Shades of the 80's

Friends of mine have been scouring the thrift stores for sweaters to take apart for yarn. Some have been very good and one, Tiggywinkle Knits, has a blogpost on how to identify the right sweater for recycling. While going through my stash for some yarn for a scarf commission, I got the idea to do that with a sweater I've had for many years.

This sweater was one I found at Nordstrom Rack. When I first got it, it had huge sequins sewn onto the color panels. But there were three things going for it: it's angora/lambswool; it was my size; it cost ten bucks. Beautiful sweater, beautiful colors, but hotter than an oven. Consequentially I wore it maybe three times in the years I've had it. Dang, I want to wear it but I can't!

Well, I got the idea of recycling the yarn. The color as you can see has not faded. When I investigated how it was put together, it was thankfully done in panels with selvages, not sliced out of yardage. It's going to take some time to take it apart because of all the intarsia, but I'll end up with a rainbow assortment of fingering weight lambswool/angora yarn.

Last Week's Spinning

Remember my telling you about the yarn I was spinning Saturday but had no pictures? I have pictures of the singles now. I haven't done much spinning this week but it is coming along nicely.

Playing Hooky

One of the things I want to sell at OFFF are beaded orifice hooks. Some wheels have deep orifices so a long hook is sometimes necessary. Also there are few that are beaded instead of having a wood handle, so they would be a piece of jewelry for the wheel. I found colored wire heavy enough to hold its shape, but the problem I ran into was how to hold the beads onto the wire. The solution I came up with also aided in how the hook can be held to manipulate through the orifice.

At the point where the beaded handle begins on the wire, I made a loop in the wire. This is the point where you can pinch the hook to hold it while using it to fish through the single/yarn. The handle length is comfortable and at the end loop there's a dangle. I'm asking $20 for them and will be selling them at the PDX Knit Co-Op at OFFF.