There are times when life gets complicated and then it all unravels. A bit like this knitting. I made this vintage jacket two years ago and posted about it here. At the time, I was going through an incredibly stressful period of my life and I think that this was reflected in my knitting, which was far too tight. Needless to say, I was lazy about knitting a gauge swatch and the garment didn’t come out well. I threw it in a drawer and left it there until I moved it to make space for something else. A couple of times, I thought about sending it to the charity shop, but the yarn was beautiful and I didn’t want to part with it.
I was chatting to my Mum last weekend and we talked about knitting and other projects. I mentioned that I had this jacket and I should do something with it. The call ended and I decided to stop procrastinating and do so. Out came the stitch ripper and I took my confidence in both hands and started taking the jacket apart. The process was hugely satisfying: it felt like I was unravelling all of the stress that went into that knitting and putting the past behind me in the process.
I did fairly well, only accidentally cutting a couple of stitches. I soon had seven balls of yarn in various sizes, which I then wound into hanks. For the non-knitters amongst you, I had to do this in order to wash the yarn to remove the kinks - Mr Candytuft described this as ‘decrinklating’. He’s good at making up words.
It is actually quite a lengthy process as it takes quite a while for hand-washed hanks of yarn to dry, but they did so within a couple of days. I finally finished winding the yarn back into balls this morning.
I now have a new project on my needles, which I will save for another post. It is only in the very early stages, but already shows promise.
VERY brave, Marie! It's a courageous thing to take a part a finished knit project like that and reconsider the yarn. And I can imagine just how satisify it was to gently rip back each stitch--all the stress and strife with it. Good work!! ;) Decrinklating--such a great word! We're always making up words--very fun. I'm curious about how you washed the yarn, once you wound it back up. Did you place it all in a laundry/lingerie wash bag and wash it on a wool cycle in the washing machine? Very exciting about your new project on the needles now with this yarn, and looking forward to seeing your adventure with that... gorgeous color pink too! Happy Knitting! ((HUGS))
ReplyDeleteTracy - I hand washed the yarn in a gentle detergent and squeezed out the excess water, before laying it on a towel to dry, which is why it took a couple of days. Marie x
DeleteSounds like a very theraputic thing to do. Love decrinklating, it's a good word:)
ReplyDeleteMr Candytuft has a whole host of words in his vocabulary. I’m just not sure that any of them have found their way into the dictionary! Marie x
DeleteI love the colour of your yarn. Well done you for recycling it into a new project. It is a lot of work ripping something out, "decrinklating" it and winding it into usable balls of yarn. B x
ReplyDeleteIt is a lot of work, but definitely worth the effort. Marie x
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