Friday, March 04, 2005

Thrift Shop Finds

Last week my local thrift shop had sweaters for $.50 each. They had too many of them, so lowered the price to get rid of them. They had a great selection and I was able to find quite a few that had 'good seams' and could be unravelled for reknitting.

I found a lot of cotton sweaters, my personal favorite fiber for garments. Living in southern California as I do, the climate is just too warm to wear wool most of the year, but cottons are great and can be layered for warmth in our mild winters.



On the left (top): 5 worsted weight long-sleeved cotton sweaters. On the right (bottom): 1 linen/cotton blend and 4 all cotton sweaters, all in a fingering weight.



Here are some special finds: a man's shetland wool long sleeved pullover, a woman's virgin wool striped pullover and a man's silk/cotton blend pullover.



I have the wools and silk blend processed and wound so far. They are the more difficult ones to unravel. The wool is very fuzzy and clings to itself and it is very fine and if you tug too hard on it the yarn breaks. The silk is smoother but it still breaks if tugged too hard. The others are all cotton, nice and smooth and strong, and will be easy work with.

It is going to take quite a bit of time to frog all those sweaters. What a haul!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Love your blog and nice to meet a kindred fiber thrift shopper. I'll be back for more inspiration and support for my "habit".

St. Blogwen said...

I never thought of that! I've got some sweaters whose color I love, but they've gone out at the elbows. Maybe I should try unravelling them and making something new out of the yarn. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

I love your 'mitered cloth.' I knitted one last night in a couple of hours. What a treat not having to make those decreases. I have been buying sweaters at thrift stores also. My only source for yarn is Wal Mart - except for catalogs. What talent you have. Thanks again. Charlotte

Anonymous said...

The yarn looks great! Good luck knitting!