This used to be a cashmere sweater... or two

Here's another recycling project. I used two old cashmere sweaters that had holes, fit issues, etc.

I made them into yarn, using the same method as used for the scarf I posted last month:

1) Lay out your sweater flat.

2) Cut off the body underneath the armpits, and make yarn using the same technique as my t-shirt yarn.
3) Cut off the arms, and make yarn out of those in the same way, cutting horizontally across the arms much like the t-shirt tube.
4) For the remainder of the sweater, cut in a spiral, creating one long strip of fabric, starting at the outside edges and going around the neck.
5) Wind "swarn" into balls.

Two sweaters yielded nine balls of swarn. (Four for sleeves, two larger ones for each body, two for the yokes, and one from the turtleneck of the yellow sweater.)

Then, I cast on approximately 300 stitches on a 17" circular needle, joined in the round, and knitted. I started with a small gray ball, and then just alternated yellow and gray as I went along. Then I cast off. Easy.

Voila! A smooshy cowl.

FO & Free Pattern: T-shirt Yarn Pillow

This pillow was a quick knit thanks to size 19 needles and the thick t-shirt yarn I made the other day (directions here).

To make one, you will need:

Approximately 6 balls of t-shirt yarn (6 t-shirts worth). I used various shades of beige and white.
Size 19 needles
Darning needle
A square pillow insert (I used an old one I had lying around and just removed the cover)

Cover:

Front: Cast on 55 sts.
Row 1: k27, pm, k1, pm, k to end.
Row 2 (RS) (decrease row): K to 2 sts before marker, ssk, sm, k1, sm, k2tog, k to end.
Row 3: knit
Row 4:(RS) decrease row): K to 2 sts before marker, ssk, sm, k1, sm, k2tog, k to end.
Row 5: knit
Row 6: (RS) (decrease row): K to 2 sts before marker, ssk, sm, k1, sm, k2tog, k to end.
Row 7: purl

Repeat rows 2-7 until 3 sts remain. Remove markers, then slip 1, k2tog, psso. You will have one stitch remaining. This will be the center stitch on the mitred square that will form the back of your pillow cover. Cut yarn.

Back:

Now, starting at the corner to the right of your center stitch, with the right side facing up, pick up and knit 27 stitches along the right side of your square, pm, knit the center stitch, pm, and then pick up and knit 27 stitches along the top of your square. You are now ready to knit the mitred square for the back:

Row 1: k27, pm, k1, pm, k to end.
Row 2 (RS) (decrease row): K to 2 sts before marker, ssk, sm, k1, sm, k2tog, k to end.
Row 3: knit
Row 4:(RS) decrease row): K to 2 sts before marker, ssk, sm, k1, sm, k2tog, k to end.
Row 5: knit
Row 6: (RS) (decrease row): K to 2 sts before marker, ssk, sm, k1, sm, k2tog, k to end.
Row 7: purl

Repeat rows 2-7 until 3 sts remain. Remove markers, then slip 1, k2tog, psso. You will have one stitch remaining. Cut yarn and weave the tail through the remaining stitch.

Weave in all ends.

Your pillow cover will be connected to the front on two sides, so you can slip your pillow insert inside, like this:


















To finish, take a long length of t-shirt yarn and your darning needle. Starting on the bottom right corner, seam together the open sides of the pillow.

Enjoy!

F.O.: Recyled Cashmere Sweater Scarf

This scarf began as an argyle cashmere sweater, a gift from my mom that I loved, but was unfortunately stained and starting to pill. The flecks of brown and pink in the scarf come from the argyle pattern. Because it is cashmere, it is super soft and smooshy. But you could make a similar scarf using any sweater you have lying around that has started to lose its luster (due to pills, moths, or general wear).

To make this scarf:

1) Lay out your sweater flat.
2) Cut off the body underneath the armpits, and make yarn using the same technique as my t-shirt yarn.
3) Cut off the arms, and make yarn out of those in the same way, cutting horizontally across the arms much like the t-shirt tube.
4) For the remainder of the sweater, cut in a spiral, creating one long strip of fabric, starting at the outside edges and going around the neck.
5) Wind "swarn" into balls.

(I forgot to take pictures of this process, but I may create another one and provide pictures for these instructions).

One sweater should produce 4 balls of yarn, enough yarn for a skinny scarf.

Materials:

- "swarn" from one cashmere sweater
- size 19 needles
- darning needle

Cast on 8 stitches.
Knit in garter stitch (knit all rows) until you've used up most of your yarn (leaving enough to cast off). Slip the first stitch of each row to create a nice selvedge.

To join balls of yarn, just knot them--the fabric is bulky enough that the joins will not show.

Cast off.
Weave in ends.
Stretch the scarf gently to extend the length.

Wear everywhere.

New Yarns!

I've been at the wheel and here's what I came up with.

First, this is the first of my Recycled 2-Ply line, colorway "Beaufort." I dyed some raw wool bought from Woodberry Crossing in Maryland a bright orange, then spun singles with it. I plied the singles with a pale blue yarn from a 100% wool recycled sweater.


Next, I have the first of my regular 2-Ply line, colorway "Azalea." Mostly Romney from Cranberry Moon farm in MA. Dyed three shades: brown, pink, and blue. Carded the colors separately, and alternated different colored batts as I spun singles. Plied singles together.


Last I have another batch of 2-Ply, this time 100% Icelandic wool from a small farm in VA. I bought 3 fleeces from this farm, one white, one dark brown, and one grayish. For this yarn, I dyed some of the white fleece a lilac color and carded it together with natural-colored brown fleece. This might be my favorite so far.


All of these are available on my Etsy shop.

Free: Crochetastic Tote

First of all, new word: Crochetastic. Crocheting with plastic bags. And it's fantastic.

Here's a more specific pattern for a purse/bag, with more detailed numbers than the general bag recipe in the last post on this subject. That post also has instructions for making yarn out of plastic bags.



Free Pattern: Crochetastic Tote

Materials
Crochet hook, size P
Scissors
Brown/Tan grocery bags, XXX grams. This works out to be 3 basketball-ball sized balls of yarn--WAY more than you think.
Note on yarn thickness: Cut the plastic bags into loops that are between 2 and 2.5 inches wide. See my earlier post for instructions on making the yarn.
Optional: White grocery bags, if you want stripes. About a softball sized ball of yarn.

Skills Required
Chain crochet stitch
Single crochet stitch, worked flat
Single crochet stitch, worked in the round
Single crochet decreases.

PATTERN

Bottom of bag: Chain 20, turn. Work flat in sc for 8 rows. Down forget your turning stitch.

At end of 8th row, turn, and work down short side for 8 sts. Turn again, work down long side for 20 sts, then turn once more and work 8 sts along the second short side. You are now back at the beginning of the round.

**Base of my bag is 14" long by 5" deep.

Work Body: Work bag in the round for 17 inches, for a tall tote like mine. Add stripes if you want--I put in 2 rows of a white bag yarn to create the stripe near the top of my bag.

Decreases: 5 rows before the start of your handles, you need to add a few decreases. As you can see from my bag, the decreases don't look like decreases--the bag tends to fan out, though, and the decreases make it look straight on the sides.

Work a one stitch decrease at each end of the bag (on the "short" sides), 2 dec per round. Decreases work like this: sc, skip 1 st, sc. The next round, sc as normal. Then work one more dec round. 4 total sts decreased. Work 2 more rounds in regular sc, then start the handles.

Work handles: At start of next round, beginning on a long side, work 7 sc sts. Then, chain 6 sts. Skip 6 sts on fabric, reconnect and work to the end of the long side--7 sts--then across the short side--8 sts--then 7 sts down the second long side. Chain 6 sts, skip 6 sts on fabric, reconnect, and work sc to end of round.

Work regular sc for 3 more rounds. Break yarn. Weave in ends.

Done!

Wheel!

This week, for my first anniversary gift, I received an Ashford Traveller spinning wheel.

*glowing with happiness*

I tried out all sorts of wheels at Gate City Fibers in Greensboro--the Ladybug, a Louet Victoria, the Ashford Kiwi, Ashford Traditional. The Traveller was by far the winner in the categories of (1) prettiness, (2) smoothness of treadle, and (3) compactness.

We saved money by purchasing the wheel unfinished and unassembled. I recommend this actually, especially to beginning spinners. When I opened the box and put every piece of the wheel on the table for finishing, I really learned about each individual piece of the wheel, and what each part does.

Even though it looked like a big old mess.



Then, the husband put it together for me, while I supervised. The conversation was often funny.
Me: That's the maiden.
Mike: Seriously?
Me: And that's the lazy kate.
Mike: Don't we already have one of those?



And then the wheel was finished.


While Mike built the wheel, I was unraveling some thrift store sweaters. My goal with the wheel has never been to make yarn from scratch--although I'm sure I'll do that too (especially for lace-weight yarns). Instead, I want to make yarn from recycled sweaters, by plying it with raw fiber I process at my home. I'll post some pictures of my results, soon.

Recycled Plastic Bag Crochet Tote - free pattern recipe

[NOTE: Photographs will be added soon.]

There are a lot of patterns and instructions for recycled plastic bag crochet out there, I'm just adding to the fun with this post and pattern.

This is a bag that I assisted my friend C. in making: a market bag with long straps, made of grocery bags (in white and brown) and target bags (the red speckles).

There are two reasons to crochet with plastic bags that currently apply to me: (1) because a crafter is on a yarn-purchase moratorium because said crafter's HVAC needs to be replaced, and (2) because a crafter wishes to be eco-friendly in a really flipping fun way.

What you need for plastic bag crochet

1) plastic bags - way more than you think
2) crochet hook - larger the better (within reason)
3) scissors - for cutting plastic bags

Overview

Crocheting with plastic bag yarn is a two-step process. First, you have to make the yarn, then you have to crochet it into a project of your choice. Projects can be bags (a postmodern reconfiguration of a highly wasteful object into one that we dub "eco-friendly"), bath mats, doggie beds, or anything else.

MAKE THE YARN

The yarn-making process involves cutting the bags into long loops of plastic, then threading the loops together to make a two-ply plastic yarn.

Get those bags and a pair of scissors. Lay a bag as flat as possible, then fold the bags in half length-wise twice or three times, until you can cut across the width with one snip of your scissors. First cut across the top to remove the handles. Then, cut across the bottom to remove the base. You now have a plastic tube which you will cut into loops.

A note about gauge

Depending on the size crochet needle you have, and your desired gauge, you can make this yarn thicker or thinner.

Another factor is the heft of the bags you are recycling. Some grocery store bags are much thinning than bags from department stores.

Here's a very arbitrary gauge chart, with suggested needles. The inch measurement refers to the width you will cut your loops:

.5"/thick bag or 1"/thin: Light weight. Size K (6-6.50)
1"/thick or 1.5-2"/thin: Medium weight. Size P hook. (10-11.5)
2"/thick or 2.5-3"/thin: Heavy weight. Size Q hook. (15-16)

When pairing yarn to your hooks, remember the proper pairing depends on (1) your personal crochet tension, and (2) how tight you want the work to be. I would suggest that you work this material tightly, though, to make a stronger fabric.

To attach the loops to make yarn

I know this sounds confusing, but it's a lot easier when you have the yarn in front of you to work with.

Lay one loop on the ground, then lay the second loop on top of it, overlapping slightly. Reach through the top loop and grab the edge of the bottom loop, pulling it through, and then thread this end over the top loop and through itself, i.e., through the bottom loop. Pull tightly, and the loop-over connects the two loops. Continue attaching the loops like this until you have a large ball. (And I mean large--like 1 foot in diameter.)

CROCHET THE BAG

I've prepared a simple bag pattern recipe. This is a tote with handles, not straps like the bag in the picture above.

The pattern presumes that you know how to single crochet flat and in the round.

Work the bottom of the bag

Chain (ch) about 16 inches. This length will be the width of your bag, so chain as many as you want depending on the size bag you would like to make.

Crochet flat with single crochet (sc) for 4-5 inches. This is the depth of your bag. Again, make it as large as you would like.

You will work the sides of the bag in sc. You will now work in the round, around the four sides of the rectangle you just made. As you work in the round, the bag will grow taller. Work for as long as you would like, creating the height of a bag you will want to use--18"-20" is what I recommend.

Work bag handles

First, you need to decide how wide you would like the handles to be.
Second, you need to figure out how to center that width on the width of your bag's long sides.

When you work the handles, you will sc as normal until the start of the handle, then ch as many sts as there are sts for the handle width, then reconnect and sc to the other handle location, repeat handle chain sts, and work to end of round.

The next round you will work in sc including across the chain.
Work in sc until the handle height measures 2-4 inches. Any less than 2 inches may sacrifice handle strength. Wider than 4 inches makes the handles difficult to grab.

You are finished! Tie off, weave in ends using your crochet hook.

Here's a ridiculous schematic I drew. I should stick to CAD software.

Fiber Facts: Mercerized Cotton

In 1851, British chemist John Mercer discovered that treating cotton yarn with sodium hydroxide brought about changes in the fiber. Mercerized cotton is stronger, shinier, and smoother than untreated cotton. You can see the difference in the microscopic images of regular cotton and mercerized cotton below.
Regular cotton (above), appears coarse and uneven.

Mercerized cotton (above) appears smoother.

Unfortunately for John Mercer, mercerized cotton didn't really take off until later in the 19th century, when Horace Lowe added an extra step to the process and drummed up interest in the British cotton industry. Mercerized cotton is now widely available to knitters.

I don't want to scare anyone, but the sodium hydroxide used to make mercerized cotton is highly toxic. This is not to say that mercerized cotton yarn *itself* is bad for you, but it might be worth checking where and how these yarns are manufactured, since prolonged exposure can negatively affect workers. The CDC lists a wide array of health effects from exposure to sodium hydroxide:

Sodium hydroxide is very corrosive and can cause severe burns in all tissues that come in contact with it. Inhalation of low levels of sodium hydroxide as dusts, mists or aerosols may cause irritation of the nose, throat, and respiratory airways. Inhalation of higher levels can produce swelling or spasms of the upper airway leading to obstruction and loss of measurable pulse; inflammation of the lungs and accumulation of fluid in the lungs may also occur.

Ingestion of solid or liquid sodium hydroxide can cause spontaneous vomiting, chest and abdominal pain, and difficulty swallowing. Corrosive injury to the mouth, throat, esophagus, and stomach is very rapid and may result in perforation, hemorrhage, and narrowing of the gastrointestinal tract. Case reports indicate that death results from shock, infection of the corroded tissues, lung damage, or loss of measurable pulse.

Skin contact with sodium hydroxide can cause severe burns with deep ulcerations. Pain and irritation are evident within 3 minutes, but contact with dilute solutions may not cause symptoms for several hours. Contact with the eye may produce pain and irritation, and in severe cases, clouding of the eye and blindness.

Long-term exposure to sodium hydroxide in the air may lead to ulceration of the nasal passages and chronic skin irritation.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) limits exposure in the workplace 2 milligrams of sodium hydroxide per cubic meter of air (2 mg/m³) per 8 hour day/40 hour work week. Nonetheless, in a study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, textile workers in the cotton and wool industry in Croatia had higher rates of respiratory problems. In addition to sodium hydroxide, these workers were exposed to the following:

• direct dyes (sulfonated azo compounds)
• reductive dyes (indigo and indigo disodium salts, or anthraquinone derivate)
• disperse dyes (azo and anthraquinone structure of low molecular weight)
• naphtol dyes (azo with azochromophorm components)
• reactive dyes (azo and anthraquinone derivate-Cibakon E, Cibakon F)
• cation dyes (diphenylmethane derivate, triphenylmethane derivate, or triazine colors)
• sulfur dyes (sulfur compounds)
• acetic dyes (sodium salt of organic acids)
• acetic acid (CH3COOH)
• formic acid (HCOOH)
• sodium hydroxide (NaOH)
• sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS)
• potasium bicarbonate (KHCO3)
• chromium salt or ormaldehyde (HCHO).

Yikes! We might question the environmental effect of all these chemicals... In fact, after researching this I'm starting to wonder about non-organic yarns in general, as much as I love the wide array of intense colors and interesting fibers we can buy. Good thing there are plenty of organic yarns out there, not to mention ways of recycling yarn from sweaters and such!

FO Madness!

I traveled to Tokyo to visit Rapt With Fiber and we went a little nuts with the yarn buying and knitting.

First, we did a knit-along and made the Buttony cardigan.




Then, I finished a scarf made with some of the alpaca I recycled from a thrift store sweater. [*The pattern is Bryher. Check it out on Ravelry.]

I whipped out a Tudora for my momma for xmas.


And I made a luscious mobius scarf with some Noro Kureyon I bought that I LOVE SO MUCH. This is the greatest project and I wear it like crazy. It almost makes up for the scarf that was stolen.*



I'll post pics from Tokyo when I've sorted through them all.

*(My favorite scarf was stolen a few weeks ago. Not only did I knit the thing, but it's an original design, too. Someone isn't too bright.)

Yarn Recycling - Start to Finish

I went to the thrift store yesterday and found this gorgeous alpaca sweater. The sweater itself was a stupid shape, but I had my M.A.P. try it on just in case. But I was right, dumpy shape. So I ripped and ripped it out.

Here's how it started. Look at all of that yummy yarn for $4:


I've only ripped one front panel. There was a lot of loss, so I probably will only end up with about 1000 oz. of yarn, instead of 1500 or so. Darn. 1000 oz. of like-new alpaca for $4.

It's fingering weight, so I'm going to make socks with it. I'll post a follow-up when the yarn is dry and wound, and the socks are WIP.

Recycled Yarn Afghan, Part 2

Here's a picture of all of the recycled yarn I worked on this weekend. After washing it, I hang it on coat hooks and doorknobs all around my house to dry. It smells a little like wet dog. My friends think that This. Is. Not. Normal.

But look at the finished product. (Still looks a little noodly. Oh well.)


I'll post more pics of the afghan as I add more colors.

Recycled Yarn Afghan (-in-progress), Part 1

My current Thursday night crochet project (that's the night I watch television: Grey's Anatomy; and The Office if I start at 8pm; and Men In Trees if I finish at 11pm) is an afghan that I'm making predominantly out of recycled yarn. This is a long process because as I run out of yarn, I have to make more.


In trying to keep color aesthetics in mind, I've kept the pattern simple: fans and double-crochets on alternating rows, colors blocked by black. The black is yarn I purchased, the blue is 2/3 recycled yarn and 1/3 purchased yarn (recycled cotton thicked with a strand of baby yarn in blue).


The next color will be a dark red, a combination of yarns from two different recycled sweaters. Then back to blue again. In between each color, as you can see, is one row of black fans. I'm hoping that 75% of this afghan (at minimum) will be recycled yarn. It's very warm, and funky looking.

Yarn Recycling Resources

In my previous post I removed a turtleneck from a knit sweater and crocheted a new neckline (although this new neckline is still a work in progress). In order to do this, I used some skills I picked up in my yarn recycling practice.

I learned yarn recycling from putting together instructions from various places on the web. I owe a great debt to local friends including C.C. in Durham and to these sites:

Neauveau Fiber Arts, which still has the best unraveling-a-sweater instructions on the web;

These instructions from Knitty Gritty which show how to take out a turtleneck and put it back in (for knitters, not crocheters). For crochet instructions, see my previous post.

See also Cloudy Crochet's post on recycling yarn.

In future posts I'll talk more about fun ways to recycle yarn and how to use it.

Here's the yarn I salvaged from the turtleneck of the Club Monaco sweater: hank's worth that I wound on my winder as I poached the turtle. (To use it in a future project I'll wash it gently, dry it, etc. More on that later.)

Here's another thrift-store sweater recycling project: