Getting chennille on a budget

[MarvieN]

Hey ya'll,

 

I just thought I'd share my latest $ saving trick. I have been wanting to make something out of chennille for ages, but I'm to much of a cheapskate to pay the price the stores want for the stuff. So I got my little brain to working and remembered I had a lovely dark green chennille sweaater in the closet that I never wear because it made me to hot. So I dug it out from the depths of darkness, aka my closet, then searched the house for my seam ripper, sat down and took it apart. After a couple hours work I had all the pieces apart and started unraveling it. In the end I got two grapefruit sized balls plus several smaller ones, probably baseball sized. So that got me goin'.... I found another sweater I never wore beccause it was kinda threadbare, took THAT one apart and minus the thin bits, got more yarn than I got from the green. So THEN I went right down the street to the base thrift shop, and for $2 each bought three more chennille sweaters, I have taken two of them apart so far, and will soon be tackling the third. I have already filled two plastic grocery bags with balls and hanks of yarn, for a total cost of only $6!

 

My husband thought I was nuts at first, taking apart perfectly nice sweaters, till I showed him how much you get from the store and for what price, compared to how much I got for just pennies really. Needless to say, he's put up with the little bit of mess I made with threads and such as I tore them up lol. Now I have plenty of yarn to do whatever my little heart desires, and a ready source for more whenever I find it

 

Marvie

[threeolivemartini]

you can buy it on ebay on the cone for a few dollars a cone and you dont have all the mess and probably get just as much .....in an unused and uncrinkled form... just a thought

[Tiffany]

Ah, but it's fun to rip apart old sweaters and make something new and exciting from that very yarn. :)h

[Guest PaisleyAngel]

How do you go about frogging a sweater you bought? I've heard of this before, but I never saw any explanation on how to do it. Before I do anything like this, I want step by step instructions!!

[Guest zoezzoo]

Hi!

Just joined this, so let me know if I make mistakes:)

I don't have a big budget for yarn, so I've ordered lots and lots of cones of yarn from a vendor on eBay (memc, eBay store 'fiber options'). If you can get past the squiggly feel when crocheting, the acrylic and/or rayon chenille washes beautifully, and makes great ponchos, scarves, and other stuff<img border=0 src="http://img28.photobucket.com/albums/v84/crochetville/knit.gif" />

I did buy a ball winder, and usually use a double strand of this yarn..still very cost effective. I mentioned memc, cause she is just great to work with! <img border=0 src="http://img28.photobucket.com/albums/v84/crochetville/rocking.gif" />

Great idea to ravel out sweaters..our GoodWill always has lots of really nice 100% wool sweaters, would those work for felting?

<img border=0 src="http://img28.photobucket.com/albums/v84/crochetville/grouphug.gif" />

deb

[RebeccaVelasquez]

several people have bought wool sweaters and used them as felting yarn - as long as it's not superwash.... how do you know if it is or isn't:? beats me

 

and there are several of us here that love memc on ebay!!! :)h

[threeolivemartini]

ZOE.. I think i am her number one fan!!!

 

 

LOL....

[Donna]

How do you go about frogging a sweater you bought?

This is a good tutorial: How to Unravel a Sweater. I disagree with her philosophy of just cutting down the seams with scissors, because you will cut the yarn. The sweater she shows can be easily cut this way, but not all sweaters have seams that neat. I use a seam ripper and pick at it carefully.

[shelbyro]

THanks for that link, Donna. I was just thinking about it yesterday, when I remembered knit vest my ex-MIL gave me, that I think I'm gonna unravel (it's too big). I will post about how it goes! I'm psyched!

[Donna]

Cool, Michelle! :thumbsup Can't wait to hear about your experience. After I unraveled my first sweater, I started thinking about all of the old sweaters I've given away.

[shelbyro]

Yeah, I did it! Not well, but I did get the vest unravelled, and the yarn balled up!

 

I managed to get one side seam cut properly, and the other one only half right, so I did have a lot of kinky 3 foot long pieces (which I saved and bundled to use as doll hair). Then I also have a large ball of yarn that is lots of longer pieces that I tied together. It should still work for scarves, hats, etc. I wish I knew what the yarn is--it feels like sport weight pink ombre wool. Oh well, it was free!

 

The problem I had was that the vest had 1 inch wide knit "ribbing" around each armhole and the large v-neck, and I could not find the thread that sewed the ribbing onto the body.

 

I think I won't actively search for sweaters to unravel, but if one comes my way, I'll grab it!

[Donna]

Cool, Michelle! Isn't it fun?! !

[Stacey]

This is so cool! I never even thought of unraveling old sweaters - and I have a big bag of ones that don't fit me anymore that I've been meaning to take to Goodwill! )