I just did a couple of blog posts about recycling yarn from thrift store sweaters, and using kool-aid, easter egg dye, or food color to dye them. This helped me a TON when I was starting to knit - heck, still does. you can mak your own hand-dyed hanks of cahsmere or merino or angora blend yarn, for just a few dollars (and with some good thrift store luck).
thanks so much for this post, it is right up my alley. i already craft with recycled felted sweaters, but i have found some that i really thought i would like to recycle for the yarn. also, just wondering maggie, can you dye the raime cotton yarn?
Just be sure to check how the sweaters are put together if you are buying them for the yarn. If the seams are serged then pass them by as you can't unravel them. Knitting daily had a good post on how to get the kinks out of recycled yarn on their newsletter sight. Another note here - koolaid and food coloring are not light fast dyes so the yarn will fade with sunlight. Cotton and rayon require fiber reactive dyes vs. acid dyes like wool does.
I have a sweater I need to unravel waiting at home from the thrift. I loved the colors....hated the sweater. Apparently so did whomever it was gifted too.... It doesn't even appear to have been washed yet.
Nifty Thrifty: Recycling yarn from thrift store sweaters
Recycling yarn from thrift store sweaters
Posted - Jan 20 2010 : 07:48:51 AM
