Thursday, December 29, 2005
Thursday Thirteen #10
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I thought I'd show you all what I've been up to this week. Davin has bestowed a new name upon me, from now on he says I shall be known as "Sweaterbane." 1. I started with this helpful tutorial that shows how to dismantle a sweater for the yarn. She has a lot of neat stuff on her site, I also learned how to wrap and twist a skein there. Check it all out! 2. I picked a few inexpensive, but 100% wool sweaters from the thrift store to start with. Here's a photo of one before I started the process:  3. Here's an after photo, now that one sweater is 850 yards of pure wool happiness!  4. Who wants white wool? Not me! So, I researched dyeing my recycled yarn online. I found an enormous discussion full of practical information, encouragement and links here at Craftster. I ended up using a combination of Kool-Aid and food coloring on all of the projects I made. 5. This run through was mostly just experimentation. I broke my big skeins up into bunches of 200-300 yards, enough to make a scarf or hat out of whatever each color turned into. Over a couple of days I dyed it all and hung it up to dry.  6. Not all of the experiments turned out like I'd expected. But most were something I'd be able to use. Plus I learned a lot of neat thing along the way! 7. For instance, check out my nifty homemade center-pull skein! This yarn is a neat mixture of blue, green and purple, and I like how it turned out.  8. To make a center pull skein, cut a notch in a paper towel tube and put the end of your yarn in the notch. Wrap the rest of the yarn around the tube, and pull the tube out. The original end that you put in the notch will become your "end" that you pull from the center! I learned this from Craftster, too. Here is a photo of me doing this. This yarn was supposed to be red, blue and purple, but the purple didn't really show up well, so I'm calling this one "Superman."  9. I think this one turned out nicely. I just dyed stripes through the skein, and it made a nice "speckle" effect as it knits up.  10. I had high hopes for this one. I thought the red and yellow would overlap in the middle and make a beautiful orange like a sunset. Really, the red just overdyed the yellow, making a huge skein of red and yellow. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why it looked so familiar to me, but then it hit me. As I was working with it, I kept humming, "You deserve a break today" to myself...and I christened this yarn "McDonalds."  11. This one is dyed green with some blue Kool-aid sprinkled over it. It's kind of a neat blue-green in real life. I'm calling it "Spirulina."  12. All of this work has taught me lessons on different methods, and I've got a much better idea of what to try and what won't work. As odd as some of the skeins are, I will still be able to use them to make something attractive out of. Except for this one. It was going to be purple and gold, only the purple got out of bounds and just made a nasty yellow. So, I read somewhere that purple is a strong color and can overdye most anything, so I thought I'd try to cover it all up with yet more purple. It didn't work. Now it's a weird mixture of brown, maroon, green and flecks of gold, and I'm calling it "Craptacular."  This photo just begins to show the ugliness of this yarn... I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. I may have to bury it. EDITING TO ADD: I realized I forgot to mention that there's still a fair bit of grape-y purple in this skein, too. Trust me, it looks better on screen than in real life! 13. Because the dyes and other ingredients (water and vinegar) were all food safe, I was able to allow the kids to be involved in every step of the process. Some of the methods required us to use boiling water, and that took some extra caution, but it's been a neat lesson in chemistry and the fine arts for all of us! You can do this, too, if you're interested. Any animal fiber will work, so you can just purchase a skein of wool yarn if you don't want to earn the title of "Sweaterbane" for yourself. :-) Leanne Renee MommaK Judy at Insecure Uisce squashedtoad Audra UziCue Lisa at The Shizzle Jenny Trinity13 Allison Shelli Veronika Dana (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!) |
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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wow, that is so cool! i've always wanted to be able to crochet or knit. i LOVE handmade scarves, etc. a few people have tried to teach me to croechet, but i just can't get it. i lose patience. i think all your colors turned out great! kudos to you!
# posted by 
: 1:20 PM
: 1:20 PM
You're kidding, right? Please don't tell me you actually unravelled a whole sweater. This is the most amazing thing I've ever heard of! I bow humbly before you, SWEATERMASTER!
My list is up, but I am oh so unworthy! :)
My list is up, but I am oh so unworthy! :)
Craptacular is actually my favorite. If you throw it away, wrap it in an envelope and put it in mailbox with my address and some stamps on it, and make it a scarf! YEAH! ;)
You are the sweatermaster. I agree.
You are the sweatermaster. I agree.
P.S. Craptacular is even prettier than the view up your nose. Sorry, but it's true. :P~
OH and now blogger is asking me if I farted? Nice.
"m ju vfrt?"
OH and now blogger is asking me if I farted? Nice.
"m ju vfrt?"
Wow! That is soo cool. I'm attempting to knit myself a scarf... been working on it for almost a month now.
Got my 13 up.
Got my 13 up.
Well you know I've used koolaide to dye material and DD had fun with that too.
That's pretty cool to tear apart an old sweater though... I think that I sent my old ones to the thrift store already though, but I could always buy.
You've still gotta teach me to knit though. :D
Thanks for linking me up.
That's pretty cool to tear apart an old sweater though... I think that I sent my old ones to the thrift store already though, but I could always buy.
You've still gotta teach me to knit though. :D
Thanks for linking me up.
I've never learned to knit...but you sweaterbane? You are impressive. I like the green/blue/purple mix but I think craptacular might be my favorite. My thirteen are up!
What a really cool idea! I'll def have to try this since I go through tons of yarn for the blankets I crochet. I especially love the variegated yarn you made.
Btw, I'll be trying that center pull skein idea!
Btw, I'll be trying that center pull skein idea!
This is really cool. I think I'll have to look for some cheapo sweaters and try this myself eventually! I actully like Craptacular.
So cool! I can knit - but just scarves. Maybe someday I'll try to figure out how you do all that other stuff.
Ok, that is cool. I may have to try that....Uh. Why did I just get rid of all my old sweaters?
Um...not sure how to identify myself here...nothing happened when I clicked "other."
so I'm Dana from Principled Discovery.
http://homeschoolblogger.com/gottsegnet
Um...not sure how to identify myself here...nothing happened when I clicked "other."
so I'm Dana from Principled Discovery.
http://homeschoolblogger.com/gottsegnet
# posted by : 1:36 PM
: 1:36 PM
You are the coolest, SweaterBane!
One day I'll be able to return to Thursday 13.
One day I'll be able to return to Thursday 13.
# posted by : 2:12 PM
: 2:12 PM
Wow- you are one creative gal!! I am so impressed! Happy belated BD to your girls and Happy New Year to you all over there @ the Horde:)
This is so great!
I was planning fo rmy late winter craft to be making braided rugs from old wool blankets. But I think you've just inspired me to go a totally different direction. I love the spirulina yarn. I've paid waaaaay too much money for yarn like that.
Hmmmm...cottage industry?
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I was planning fo rmy late winter craft to be making braided rugs from old wool blankets. But I think you've just inspired me to go a totally different direction. I love the spirulina yarn. I've paid waaaaay too much money for yarn like that.
Hmmmm...cottage industry?
# posted by : 3:37 PM
: 3:37 PM << Home
