Recycled Knits

It's hard to point to just one reason why I'm drawn to knitting. There's definitely something calming about the actual movement of knitting. But there's also something satisfying about watching a ball of string become a usable object.

I spend a lot on yarn, that's true, but if I weren't buying yarn to make a cardigan, I'd still be buying a cardigan, and I wouldn't get the activity of knitting out of it, nor would I appreciate it and care for it the way I do a hand knitted sweater.

But not everything I've made has turned out the way I want. Usually I can tell during the process whether or not I like the way something is looking, but there's been a few occasions where I've made something and realized - I am just not going to use this item.

On those few occasions, I've realized that knitting gives me the freedom to unravel the item and start again.

In all of these case I've made an item, worn it, not loved it, and started again.

If you followed along on my first WAK (We Are Knitters) experience, you already know about two of these projects. I knitted two beanies - then unraveled and reknit them into beanies my daughter and I actually loved. You can read the whole story here.

Far right on in mauve and black are the Nokhu beanies. I learned a lot from Chereen at Smeeny Beanie Knits on how to use certain yarns with the right needle size and tension.

A much bigger project? I made the Shelter Pullover from Two of Wands, and completely overestimated my size, particularly the length of my arms. Similar to when your eyes are bigger than your stomach at a buffet. I just figured it's better to have a sweater be roomy than too small as was the case with my first sweater. Turns out, a sweater can be too big, like couldn't even fold my arms. Since then I've learned more about tension (how tight or loose you knit or crochet) as well as negative and positive ease.

I learned that I tend to crochet and knit tightly. I've also learned that I can do a pretty good job of making myself loosen up on tension. More importantly, I now know that even though I may like a size large at a store, when I'm knitting or crocheting a garment I really need to pay more attention to the positive or negative ease the designer has built into the design. The suggested positive ease on the Shelter Pullover was 9-11", so when I picked the large size I had really given myself over 12" of positive ease.

An oversized sweater in bulky yarn with a squishy stitch looks about as graceful as wearing a comforter.

The beginning of the Elysian scarf.

Huey relaxing mid-scarf.

The Shelter Pullover I made took 9 skeins of Lion Brand Hue and Me and after I wore it for half a day and realized it was too thick and warm to wear indoors I never wore it again. That was $60 of yarn sitting on my shelf. So I finally got up the nerve to unravel the whole thing, stitch by stitch, sleeve by way-too-long sleeve.

The result?

I got the Elysian Scarf by Two of Wands out of the yarn, with 4 more skeins to spare. The other four I used to make the Ridgeline Cardigan by All About Ami.

The Ridgeline Cardigan and Nokhu Beanie, both recycled knits.

I kept getting the comment, "but you spent hours on that." Yes, I did. But I loved making all of those items, and more importantly I learned a lot. I learned about tension, and gauge swatches, and ease.

These pieces are all much more loved and well worn now that I've turned them into things I actually want to wear - in the right size and fit. It saved me money - and it was a no waste solution. That's an advantage that store bought clothes just don't offer.

It gave me the confidence to tear out yet another finished object - my Ballpark Blanket, a warm wool-blend poncho with fantastic drape, but again, not practical. Moving around in yards of fabric was irritating so those balls of yarn are now part of a new plan for some sort of pullover or cardigan. Keep an eye out, if it works out, there will be a new pattern to try.