In early April, I posted a DIY tutorial on how I harvested the yarn from a recycled thrift-store sweater.
I’ve since hand-washed and dried the yarn, adding some weight during drying to take out the curls. Unfortunately, my strategy didn’t work as well as I thought it would. Once dried, the used yarn was still curling from its previous knit (though you’ll notice the waves are a little looser than before). I think this ‘yarn memory’ is due to several reasons, but the main one, I suspect, is a high synthetic content. It may not be the 100% wool I thought it was!
Anyhow, wanting to get on with things, I decided to go ahead and ball this curly yarn. For lack of a proper winder, I made the balls by hand using a toilet paper roll (!) removed when the winding was done. This was time-consuming, but was in line with my love of recycling. Hand-winding, it turns out, is also relaxing in its own way. The result was a neat, center-pull ball. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ll let those speak for themselves.
Stay tuned to find out just what I have been doing with this recycled yarn. 🙂
Happy Winding!
handmade habit 
I just love this! How awesome to recycle yarn! I actually came across an Etsy shop which sells recycled yarn, the seller must have a fast way to harvest it or it seems like a rough way to make a living – ha! (but very eco/green).
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How interesting, thanks for letting me know. Yes, I imagine they must have a speedier process than my month of (happy) yarn-tinkering. Thanks, Tierney. 🙂
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It looks like it could be some species of acrylic blend because when you wound the yarn into a ball it lost the curls. This is awesome stuff right here. Also, it’s good for the environment. Nice job! And thanks for teaching me a thing or two about repurposing yarn from a sweater.
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I think you may be right, Tony, about that fiber. Perhaps I’ll have some better luck next time (and will have hopefully honed my fiber ID skills). Thank you for reading!
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You see ! The curls are gone when you wind it into a ball. Can’t wait to see what you do with it.
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Thank you, Agnes, for reading. I’m hoping the curls relax a bit over time. 🙂
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Love your photos!
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Thank you! Thanks for reading. 🙂
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Looks good! There is something mighty calming about hand-winding a ball of yarn, isn’t there? I’m interested to see what you’ve done with your reclaimed yarn now!
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Yes, there is. Part of the fun is to see if I can wind something near-sphere enough to pass for a proper ball. Until I can invest in a proper winder, I’ll stick to this method. 😛 Happy weekend, Helen. 🙂
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You can… But only if you don’t mind it not unwinding from the centre! It might be time to start dropping some hints for that ball winder! 😉 Happy weekend right back at you, Shirley 😀
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🙂 haha. Ahem *cough* ball winder! *cough*
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Tee hee! 😆
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What an awesome idea!!!! I will be using this clever trick. I love the color of your reclaimed yarn! 🙂
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Thanks, Tami, for reading. 🙂 Yes, who knew a TP roll could come in handy for ball winding? All best. 🙂
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Great idea on the TP roll–keeping the center nice and loose. Awesome project and I can’t wait to see what else you do with the yarn, Shirley 🙂
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Thanks for reading, Melissa. 🙂
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This is genius! I never would have thought to use a paper roll that way. I usually just wind the yarn into a ball by hand but that doesn’t give me a pull from the middle. I will be doing it your way from now on!
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Glad to know the pictures were useful! I’ve never used the center-pull (I still unwind from the outside), so would love to hear how it works! Happy Thursday, Robin. 🙂
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Reblogged this on Yarnsage.
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