recycling yarn

[blisskitty]

ok i'm not up on lingo :hee so i'll try to do my best. i have a hat made out of recycled sari silk with a hole in it. i have a whole skein too but this hat was given to me for the yarn. what is this called when you rip it out?? i know i've seen stuff about this but can't for the life of me figure out where!!!! :blu

can anyone direct me to some directions on how to best go about doing this?? what about something that doesn't have a hole??? thanks so much for your help ladies!!!

[natalie058]

I know... i'm getting ready to walk out the door right now...I'm giving myself $12 to spend, LOL, I'll let you know what I score!!

[goldi316]

Well, all this talk of recycling sweaters for their yarn got me drooling, and since I was in need of a yarn fix, I stopped off at my local Good Will on the way home from work, and came away with two large bags of sweaters! <img border=0 src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/crochetville/toothygrin.gif" /> I will have to wait for warmer weather for the frogging though, but it's something to look forward to! I'm also going to set myself up with one of those thingymabobs the gal with the recycling sweater tutorial described (for measuring how much yarn she has - a board with large nails hammered in exactly 3 feet apart, makes calculating your yardage a snap).

 

And along those lines, the reason I'm actually posting is in response to blisskitty's query about determining what size hook to use. I think it's probably easier to figure out what thickness of yarn you've got and then try out hooks that are generally recommended for that size yarn, though it will probably still be a bit of a trial and error.

 

I was browsing an interesting website the other day, and if you click on the link labelled "Choosing your yarn thickness" on this page:

 

http://www.vipfibers.com/collect-store-fiber.htm#howmuch

 

a little popup box will come up with a table showing various yarn thicknesses, and it also gives instructions on how to determine the thickness of any yarn (it's easy, actually!). That will tell you approximately what kind of yarn you have, and tracking down the right hook from there should be fairly easy. All the yarns I've bought usually have the recommended hook size for that yarn on their label, which gives you a place to start from.

 

Hope that helps!

 

goldi

[MarvieN]

Well, if you're following a pattern, start by doing a swatch using the hook size recommended, then go up or down in size as needed.... if not using a pattern, here's how I figure it out, may not be the "right" way, but 'tis how I do it =) I just sort of hook a hook over the yarn, looking for the hook that just seems to "fit" over the yarn... not sure if I am making myself clear (not enough :coffeeteachoc yet) Sort of like you're about to do a yarn over.... if the hook is too small you'll have trouble grabbing the yarn... if it's too big, you'll see it. Grab a big ol' hook and a strand of ww yarn, you'll see what I mean I think. Then grab a little e or f hook and try to grab that ww yarn..... you'll figure it out =)

[blisskitty]

thanks so much for the info! i went to the thrift store and got some sweaters and i'm almost done froggin my first sweater! wow... you sure do get a ton of yarn from one sweater!

i do have a question though... how do you figure out what size hook you need for the yarn? trial and error or is there some other way??

thanks!

[MarvieN]

Right on! I love that periwinkle one... though they're all great colors! Isn't it fun to see how much yarn you get from such a small investment of $!

[natalie058]

OKay so I have been a busy bee... do we have a bee emoticon?? Anywho, here are some pics of what I've done today:

 

These are the sweaters I bought for frogging :

 

And here are some close ups, which are closer to the real colors, although the lavendar still looks really lite:

 

And here is what I'd wound earlier tonite, from the periwinkle cotton/linen blend sweater:

 

And here's the ball next to my deodorant for scale:

 

Now, I've finished the periwinkle sweater. I ended up with two large, two medium, and two small balls. I also started on the wool/angora bland, the creamy one, and have both the sleeves done.

[RebeccaVelasquez]

woohoo! what a super deal!!:woohoo

[MarvieN]

Woohoooooooooooo!! What a haul! With $12 you coulda got twice as many *grins* Though four sweaters will keep ya froggin for a while. I have at least that many waiting in a basket in the bedroom for me to frog them.... I'll get 'round tuit eventually

 

Can't wait to see what you turn them into!

[natalie058]

Well, I got there they were having a five for $5 sweater sale!!

 

So, I bought myself a merino wool zip up from Express, then 4 sweaters to frog: a periwinkle cotton, a lavendar cotton, a khaki/coffee cotton, and a creamy lambswool/angora mix!

 

All for only five bucks! So now I will be busy frogging...

[MarvieN]

oooh cool. Can't wait! =)

[MarvieN]

I think it's because there are a lot of knitters here... and almost no crocheters lol. I'm guessing that someone needed to make room in their closet for new stuff *g* or they just got tired of the ones they had.

 

I was shocked at how much yarn I got out of sweaters =) Nice cheap source of yarn though!

[natalie058]

Marvie! Lucky girl! I can never find hand knitted!

 

I have plans this afternoon to go with a co-worker to the big SA thrift near me to buy some frogging sweaters - it's amazing how much yarn you can get from those suckers!!

[MarvieN]

Yep, and they've been using more interesting and bulky yarns too, so if you're willing to huny, you can find some cool stuff *g*

 

I've scored several hand knitted sweaters over here. Talk about a dream to frog, and not one bit of wasted yarn *g* I love that!

[natalie058]

I've found that usually, the more expensive sweaters, from places like Gap, Banana Republic, J. Crew and L.L. Bean, have the right kind of seams and are really easy to frog without getting tons of little pieces.

[MarvieN]

Yup, that's pretty much how I've been doing it, except I don't use scissors on the seams, I use my seam ripper and cut the thread with that. Usually the only part I end up using scissors on are shoulder seams, with storebought sweaters, because those are done on a serger and no amount of picking will get through all that thread lol. Plus the serger machine cuts the yarn as it serges so you end up with pieces anyway. I just save those for fringe or stuffing for cat toys.

 

I forgot to add in my post about the seams... but like Natalie said, you want seams that are sewn together, not serged.

[natalie058]

Yeah, and when picking a sweater, you want ones that have "real" seams, like two knittied pieces sewn together, not one big knitted piece cut into a sweater shape. Look for arm seams that are chunky...

 

Here is an excellent tutorial that explains the whole process with great pix: www.thekittyzoo.com/recycledyarn.html

[MarvieN]

I buy a lot of sweaters from thrift shops and frog them for the yarn...

 

Bsically what you want to do is hunt around for where the end was woven in. I take my yarn needle and gently pick around the last few rows a bit till I manage to get it loose, then carefully pick at it and unweave it, then frog, frog, frog.

 

With sweaters, I take them apart at the seams first, then frog each piece. There's a lot of yarn in a sweater *g*

[blisskitty]

thank you!!! i at least have a search term now!!

:dust :dust

[Ambersafghans]

That is called frogging. Because you rip it rip it rip it. I don't have experience with proffesional frogging. Hope you find what you need!

Amber