Recycling Yarn – Knitting

Purchasing quality yarns for your project can become costly. Many knitters have become resourceful in obtaining yarn for their projects by purchasing knitted items from thrift stores, yard or tag sales, or estate sales and reusing the yarn.

How do you decide if a knitted item is worth taking apart for the yarn? The [tag]KnitWit[/tag] site has a whole page devoted to the methodology of finding and reusing previously knit yarn. The most important thing she does is to avoid serged seams. When a seam is serged, the excess fabric is usually blade cut as it is sewn, thus each row of yarn is cut at both sides of the item and the yarn is in very short strands.

[tag]Ashley Martineau[/tag] published a tutorial and shawl pattern in the Spring 2005 [tag]Interweave Knits Magazine[/tag] about reusing yarn. The information is also available at [tag]Neauveau Fiber Arts[/tag].

Another source of how-to information can be found at this page at [tag]ebay[/tag]. This ebay guide writes very good information about purchasing recycled yarns at ebay and what information you need to for in the auction write up.

Bottom line is if you want to try expensive yarns, and have a beer budget, think about recycling yarn. At minimum, the largest expense will be your time.

Next Pattern:

Blankets are a great blank slate project that you can change up in a million different ways. From color to stitch pattern to size, the possibilities are almost endless.

Jared Flood, the designer behind Brooklyn Tweed, was inspired by a log cabin quilt his mother made in 1995 to re-create that design in knitting, which led to more blankets and ultimate Brooklyn Tweed’s Knit and Crochet Blankets, which includes 25 patterns from an array of designers using different skills and techniques to make cozy, pretty blankets.

The patterns are divided into three aesthetic themes: traditions, minimalism and colorplay. The patterns are rated on a scale of one to five, with one being the easiest, and there aren’t any pieces rated five. Two blankets are rated one, 14 are two, eight are three and one is four.

In addition, three of the 25 patterns are crocheted, but they either use single crochet or granny stitch, so they are pretty easy even if you don’t do a lot of crochet. You can see all the patterns on Ravelry.

Some of my favorites include Rattan by Rastus Hsu, a chunky blanket worked in knits and purls with simple crossing stitches to make a raised woven look; Homewood by Seth Richardson, covers in dramatic, loopy cables; Ainur Berkimbayeva’s Tessellate, one of the beginner projects that doesn’t really look beginner but is totally worked in knit and purl stitches; Warp + Weft by Aist? Butkevi?ien?, which is mostly knits and purls but makes a fun woven look fabric that blew my mind a little bit; and the same designer’s Canyonland, a multicolored blanket with wavy stripes.

The patterns tell you how to resize them for different dimensions and include information on pattern repeats where it is possible to make a totally custom size.

Many different techniques are included here such as cables, lace, shadow knitting, intarsia and other colorwork techniques, as well as modular knitting and lots of sewing pieces together. The patterns are all presented with charts, but there are line by line written instructions available on the Brooklyn Tweed website if you need them.

The book ends with a deep dive into log cabin knitting, telling the story of the quilt Jared’s mom made and how he made it in knitting, as well as the multitude of variations you can make if you want your own log cabin style design.

The back of the book includes a little written information about some of the special techniques needed, but there are no photos.

This is a lovely book full of inspiration for knitting and crochet blankets for any skill level. If you like to make blankets as gifts or aspire to have a handmade blanket in every room of the house, these designs would be a great place to start.

About the book: 192 pages, paperback, 25 patterns. Published 2024 by Abrams Books, suggested retail price $24.99.

Next Pattern:

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