Love Your Sweaters The Frog Way

Today the buzz word is UPCYCLING. Have you heard this word before? It's my new favourite word. Upcycling is taking things that would otherwise be destined to be thrown out and turning it into something else--something usable, something beautiful, something wonderful. Upcycling is taking plastic bags and making them into reusable bags, or taking an old pillowcase and making it into a dress for a little girl, or taking previously loved sheets and turning them into a rug. Seriously, the possibilities are endless with Upcycling! Whatever you can imagine, you can do.

Let's think about sweaters. Everyone has them. Everyone gets rid of sweaters for whatever reason (you grow out of them, they have a hole in the arm, they are out of style)...but really quite a few of them could be reused by unraveling them. If you take the time to unravel (or 'frog' as it's called in crocheting circles) a sweater and then crochet or knit it into something else then you are recycling (turning it into something else), reducing (saving a sweater from a landfill) and reusing (sweater into dishcloth or bag--it's even better when the new product can be used many times).

There are some wonderful websites that have tutorials on how to unravel sweater. This one is my favorite. Here is another one with good information. I gave them a thorough reading and then I just jumping into frogging my sweater.

The first thing you need to learn about frogging a sweater is... IT'S ALL ABOUT THE SEAMS. A good sweater has a double seam. A double seam indicates that the pieces have been sewn together whereas a sweater that has a single seam is one that has been serged. A serged sweater won't unravel. Well, it will but it will unravel into short pieces (the length of the sweater). When I am at second hand looking for sweaters to buy to unravel I am turning them inside out and seeing if I can spot the double seam - the good seam.

So, if the first thing is seams, the second thing to learn about frogging a sweater is this... IT'S IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHAT KIND OF MATERIAL YOUR POTENTIAL SWEATER IS MADE OUT OF. Some sweaters are really made out of several thin threads. You can still unravel them but it is a pain since one of the threads usually has some elasticity to it while the others don't. Cotton seems to be a good choice for unraveling. It doesn't fray and stays intact with no pilling.

The third thing I've found is that HOMEMADE SWEATERS ARE WAY EASIER TO UNRAVEL then a store bought one. The little seam is simple to spot. Everything unwinds easily. It's one piece of thread rather then the many little ones that store bought ones seem to have. There's no tags to deal with cutting out. It's just a nice time all around.

The fourth to keep in mind is this... DON'T BE AFRAID. Seriously. When it comes time to cut that little thread that is in the double seam. Just. Do. It. There is no fear in frogging.

Now, lets jump in...

I started with this sweater. It was a nice green. 100% cotton. It had a good double seam with a wonderful little thread and best of all it was $5.99 at Value Village. I washed it and when it was thoroughly dry I began the process.


First, I separated the good double seam and found the little thread. In the tutorial I posted the author says 'you have to love the little thread' & it's true. The little thread is your best friend in this process. Find the little thread and cut!


As you rip you get something like this...


Eventually, by following the tutorial, you'll have your sweater in pieces.



Now you can start the unraveling. This is the fun (and scary) part. The top of the sweater will have these little loops (like you get when you knit). You might have to cut some 'bad' top off... but be patient... stick with it and don't get frustrated. If it gets bad, just remind yourself that this sweater was free (or very cheap) and any amount of wool you get out of it is excellent.




I ended up with this much yarn from the sweater. I expect to have enough yarn there to do about a dozen crochet dishcloths.




And there you go. That's how you love your sweaters the frog way.

Carrie :)

P.S. I realize the pictures aren't the greatest... maybe I'll try to take better pictures of the next sweater I unravel and change them out.

Ms. Crafty says: Carrie is an avid crocheter and has launched her own business, 4Star, selling upcycled plarn bags...

avert your eyes!

please, don't look at my "Work-In-Progress" section... the same 3 projects have been sitting there since i started this damn blog... the sadder thing is that those two scrapbook pages need a little embellishment and a title and they'd be complete... but since knitting and card making have caught my attention, scrapbooking has fallen by the wayside... my goal this week is to finish those two pages and at least finish one dishcloth... oh, and make a "Twisted & Demented" card for my second card challenge...

in other news, i'm busy, busy, busy today preparing food and cleaning before my son's first birthday party tomorrow... so much left to do, yet here i am... with the assistance of the fabulous Ms. M, i managed to put together his birthday cake yesterday... stay tuned for pictures... they'll follow after the party is done...

Selling on Etsy...

Ms. Crafty says: i've asked some of the crafty ladies in my life to guest blog... first up are Spots and kasanika, who have tackled the world of Etsy, a hip online market place...






Etsy is "Your place to buy and sell all things handmade." It's sorta like a cross between eBay and a high-end craft fair. There truly is something for everyone.

Selling on Etsy is super easy and economical. All you need is an original art or craft you can ship, some good photographs, and a credit card. Etsy fees are currently in USD; it's 20 cents to list an item, plus 3.5% when you sell. Each item is listed until it sells, up to 4 months. Most buyers pay using PayPal, so having a PayPal account is a good idea.

The importance of taking good digital photos is crucial. An eye catching photograph draws people into your shop. It's also important to stagger your listings. Keyword searches bring up newest items first, it's ideal to always have one of your items at the top of the pile.

On the front page, the community button leads you into a wealth of information from policies and resources to workshops and chats. Be sure to visit the forums to get tips and tricks from others and to promote your own shop.

Feel free to stop by ours shops, say hi, and add us to your favourites too.

AngelaSpots

kasanika

Ms. Crafty says: as an aside, and a very happy customer, i wanted to mention that kasanika was recently featured in The Storque (Etsy's online zine)... you can read all about it here...

radio silence...

don't worry, my poor little crafting blog has not fallen by the wayside already... i've just not been crafting much as i'm getting ready to return to work and i'm trying to get my ducks in a row before i'm really and truly a working mum...

right now i've got a dishcloth on my needles and that's about it... i'm trying to get 4 rows a day done (to quote the movie Juno, "Whoa! Dream big!"), so i should wrap it up by Friday at the latest...

i have two upcoming projects:

1) a Birthday card exchange - once this cold snap breaks and i actually dare to venture outside, i have to pick out my colour scheme and decide what the heck i'm doing... i need to make 10 by early March... i'm hoping to either start cutting or stamping some stuff at my monthly craft night, next week...

2) some of these cute amigurumi patterns from Owlishly... i haven't picked up a crochet hook in years, so i'm probably going to be in over my head... they're just so damn cute... i bought the 3 patterns below...

Beige Twisted Purl Dishcloths

Started: January 3, 2008
Finished: January 6, 2008
Made For: my family
Pattern: Springtime Dishcloth from I Live On A Farm
Modifications: i only CO 40 stitches
Materials: 2 balls of Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in Softy Taupe
Tools: Size 8 knitting needles
Cost: $1.59/skein
Would I Do It Again? yes
Notes / Comments: this is my first knitting project in 3 or 4 years, so i wanted a gentle reintroduction and i was bored of making scarves (which all my other knitting projects have been)... what's the next easiest? dishcloths, of course...

i didn't want to use a simple knit/purl pattern... after a few minutes searching Google i came across this great pattern from I Live On A Farm... once you get a hang of the twisted purl stitch, it's actually very easy...

as you can see from the photos, the size of the cloths varied greatly as i got use to maintaining the same tension throughout... the cloth on the far right (second picture) was my third cloth and is a little smaller than the other two... i managed to get 3 cloths out of 2 skeins, but i'm sure i could squeeze 4 out if i had the same tension on the first two that i had on the last one... they're also a little misshapen and i could block them, i suppose, but why bother since i'm just going to use them to wash my dishes...

welcome...

welcome to my latest blog where i plan to journal my various craftiness efforts...

i'm not a consistent crafter, nor am i especially fast at churning out projects... but i do like to try my hand at certain projects every once and a while... hobbies that i've done in the past (and keep coming back to) include knitting, crocheting and cross-stitch...

with the birth of my son i've begun to scrapbook and, by extension, make cards... with my introduction to these things, i'm slowly being drawn into the world of heat embossing (which i love to an unnatural extent) and stamping...

what i plan to do here is showcase both my work-in-progress and finished projects, as well as review my work (what was used, how i feel it turned out, would i do it again, etc.)... i'll be adding older projects first, so stay tuned!