Yarn

I am a collector of craft machinery. I have 4 sewing machines, 3 knitting machines, 2 looms (one is my mothers though) and 1 spinning wheel (my Grandmothers). All these machines need to be fed otherwise husband is threatening to take them away and give them to someone who can take better care of them. But I can’t afford to feed them with expensive commercial yarn and I don’t want to feed them with cheap polyester and acrylic yarn. So what does a little duckling do? Well as usual I set out to make my own. That way I get quality yarn (e.g. Cashmere, Merino, Cotton, Silk, Alpaca and many more) without the huge price-tag. But, spinning from fibres takes time so I decided to take a short cut. Unravel pre-loved sweaters and ply the yarn either with itself or other fun fibres.

I like to think that the yarn I produce has a personality. It sure seems that way to me when I am spinning and plying it.

If you are interested in making your own yarn from recycled sweaters I have put together this introduction here! Feel free to add to it in the comments.

Do you make your own yarn? Do you spin it or recycle it, or maybe both? Leave a comment below with your link – I would love to hear from you!

Rare Breed Yarns
These yarns are one of a kind – hence the name ‘Rare Breed Yarn’! They are a mix of one of the recycled sweater yarns and another fibre such as Soya, Milk Protein and Merino.

green merino sweater and undyed soya

teal merino and white cashmere sweater

soya and teal cashmere -sold

red silk and khaki cashmere sweater yarn

Love Child Yarns
These yarns are made by 3-plying the original recycled sweater yarn using the Navajo method. Their yarn gauge / weight is usually around 3-ply or 4-ply. I try to make 4 skeins out of a sweater (front, bask and two sleeves). Because the original yarn that comes of the sweater is so thin it becomes impossible to avoid it breaking but all yarn is fused during the plying process.

green merino recycled sweater yarn

khaki cashmere recycled sweater yarn

teal cashmere recycled sweater yarn

violet wool recycled sweater yarn

yellow cotton recycled sweater yarn

magenta wool recycled sweater yarn

cream lambswool recycled sweater yarn

red cotton recycled sweater yarn

teal lambswool recycled sweater yarn

Hand spun Yarns
Yarns that I have spun from scratch.

Teal merino hand spun and 2 plied

rosa merino handspun and 2 plied

Posts about making yarn:

• Unravel in Farnham, British yarn and buttons
• Sweater to yarn to shawl refashion
• Update on Thing a Day – up to day 16
• Friday finds – more sweaters
• What craftyness are you doing for Valentines?
• How to recycle yarn from sweaters
• Handspun – teal merino
• Handspun – rosa merino
• What to do if you don’t have a Christmas tree!
• Love Child: Teal Lambswool Yarn
• Love Child: Red Cotton Yarn
• Love Child: Cream Lambswool Yarn
• Love Child: Magenta Wool Yarn
• Love Child: Yellow Cotton Yarn
• Love Child: Violet Wool Yarn
• Recycled Sweater Yarn
• Rare Breed: Red Silk and Khaki Cashmere Sweater Yarn
• Rare Breed: Teal Cashmere Sweater and Soya Yarn
• Rare Breed: Teal Merino and White Cashmere Sweater Yarn
• Rare Breed: Green Merino Sweater and Soya Yarn
• Love Child: Teal Cashmere Yarn
• Love Child: Khaki Cashmere Yarn
• Love Child: Green Merino Yarn