Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Update on old/new yarn

The red sweater in the last post is now transformed to 6 skeins of yummy wolly goodness.

Which brings me to a digression: What's the difference between a "hank" and a "skein"?? A quick Google image search will show you that people use these words completely interchangeably, i.e. some will call a hank a skein and others will call a skein a hank. Or... gee, I'm confused!

So, let me use "loop", ok? It's a pretty non-negotiable word in this context, right? And therefore, I now have 6 loops of yummy red wool, waiting to be would into center-pull balls using my newly-acquired technique. Urchins... aaahhh, I'm looking forward to knitting you all!

You deserve a picture:



Aren't the wrinkles awesome?? I love how yarn is all crumpled up after ripping out a knit item! The picture was taken minutes before the yarn was soaked in Eucalan (no-rinse wool soap) for an hour (the white yarn strands hold the loop together during the soaking). I then dried the loops on coat hangers:



and used my (by now impressive) collection of high heels (the Austria gang should recognize some!) as weights to smooth out the wrinkles:



Easy as pie, really. And I'm glad the heels are getting some use :)

P.S. The color isn't as blue as the first two pics would have you believe, whereas the last picture captures the color pretty well. It's a deep burgundy-ish red with almost no blue at all. Won-der-ful.

7 comments:

Birgitte said...

What a great use for high heels ;) Recycling doesn't look as difficult ad I thought.

Herdis said...

No, it's surprisingly easy. The hardest part is the ripping out b/c it can take a while to remove all the seams and figure out how the garment is constructed. If you´re strapped for cash, this can definitely be worthwhile. Are you going to try some?

Birgitte said...

Well, not at the moment. And I don't really know any good second hand stores either, so it'll take me some time to find some. It's just nice to know that recycling is in fact an opportunity that will not make me pull my hair out. In the meantime I've taken up glove tailoring - quite a different area, but still an excellent craft, right? :)

Herdis said...

Glove tailoring... sounds interesting. I hope you'll share it on your blog!

Rebecca said...

How resourceful! I wish I could figure out how to properly tell which sweaters could be recycled.

Toni said...

I just joined the "Stash Along" and am trying to get to "know" everyone.

I LOVE the yarn recycling!!!! Best use of heels I have EVER seen! Definitely beats wearing the things! :)

Herdis said...

Rebecca, I wish I could tell you. I just buy what looks like nice yarn in captivity and then do my best to pry it apart when I get home. Some items have definitely not worked, others do. I guess it just comes with experience :)

Toni, I absolutely agree with you. Heels as weights are SO MUCH better than heels as shoes!