Wyoming Breezes

washing reclaimed yarn June 2018 Several people asked me how I washed the yarn reclaimed from thrifted sweaters . I use the bathtub, hot water, and Ivory dish soap. I run enough water to cover the yarn, swish the soap to get it sudsy, and then add the hanks of yarn. I do not agitate the water, but I do gently turn the hanks over to make sure all the yarn is wet. I add more water to the tub, if necessary. I let the yarn soak for 45 minutes to an hour and turn the hanks a couple of times. Once the yarn has adequately soaked, I gently squeeze the soapy water out of the hanks. The tub is emptied and rinsed. Then I add clean tepid water to the tub and rinse the hanks to remove any soap. The hanks are then placed in my washing machine, and I run them through a SPIN only cycle to remove the excess water. The hanks are then draped on a drying rack. I do not put weights at the bottom of the hanks as they are drying. The minimal kinks that remain in the washed yarn do not bother me. ...

close-up of the knit sweater Two afternoons last week, I sat on the deck while reclaiming yarn from a sweater I purchased for $1 at a garage sale last August. I forgot to take a photo of the turtleneck sweater before I started. The sweater label states the fiber content: 85% silk and 15% cashmere. the result of one afternoon's work: the sweater front and back raveled June 2018 The sweater pieces came apart very easily and the raveling proceeded without a hitch. I love my PVC niddy noddy for winding the yarn into a hank. I was surprised that the three-needle bind off was used on the shoulder seams of this sweater. It's a technique rarely seen on commercially produced sweaters. three hanks of yarn reclaimed June 2018 The yarn still needs a bath to clean the fiber and to relax the kinks, but that will wait for another day. I have plans to knit a shawl with this yarn.

Monday night I finished a fifth vest of the afghans for Afghans youth campaign. This one is smaller than the other four vests because I thought I would not have enough yarn for the larger size.

The last bit of the green lambswool was used for this sweater vest and hat for afghans for Afghans . Now, I am trying to use all of the rust wool for another vest, my last for the Youth Campaign.

Three youth vests and a pair of mittens are on their way to the afghans for Afghans Collection Center in San Francisco. My original goal was one or two vests, but I had more time to knit than I first thought. The mittens were knit in December. Hopefully, I can finish at least one more vest before the March deadline.

I'm finished with another vest for the afghans for Afghans Youth Campaign. I'm definitely getting better at corralling the yarn bits and resting needles: this time I'm using a safety pin through the adjustment hole in my Knit Picks interchangeable needles to keep them from flopping around. The vest was finished last night. I am going to make one more vest for this campaign.

This wool vest is for the afghans for Afghans youth campaign . I hope to make at least two more of the vests before the March deadline. The vest option is at the end of the  Steppe Sweater  pattern. I knit the vest on size 10 needles, using two strands of worsted weight wool.

I intended to make another sweater for the afghans for Afghans youth campaign, but I didn't think I would have enough time to finish it. When I saw Reed's finished projects , I decided to make a vest instead of a sweater.