Cashmere Recycling
Over a year ago I unraveled most of a thrifted cashmere sweater. Hooray, right? You'd think I'd be all over that yarn. Not so. I'd pull it out occasionally, but my love was still poisoned by thoughts of the unremarkable bag of a sweater that it started life as. So this weekend I decided to change things up a bit.
hello. we are impossibly soft (and not entirely color-accurate).
Once I got the whole thing unraveled and wound into balls (I heart you, ballwinder) I assessed the situation. I had about 150g of laceweight-ish yarn. So I rewound 4 strands of the yarn together, into 25g hanks (I heart you too, niddy-noddy). So! Six, 25g hanks of approximately fingeing-weight yarn ready for the dyepot.
the end of the unraveling job
I dye fairly infrequently and, like most of you, I don't have the tools or the setup for the fancy stuff. So, once again, I pulled out my trusty bag of KoolAid packets and got to work. 12 flavors (and three empty vials of food coloring) later, I emerged on the other end of a Sunday afternoon with six little bitty bundles of colorful cashmerey goodness. I have to say, I'm rather pleased with the outcome.
this is a more accurate representation of the colors
I got my best results when I dyed each skein multiple times with different (yet closely-related) colors. It gives a bit more depth of color. Also, the original aqua played a bit of a role in the final result. You'll notice that my attempt at yellow came out as more of a chartreuse, and the orange has some greenish notes to it as well.
That's it! Reject sweater + fruity drink mixes = vibrant yarny love.
Comments
OOh, this is great! What will you make with the dyed yarn?
Posted by: Meghan | October 28, 2008 7:36 PM
That looks so cool! I love the spectrum of colors you were able to achieve. I've had dyeing on the brain for a while, you've just made up my mind for me.
Posted by: Wanett | October 28, 2008 7:38 PM
Oooh, it's magically delicious!
Posted by: wen wen | October 28, 2008 8:35 PM
I look forward to the rainbow objet d'knit that this lovely yarn will become! Great job.
Posted by: kmkat | October 28, 2008 8:37 PM
this looks like fun! was the sweater originally knit with laceweight yarn?!?! unreal. can you link me to the original post in which you unraveled said sweater? what are your plans for the now-dyed yarn?
Posted by: mai | October 28, 2008 8:45 PM
I love the new yarn! How inspiring. I'm eyeing those ill-fitting sweaters of mine, now.
Posted by: Kristy | October 28, 2008 9:16 PM
Absolutely fabulous. I love this kind of stuff. I'm inspired.
Posted by: Organizing Mommy | October 28, 2008 9:19 PM
this was the perfect thing to see just now -- I've got a whole crate-full of yarn that I spent a good month unravelling from several sweaters, but am totally uninspired to use. I think what it all needs is a good dye job ... and I love the way you dyed over multiple times with different colors -- the subtleties are beautiful!
Posted by: chelsea | October 28, 2008 9:43 PM
How pretty! Makes a fall day feel like spring.
Posted by: Elizabeth | October 28, 2008 9:55 PM
Those are flippin' beautiful! I'm not normally fond of kool aid dyes (too pastel), but those are great. I can't wait to see what you do with them.
Posted by: Thea | October 28, 2008 9:57 PM
Love it! a lot. :) What are you going to make? Beautiful colorwork mittens?
Posted by: Julia | October 28, 2008 10:05 PM
Pretty, pretty!
I'll bet they smell good too!
Posted by: Kirsten | October 28, 2008 10:38 PM
There's something seemingly sacrilegious about combining cashmere and kool-aid, a good kind of sacrilege, if that's possible, kind of along the lines of me naturally dyeing yarns that contain nylon. But, with fiber, I say anything goes, (almost).
Good call doubling the yarn. Turning that cashmere into a rainbowy lace shawl might have been a true sin!
Posted by: Siri | October 28, 2008 11:34 PM
That yarn looks great now. :)
Posted by: Lin | October 29, 2008 3:01 AM
The yarn came out beautiful! :)
Posted by: Anna | October 29, 2008 8:05 AM
Ooh, yum. What are you plans for the rainbow cashmere? (Rainbow cashmere!!)
Posted by: Philippa | October 29, 2008 8:46 AM
Wow, this opens up all kinds of possibilities. Lots of old super bright-colored cashmere sweaters are slowly dying from neglect in my closet...
Posted by: Frogginette | October 29, 2008 8:57 AM
What a fun project! I can't wait to see what you do with it next :)
Posted by: disentangled | October 29, 2008 11:07 AM
Gorgeous colours, woman!
I think I'm going to have to do some thrift store shopping. I've never reused yarn from a store bought sweater before so I'll have to give it a shot.
The red and the orange have me drooling! Fantastic yarn rescue! :)
Posted by: Meredith | October 29, 2008 11:26 AM
So pretty! It's like skeins of cashmere skittles. Or something.
Posted by: katie m. | October 29, 2008 11:28 AM
Wow! Love it! Such gorgeous colours - I love the slight variegation that overdying has given the colours. It makes them look deeper and richer. Sooo jealous of you with all that cashmere!
Posted by: Lucy | October 29, 2008 11:37 AM
I am curious too what the brilliant colours will become?
Posted by: lucy | October 29, 2008 1:13 PM
Pretty! lovely colors!
Posted by: Viktoria | October 29, 2008 3:14 PM
Light bulb moment. I have given up on trying to find sweaters to unravel at thrift stores because the ones I've found that don't have problem seams all seem to be in blah colors. D'oh! That's it. There's a thrift store on my way home so I can ride the wave of sudden enthusiasm!
Posted by: Harper | October 29, 2008 6:31 PM
fantastic move. The new yarn is just delicious!
Posted by: Lisa (knithound brooklyn) | October 29, 2008 10:37 PM
I can't wait to see what you do with the colorful recycled yarn. :)
Posted by: Carolyn | October 29, 2008 10:57 PM
Oh, that's beautiful. I want to feel it!
Posted by: Smellyann | October 30, 2008 3:51 AM
Okay this is the most inspiring post I've read in weeks! Something exciting and motivating from somthing haunted with negative vibes and unmotivating - I love it!
Posted by: Marie | October 30, 2008 8:04 AM
Total eye-candy! I can almost sense the softness through the screen ;)
Nice job!
Posted by: Dea | October 30, 2008 8:50 AM
What a great idea! I love the bright happy colors you chose to dye the yarn with.
Posted by: Cassy | October 31, 2008 3:38 PM
Very ingenious of you. I would have never thought of doing all that.
Posted by: Debbie | November 1, 2008 9:26 AM
How fun! The colors are amazing!
Posted by: Nonnahs | November 3, 2008 8:15 PM
Hello! I just found your blog and am super-inspired already. I've heard of people frogging thrifted sweaters but never felt inclined to try it myself . . . until now, that is. Thanks!!
Posted by: Leila | November 6, 2008 3:40 PM
Genius!! I love the colors and love that its recycled, I'm dying (pun intended) to learn how to color my own... hehehe...
Posted by: anne booth | November 10, 2008 6:54 PM