Twisp of Fate

I have embarked on a new project, which is taking apart a number of thrift store cashmere sweaters and “unravelling” them to recombine the fine 2-ply yarn into a yarn I can weave or knit with.  I was introduced to the concept at spinning camp in 2012, started picking up sweaters, and they have sat in a box until now.  Time to do something with them!

Some have been easier to take apart than others.  They always have to have been knitted in pieces and then “linked” together with what looks like a very fine crochet chain.  If the seams were surged, the edges were cut, and they can’t be pulled off into a continuous strand.  I have also learned that it is best to avoid cardigans (fronts were not continuous or were perforated with buttonholes) and items with pockets (too much trouble to take off and easy to damage the knit fabric).

Here was the first sweater, a short sleeve model, with the test yarn.  I am using the spinning wheel to twist 2 strands of the 2-ply cashmere together in the ply direction (to the left)so they are together and overtwisted.  Then twisting 2 of that yarn to the right to make a cabled yarn.  The end yarn then is a cabled 8-ply.

I am using a ball winder to pull off the 2-ply yarn from the sweater pieces.  And yes, I do sometimes need that magnifier for my Ott-Lite to see the little itty bitty teeny tiny chains I have to undo at one end, to get a clear thread to pull on and (hopefully) unzip the whole seam.

So far I have taken apart and “unravelled” 9 sweaters to get some basic materials for recombining.  I may try combining different colors of cashmere together, or cashmere with 2/18 Zephyr wool/silk.  I still have red, gray, and an assortment of warm pastel colors to work on.

These thrift store sweaters mostly cost $3 – $5, although I sometimes paid more if the cashmere seemed higher quality, or a wonderful color, or it was going to yield a lot of yarn because of being a large size or having cables.  I can always do some over-dyeing of the final yarn.

The upside:  I am getting a wonderful cashmere yarn in the weight I want for not much money, that I couldn’t easily buy.  My friend Andrea Eyre is making a 12-ply cabled yarn from recycled cashmere in a worsted weight, and her business name is R4, but I can’t find a web link for her.  You can also buy fine 2-ply laceweight yarn, e.g. on Etsy, and hold multiple strands together, but I don’t view that as being the same as having a constructed cabled yarn.

The downside:  I am putting a lot of time into it!  But right now, it is fun and exploratory and I do have all those sweaters…