My First Tutorial - How to Recycle a Sweater

PART I

This week I am going to attempt to do my first tutorial.  I will be showing you how to reclaim or recycle yarn from an old sweater.

 I usually find these sweaters at my local "junk/charity" shop.  It is important to know which sweater to choose because not every sweater will do.  There are some sweaters out there which are cheaply made and therefore, not knit with one continuous piece of yarn.  They were machine made cutting each peice of yarn at the end of each row and then sewn together so the sweater will not unravel.

When choosing a sweater, first look at the inside of the sweater.  Investigate the seams.  Can you clearly see the seams? Is the sweater seamed using a chain sts? OR were the seams serged together?  You do NOT want serged together seams.

Next look at the fiber content on the label.  Was it knit with cotton, wool, acrylic, angora, cashmere, a blend?  I find that angora and other lofty fibers are harder to unravel since they tend to felt around the friction areas of the sweater (i.e. armpits, cuffs, etc.)

Finally look at the yarn gauge.  Meaning was this sweater knit with fingering yarn, worsted, bulky?  Fingering yarn is harder to unravel since it is so delicate.  It may not pose a problem depending on what fiber it is knit with.  For your first sweater, I would choose cotton because of it's durability and the ease in which it unravels.

**Useful Tip!

Don't forget to check out the men's sweaters.  They are usually the same price BUT you get more yarn for your buck and they tend to be in more neutral colors - gray, black, navy, brown etc..