Normally we buy yarn in order to make sweaters. Did you know you can also do it the other way around? Ashley Martineau started knitting and quickly found that it can become an expensive hobby. To feed her addiction, she started unraveling sweaters from thrift stores and reusing the yarn. When she perfected her technique, she was generous enough to share her knowledge with other crafters. Ashley’s Recycled Yarn Tutorial has everything you need to know as you’re eyeing the sweater racks at your local resale shop. This step-by-step guide with lots of helpful photographs shows how to figure out which sweaters will produce lovely yarn instead of shrimpy bits, then disassemble the sweater for unraveling and harvest that yarn. Ashley gives tips for wool sweaters, cotton sweaters, and sweaters made from novelty yarns like chenille, silk, and alpaca. There’s even a DIY measuring tool that anyone with a hammer can easily create. The tutorial is available in downloadable form if you want to print it and take it with you. (That might come in handy when the folks at the thrift store wonder why you’re turning so many sweaters inside out.) There’s even a Recycled Yarn Yahoo Group if you’re looking for other sweater recyclers. Give that beautiful yarn trapped in that ugly sweater a second chance at life! You never knew those frogging skills were going to pay off so well, did you? [Image by Ula Kapala.]
