caramelknits

Recycling Revisited!

Blogger has been really freaky today. I tried to post this earlier, but the internal server was down. So here's hoping...

Remember all those sweaters I bought at the thrift stores a while back? They were intended to be recycled, and I got one unraveled and didn't touch them again for a while. Actually, I didn't touch them again until last night when I wanted to do something that didn't require too much looking away from the TV. Gymnastics was too exciting! I decided to start with the pink monstrosity, that would frankly make anyone wearing it look like a giant pink popsicle, and managed to get almost the entire thing unraveled. Pretty good! I wound it around my TV tray top and left it overnight. I did not, however, wish to leave it in hanks, so I became creative with the tutorial on Knitter's Review on making your own ball winder and went to town.

So, this $2 sweater...


After much grunting and cursing...


Became this! Three skeins of beautiful, bubble-gum pink boucle! A veritable cornucopia of scarves, bags, and maybe even hats are in this yarn's future. I've discovered that I love this process of taking something that I have deemed ugly and giving it new life. Imagine what would have happened if the previous owner had just thrown the sweater away. I'm sure they never thought it would appear on a blog as recycled yarn! That's for sure! All this is beginning to give me the spinning bug (which I've never tried before but am sure I would love). I.... must.... resist!




A closeup of the boucle. The colors in this picture are the truest I was able to get. Isn't it purdy?!



The method to my madness. Yes, this is how I got the pretty little skeins to wind up the right way. I got the little plastic cone from an eBay yarn purchase of coned yarn. Boy, am I ever glad I kept the cone once the yarn was gone! I'm never getting rid of this thing! Now that I know what I'm doing, recycling yarn should be a snap. I can't BEGIN to tell you, though, how many tiny pieces of pink thread I've picked up off the floor! Sweeping gave me a little pink Mt. Fuji!



Warning: Ranting Ahead!
Anyway, tonight was Meetup night at Muddy Waters. Now, this usually is a very pleasant experience with some very nice girls. The girls were there in force tonight, and the drinks were good, as usual. Also in attendance tonight, however, was THE MOST annoying guy and his instruments. Don't get me wrong! I am a big fan of live music, and he had a didgeridoo. There is a line drawn, though, when the musician speaks in different fake accents and baby talk between EACH song! (I'm not kidding! He actually did this!) The group was called The God Box, and I appreciate that he is an independent artist that was trying to make a few bucks by selling his CD's and raffle tickets (the grand prize of which were a "peek into the actual god box. Huh?!), but there was not a knitter among us who did not want to put our aluminum needles into a power socket! Then to top it all off, with roughly 10 knitters taking up a good half of the room, the guy behind the counter turned the lights down until they were practically OFF! What mood, other than frustration, these people were trying to create was beyond us. We gave up and went home. Grrrrrr....

So, I sit here, sleepily finishing my post for today and hoping that next month's Meetup is a little more quiet and a lot more productive. 'Night.

posted by caramelknits @ 11:03 PM