Thrift Store Finds

Today I went to the local Salvos (thrift store) and walked out with 4 awesome sweaters to recycle into something new.



The first one was a real find for $3, pure silk with metallic, it is golden and luxurious to the touch, I am really happy with that! The others are wool and the pattern ones I am in the process of felting. I am thinking patchwork quilt or toys or even a felted bag. Oh I am also a hoarder and I just love bringing junk back to my nest which is probably why recycling jumpers is such and awesome an well suited pass time for me.

Knitted Patchwork Quilt

I have been working on this knitted patchwork quilt on and off for about a year and a half now and I have finally decided that it's finished!



I am quite happy with it. I may need to iron out some of the edges as it is curling a bit. This was my in between projects project.



And for once my two year old son said "like it" and "nice" about one of my knitted projects as opposed to "no like it" or "no want it" ...yay! now its going on your bed baby boy lol!

Starting New Knitting Projects

I love starting new projects, browsing through patterns and thinking about the potential of it all. So two new projects underway, i can't resist casting on.

First: Teapot Cosy



This pattern by Melanie Bond is called Tuileries Breakfast Set from the magazine The Knitter, issue 5.

Second: Vintage Lace Sweater

Using 1 ply recycled Merino Wool. I am not too fond of the colour.


I am using the Feather and Fan stitch for the main body part but I am having very strong feelings of scraping this last project. We will see...I will leave it for awhile and see how it grabs me later.

Rubi + Lana Closed

Today I went on a mission to get some wonderful lace weight yarn for a gorgeous 1940's lace top pattern that calls for something exquisite and refined. I read rave reviews on the web about this yarn shop Rubi + Lana in Gordon. So with my mother and toddler in tow, I packed them all into the car and off we went down the yellow brick road (Pacific HWY) to buy the yarn of my dreams.

Sadly when I got there to my shock and horror was OPSM...shop 21...I checked the address again and yes there it was row upon rows of spectacles in the place of my beloved hanks of yarn. I asked people as they walked past if they had any idea where this shop was, what happened to it? did they move? most had no clue, another lovely lady informed me that when they closed last year they left no forwarding address, so it was not to be.

Yesterday I hit Championship textiles in Newtown, my local. It is an unfortunate fact that I can never find anything that really grabs me there. I don't know if it is because everything is strewn around willy nilly with no love, care or thought or that when I do finally find something there is only one ball left. Maybe I should just heed the advice of the shop assistant there and buy online. It's just that online I have to wait for my order to arrive AND I don't get to feel the texture, it is just surprise here is what you just paid for and if you no like it too bad.

Unraveling Gone Wrong

I was hit by the unraveling bug, I found a beautiful vintage blouse pattern that called for super fine yarn and I thought: Why not go through my own closet to unravel something I no longer use very much. Then I found a gray Sweater made up of 96% lambswool, oh so soft to touch...Perfect! I don't really use this anymore as it is and with a vision of something much nicer in that soft gray yarn I began to take the sweater apart.



Once the whole thing was dismembered I began the relaxing unraveling process:



Which turned out not to be relaxing at all because this 1 ply fiber breaks up all over the place and I can't get it to come apart without breaking.



So now I no longer have that sweater and cannot do anything with the yarn :(
Moral of the story: I still have A LOT to learn about fibers and what I have realized is that for the moment I should stay away from unraveling 1 ply yarn.

UPDATE: 20.07.2009
I do indeed need to learn a lot more about fiber. After trying to disassemble this gorgeous sweater made of 45% angora, 35% lambswool and 20% Nylon:



I realized that it was not coming apart because it is.... FELTED! and the same thing has happened to the one above! So basically there is NO WAY these things are going to unravel well if at all.

At least I learn something new everyday. Now I am looking at learning how to make felted projects, that way I remain ECO friendly and nothing goes to waste! Plus I reallllllly like the colours and texture of these sweaters.

Thrifted Sweater Turned Vintage

Ever since I joined Ravelry a new world of knitting has opened up for me. I have joined many cool groups (mainly about unraveling old sweaters and knitting vintage garments) and I have learned sooooooooo much from all the lovely ladies there.

This is my first attempt at a Vintage sweater, although it turned out more like a tee than anything else but I love it! So here is the journey in pictures.

Armed with this fantastic vintage pattern from the 1940s I picked up at The Vintage Fair in Leichhardt Town Hall:



And a frogged sweater from a local thrift store I picked up for $6. It is made of 80% lambswool and 20% nylon and is about 2 ply thick and quite soft to touch. I have to say there is a general feeling of pride and great satisfaction that comes from recycling old sweaters.


Here is the yarn drying out on my staircase:

Mr. Cool Snake

Last year I made the Slithery Snake by Zoë Mellor, one of the 25 great designs from Knitted Toys. I made this for my son, he seems to kinda like it but I won't lie, he isn't as enthralled by it as I imagined he would be when I was knitting it. I was knitting it and imaging his little face lighting up with joy, it was more of a meh...he was only 18 months at the time lol!



But I LOVE it, every time I look at Cool Snake I feel happy, mainly because it was one of the first projects I managed to complete in ages and I could hardly believe that I actually went the whole 9 yards and finished the thing. So here it is out the front of my house, posing slyly on my front gate!