D.I.Y Sweater Yarn Rescue

Inspiration is such a funny thing. It never comes when you're looking for it, but seems to jump out at you when ever it so pleases, usually when you are unprepared. I had a lot planned for this weekend, lists, but the winds of creativity set my course askew. 

Saturday morning J decided he wanted to wake up at 6 am. I tried to convince him that sleeping in would be so luxurious and fun but  he didn't believe me, he just demanded his yogurt and stared at me like I was bothering him by talking to him before he's gotten the chance to fully wake up. (He is already just like his daddy.) So we started the day and when X woke up he took us to our honey hole of a thrift store, no I wont tell you where it is. I wasn't expecting to find much, I was still pretty tired, but the moment I walked through those doors and the sweet and sickly smell of old clothes and couches hit me, I got excited. 

The diamond of my finds was this sweater for $6 dollars : 

Which turned into this:

I wanted to make a tutorial but I got a little too excited and forgot to photograph a few steps. Ooops. Then I thought about it and Ive decided that a video would be a better way to show how to do this. There are also a few important things to look for in a sweater that you intend to unravel, such as determining if it was machine surged together (which means you can't recycle the yarn, unless you want hundreds of knots) or if was hand assembled, you can determine this by the seams. You should also check the fiber content, you don't want to invest all of your time and effort into unraveling a bunch of junk yarn. In the mean time, these are a few of the steps: 

1. Turn the garment inside out and get a look at the seams. You can tell this sweater was not surged by the neat line of double v's down the center, this signals that it was probably mattress stitched together. If you are familiar with mattress stitch, finding the thread used to stitch both knitted pieces together should be simple for you. The photo below shows that thread. 

Step 2: This is the silly part. you can literally pull this thread and the whole seam will come apart in seconds. It's glorious. I didn't learn this trick until I had tried tediously snipping the same thread at each row, which takes forever and ends up giving you tired hands. LOOK FOR THE THREAD! PULL IT! 

Ta da! This is the front and back of the sweater, all ready for unwinding after removing the seam thread. Now, this is where I forgot to photograph a few of the steps, including how to unseam the arms. I promise the video will demonstrate this a lot better. 

Here are the sleeves and the cowl neck of the sweater, and my little foot. 

The next few steps include determining if the sweater was knit top down or bottom up. If you try to pull from the opposite end of the way it was originally knitted, it simply wont be easy. This sweater was knit top down. Once you locate the beginning of the knitting you can literally start ripping the stitches back and "harvesting" your yarn. I have tried several ways keep the unraveled yarn organized, but the best way to rip back AND keep the yarn tidy is to use a ball winder. 

It took maybe an hour in total to unravel the whole thing once I got started with the ball winder. I sort of go into a little trance at this point, and I get a little crazy thinking about how I'm cheating the system about getting all this gorgeous yarn for a few dollars and little work. 

Look at that pretty little yarn cake!

I have yet to weigh the yarn to determine the yardage but my guess is that its about 700+ yards. A similar yarn sells online and at most knitting shops for about $20 for 100 yards, so by doing this I have potentially saved $134 hahah! I am giddy just thinking about it. Oh the things this poor forgotten and abandoned sweater can become! There is a sense of redemption in this for me, it's a little intense. Have you ever seen the dumpster diving skit in the show Portlandia? (which is amazing, you have to check it out, by far the most hilarious representation of hipsters I have come across.) There is this ridiculous sound that Meg makes when she finds something she thinks is cute. This is me, with sweaters.

So, like I said, I am planning on doing a video tutorial (maybe this weekend) so that you can do this too! What a great way to save money, repurpose items which can be redeemable and reduce waste. Oh, also I did this on Earth Day, so I get extra points..haha. I will do an update with what ever this yummy yarn turns into to bring it full circle. What would you make this into?! 

Back In Action

After having a very busy few months I am taking some time to get back into this, for several reasons. I want to connect and share my thoughts, experiences, experiments and so on, with people who have similar interests. I have been struggling with a long time with the idea of blogging, and my motives, and expectations of the feedback I get in return, for investing my time and energy into this. I have found myself in the past comparing myself (ok I still do this) to a lot (ok pretty much all) of the bloggers I follow. Am I as clever as this person? Talented? Am I as good a mother as she is?! A wife? I know this is silly, and pretty immature, but I am learning! I have to constantly remind myself that when people blog, they have total control over what people see, in their words, photos, ideas, etc. I believe that some of the bloggers I follow are honest, this one for example and I want to be honest too.

So what better way to get back into the swing of things than to start posting a weekly "Currently" post, inspired by Danielle, her blog is so inspiring to me and I feel like I can really relate to her. So here it goes!

Reading: Xavier and I went to the bookstore this weekend (one of our favorite things to do on the weekends) and I had a few books in my hands. this one, this one and settled on The Dirty Life. This book is so beautiful, Kristen tells the story of how she met and fell in love with her husband and his farming dreams, and how those dreams came to be reality. I read half of it in one night. I am so in love with the idea of growing food, living from the land and living simply. Its a huge contrast from the life I truly live, but I am making steps to getting there. Mind you, I dont think we will be starting a farm anytime soon, but this book has inspired me to want to look into spending some time with Xavier's friends at Tempel Farm. Ironically, I was reading in Luke and felt really drawn to the passages about good soil, the word of God and how it grows in our hearts,  hoping to "cultivate the soil of my soul" and let the message take deep root.

Watching: American Idol, don't judge me. Im torn between Holly and Philip. I don't want to discuss this any further. :)

Working on: Shea's birthday present, very long over due. Im hoping to get it done before the new baby comes! I'll be posting my knitting notes on revelry and on here when its finished.

Thinking about: Our future. I take walks with the babies everyday around Wicker Park, and I am always so inspired by the homes I see. Xavier and I are thankful for the tiny apartment we have, but there is a part of me that just wants my own nest to invest in and build and grow in. I want to be able to plant things in the ground instead of in containers. I want to be able to have open shelving and a room for Julian that is not a closet under the stairs, Harry Potter style. I know that in order  to get to that place, where we can buy our own home, we have to work, hard. I need to go to school. I have been going back and forth between several career options.People close to me have told me I would be a good nurse, I think I could be one too. I would also love to go to culinary school, and be a personal chef for families that have children with eating restrictions or allergies.I could do both I suppose.  If I had no responsibilities I would go to art school and major in textiles and be a knitwear designer hah. There are a couple road blocks to getting there but Im trying, and thats all I can do right now. I have to have peace with that, even though I want to help our family be in a better place right now.

Anticipating: Baby Gilliam 2.0! He will be here in about a month and a half! I know so many things are going to be changing in the Gilliam home, Im so excited and happy to be involved! Im not sure how it's all going to look, with Julian and Omi, and now the new baby, but Im sure it will be a little nuts and a lot amazing, maybe a little difficult sometimes.

Listening to: My friend Jeff over at Letters To Eloise posted an instagram photo of The Lumeneers album. I love them! I feel like Ive been waiting for this album for a while, after listening to the new Bon Iver album, and new Fleet Foxes albums on repeat for a few months haha. I really like their song "Classy Girls", its cute and funny and true at the same time. Classy girls don't kiss boys in bars. Thanks Jeff!

Eating: Today I was pretty busy, but I went to Red Hen Bread in Wicker and got the babies some peanut butter blondies and I REALLY went in for the ham and swiss croissant, but they were sold out! Blast! I settled with a rosemary herb focaccia, and it was great! (not as good as the ham and swiss croissant, but it was good enough..) Omi actually tossed her blondie out of the stroller and demanded my savory focaccia, her parents would be proud. OH! AND! I made these zucchini fritters yesterday for the babies and Omi went nuts over them, so I tried them with carrots today, and I went nuts over them. I spread a little cinnamon spiced Nancy's Plain Yogurt on top and man.....they were so delicious!

Wishing: I had more time. And more yarn.


 What about you?! Id love to hear!
-K

Earth and Seas Cowl

pattern notes here

for Miranda.

I haven't posted anything for a while because I have been stewing on everything I had written about previously. I had a lot of plans for plans for the new year, but upon further consideration I have deiced that I already have enough pressure on myself as a wife/mother/everything else, that the last thing I need is to try and convince myself that I am awesome for doing a b and c. Im learning to have peace with being me and not being perfect. I am still preparing to do a lot of the things I mentioned, just having a more open mind about when and how they get done. I've concluded that my battle with materialism is not  going to poof! disappear just because the earth has revolved once more around the sun, but am continually learning to "be transformed by the renewing of your mind daily", that is the goal. As far as my hopes for recycling yarn, I am getting there, I got a ball winder for christmas and I am saving up for a swift, hoping that Xavier will make me a kniddy noddy, so I can continue in my yarncyling endeavors. We had Julian's first birthday party a few weeks ago and it was so wonderful, lots of friends came out to celebrate our little man, I genuinely love the community we have here in the city. Our friend Chris shot this video for us. 

 And what would this blog be with out bits of yarn?! Here is my most recent wip, I sort of made the pattern up myself, its half of this and half this. The fiber here is Brooklyn Tweed's newest, Loft, and the color is "Truffle hunt". Its a rich but cool brown with bits of white, blue and grey mixed through out. Its named very well, it really brings the image of the soil in which you would find those treasured french truffles to mind.  Its such a great fiber to be working with, very smooth but substantial. I ordered only one skien because it is a bit pricey (I now understand why, its gorgeous, AND it is grown, spun, dyed, in the U.S. which is important to me), and I wanted to make something simple but could use every last inch of this wonderful yarn. 

-

-

p.s. For Christmas my momma got me the try it out set from knitpicks, I actually really love these needles, the joins ARE really great, the best Ive used thus far. I liked them so much I painted my nails to match. Dont judge me. 

Oh look this! Hes so big, and so loud.

-

-

-

-

Batkus / Let nothing be wasted.

My sweet little cast on for Batkus, I am really happy that I chose this pattern for this yarn. It has been a little difficult keeping track of which row I am on, the pattern is a simple and easy (its only 8 rows repeating) but I've had to rip back a few times because I was increasing on the wrong side of the row, but  I don't mind. Im not used to working with such small needles and yarn, Im partial to worsted weights, but am finding myself drawn to the more delicate patterns and fibers these days. 

Sweet little baby hands. Look at how beautiful that kettle died yarn is, the variation of colors is amazing. It has me inspired to do some hand dying myself, In fact, I just ordered this book, in hopes of learning to dye some yarn in this coming year, which I will talk about later in this post.

This is the most accurate photo for the color, its so rich.

 Im loving the single ply merino. 

Sweet baby Julian learning to put on his hat. He is officially attached to it, Naomi kept trying to steal it from him, which was not making him happy. He even protested when I put it on. 

- 

I have had a lot of ideas bouncing around my head this weekend. I usually don't participate in new year resolutions, my stance is that if you want something to change, you shouldn't consult the calendar, the verse, "be transformed by the renewing of your mind daily" is a little bit of a mantra to me. But! This year, I will be resolving to do something different. I am waiting till the new year to begin this so that I can prepare and work out some details. I know that it will be something along the lines of "Waste Less" but thats pretty vague. This weekend Xavier and I went to Park Com. Church, we didn't wake up in time for the morning service of the church we usually go to. The "theme" of the sermon this week was John 6, when Jesus fed the thousands. A lot of things that the teacher spoke on and pointed out were good things, true things, but the thing that called out to me the most, was this :

 “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 

Of all things to say after having done this miracle of feeding thousands of people from very little, Jesus is concerned with not wasting what is left over, and points it out. I know this isn't the highlight of the story, but this is what spoke to me, what challenged me. The last few months I have been doing a little research and poking around the idea of composting, and growing a garden this coming spring, canning seasonal fruits and veggies, this little nudge from the spirit is conformation for me. Let nothing be wasted. I don't want this to be contained to the ideas of wasting food, this morning I was doing the dishes and considering ways to use the least amount of water, I've always just let the water run while I was scrubbing and not plugged the sink, and when I actually thought about it, I was pretty convicted. (This is why my dad sometimes thinks Im becoming a universalist, because while some people think Jesus is telling them to stop listening to secular music, I think Jesus is telling me to grow gardens and to be mindful of my impact on the beauty of his creation..hah) Im also considering making a very bold commitment to not buy anything new for a whole year. (excluding things you obviously would never and or should never buy used, like panties, or tooth brushes. ) This would be very hard for me, especially because I buy ALOT of new yarn. I posted last week about recycling yarn, and I am really inspired to get better at it, and hopefully learn how to these recycled yarns with natural pigments found in nature. I would love to get a group together and go searching for black walnut trees and collecting their leaves to dye some yarn,  Or using turmeric, coffee, tea, copper, onion skins, red cabbage, chamomile, there are so many options. Apparently you can grow indigo in your back yard. I would love to venture into spinning as well, but thats a whole different conversation about being self sustainable...(why cant i just have a couple of acres of land in the city so I can have my chickens and garden and my little sheep?!) I'm so inspired! But to stay on topic, I still have to really work out the details of what this resolution would be, and Ill post more about it soon. 

Imogen / Lacey Batkus/ November / December

Its been a busy past month. Lots of knitting, baking, cooking, learning, healing. Our little Alexander thanksgiving was wonderful, I seriously love being able to enjoy good ingredients, putting them together with creativity to enjoy as a meal with the ones you love. Growing up, my dad would always try to experiment in the kitchen but I was always too picky to really try anything, so now that Im grown and have a little more adventurous taste buds, sharing new and different recipes with my dad is special. Xavier's brother was able to come and spend a little time with us and Julian, and my parents stopped in the next day. I thought I would be able to get more knitting done over the holiday but it took a backseat to the festivities, which I am ok with. This being a semi (incredibly late) thanksgiving tribute post, I suppose I should include something that I am thankful for. This year I am thankful for health. Julian is so healthy, and thick and strong and smart, my heart aches even thinking of him being sick, or having some sort of medical issue. There are times when nursing him gets to be difficult, especially now that he has some teeth, but almost every time I start to complain in my mind, I am reminded of how incredibly healthy he is, and how big! He's pretty much never been sick, granted, winter has arrived and that may change, but for now, I am thankful that I am able to nurse, and that he is doing so well. I am thankful that my dear husband Xavier is feeling better these days. The last few months have been difficult for us because he came down with a mysterious illness. It started with what we thought was food poisoning from our favorite sushi place. He was vomiting every few hours, couldn't keep anything down, headaches, body aches, for about a week and it just kept getting worse. After the second week of this rolled around he had lost about ten pounds and I begged him to go to the doctor, who said he had a viral infection and that all he could do was to wait it out. So, another three weeks and same symptoms, and they kept getting worse. Xavier is always so strong, and tough, it was hard for me to see him in so much discomfort (although at first I told him at least he could understand how it felt to be pregnant....hah). After another few weeks of this I sent him back to the doctor who diagnosed him with Hyperthyroidism, and gave him a referral for a specialist. A week and a half of phone tag with this specialist, she said that she wouldn't be able to see him to the end of January, meaning he would have to suffer through this with no help for another two months! I was sick of my poor husband having to deal with this, I called  and demanded that our family doctor write him the same prescription that the specialist would. Thankfully he complied and Xavier has been feeling better, he's been able to keep down most of what he eats and is able to get a little better sleep, which makes everyone happy. Oh dear, now Ive gotten myself all worked up. moving on....

-

 Oh cute baby Julian. I had some left over malabrigo rios from a sweater I made him, so I did a simple little baby cowl, and to my surprise and delight, he LOVES IT! Although, he prefers to wear it on his head, he seems to enjoy the colors, and how soft it is. I also caved and bought him an american apparel baby cardigan to match it..Im terrible I know. 

-

 Ta Da! This is my first actually acceptable cake of reclaimed thriftstore yarn. The tag said alpaca and the sweater was gigantic, so many yards of this yarn, I have three whole cakes with me in Chicago and more at my mothers house in Michigan. This pattern Im working on is called the Imogen Cowl, and is intended for a fingering weight yarn, but I think this yarn is more of a dk/light worsted, and I think I really like the definition in the stitches. Im using a size 6 needle, which is sort of difficult with this yarn but I think I like the texture its creating. This pattern is fun, you really have to pay attention though, so I can only really work on it at night, (although, I was working on it the other night and Xavier was watching the Walking Dead and I was so scared that I messed up probably six times and had to go back a couple of rows to fix it..) 

 I really like knitting with recycled yarn, I feel like I sort of rescued it. Im hoping to get a yarn swift and ball winder for christmas (hint hint) so that unraveling those thrifted sweaters is less daunting and time consuming. (If you'd would like me to do a photo tutorial please leave a comment on this post) Sometimes when Im in that homesteady, diy, lets get chickens and can some greenbeans mood I tell Xavier that I want to stop shopping at the yarn stores and just recycle sweaters all the time, but then I find THIS:

Madelinetosh Merino Light, in Ginger. Oh dear. So lovely. So squishy. So convenient! So expensive...and I loose all self control. Nina, a LYS was having an anniversary sale and it was 20% off, so it was excusable. 420 yards of bliss..what to make what to make...and for who? For me?! Maybe. I have landed on a pattern though, I wanted something that would show off the gorgeous hand dyed color variation but would still be texturally interesting, Lacey Batkus, seems perfect. Ill be casting this on today during nap time. I also finished two sets of mittens this week, one for my darling Xavier, and the other for my friend Charles, for his birthday. The first pair was our of some good ol Cascade 220, because Xavier is all about no nonsense, and the second pair was out of Madelintosh  Vintage in Fig, (I love everything about figs, by the way.) and they are gorgeous, photos soon to come for those.

So there it is, were all caught up for this last few weeks Ive been too busy to share my little projects with you! 

Beatnick/ Little Coffee Bean/ Joe/ Saroyan

Well, my beatnick sweater is finished. I am surprised by how well it all came together, and proud of myself for taking on a new challenge. There is something so wonderful in wearing something that I have made with my own hands, I can't really explain it, but it feels great. Its deeper than pride, and maybe its a sense of security, that I can be resourceful, determined and creative enough make beautiful things that I can enjoy. Finishing this sweater has really ushered me into a bit of a new stage, I know its just a sweater but really, its much more. This sweater embodies a lot of things that have been weighing on my heart and mind in these last few months, and in the time I spent quietly working on it at night while the baby slept,  I was able to really look inward and sort through these things. 

-

     After seeming up beatnick I felt like I needed a bit of a cool down knit, something a little mindless, easy, so I bought jane richmonds pattern for Joe, that hat pictured, and knit it up quickly. Its in berroco alpaca light, a dk weight, and the colorway is mahogany. This yarn is so soft, and it was lovely to work with. I originally intended it to be for my husband, Xavier, but its a bit small, so Julian and I will be taking turns wearing it. The little sweater is a free pattern called Little Coffee Bean, and is made of lionbrand fishernan's wool, the left overs from Julians wool diaper covers. I started this little cardigan a long time ago, and just finished up the sleeves the other night. I think I may make a few more for him this winter.

And this is for my Momma, its another free pattern, Saroyan, (inspired by the show bones, which my mother and I both are semi addicted too..im not sure how that happened.) Its a really fun little knit, and it is turing out to be very pretty.