having to buy one today.