Recycling continues

More thrift store sweaters have come home with me for recycling. They are pictured here. The label of the dark blue one says "Esperanto, made in Mongolia, 100% cashmere". The white one says "Dale of Norway, pure new wool", and the wheat colored one says "Polo Ralph Lauren, 100% wool".

That last one is gigantic, size xl, with such lovely thick wool. I tried stepping on the scale with and without it, and it's ~3 pounds - heavy too! It's my favorite (and was the most expensive of these three). It would make a great blanket. To be continued...

Kool Aid dye-ing

Since my post about the $6.99 Goodwill sweater, I've acquired a couple more thrift store sweaters for recycling. The one pictured below was a 100% wool natural-color cabled Talbot's sweater.

I took one ball of this yarn to try dyeing my own yarn. Using Kool Aid drink mix. The Red #40 and Blue #1 that makes Kool Aid drink so bright and colorful happen to be excellent dye for other things. There are tutorials out there on this. For instance: http://www.knitty.com/issuefall02/FEATdyedwool.html

I used Berry Blue, Grape, and Black Cherry flavors. Used the hand-paint method, and heat set it by steaming it in a pot on the stove. It turned out a lovely mix of blues between turquoise and faded denim.