Recycled Sweater

This week, for the first time, I am taking part in Metamorphosis Monday over at Susan's Between Naps on the Porch, so please click on the link and take yourself over to see all the wonderful ideas by those also taking part.

Months ago my husband had a clear out of his wardrobe and had thrown a couple of sweaters into the rag bag. When I saw them, I thought they were too good to just throw away, so I kept them with the idea of selling them at a car boot. Well, that never happened and then I read somewhere about felting wool. This involves washing pure wool items on a hot wash to shrink it and 'felt' it.

This is a photo to give you an idea of how large the sweater was to begin with:

Now the sweater above isn't the one I 'felted' because I forgot to take a 'before' picture of the one I actually used. This one is being used to show you how much the sweater shrunk.

I have to admit that even though the sweater was headed for the rag bag, I still had to steel myself to put it in the washing machine and turn the dial to the maximum programme. Could I really do it? Could I?

Well, I did, and here is the actual garment. Remember, it was the same size as the sweater you've seen previous:

I decided to use the main part as a hot water bottle cover and the rest may be turned into Christmas decorations of some kind.

Well, husband saw me in the throws of cutting up his sweater and wailed 'That's my jumper you're cutting up!' I reminded him that he'd thrown it in the rag bag months before. 'That's not the point - it's a good jumper and you're cutting it up!' I pointed out that after he'd thrown it out he'd have no control over what happened to it whoever owned it. He went off muttering under his breath and I carried on cutting.

My new hot water bottle cover:

And I have to say it is sooooo cosy, and in the middle of the night when a bare hot water bottle can feel soooo cold, this one now retains a little warmth and so it doesn't get thrown out of bed.

I realise this is a very small project compared to some of the wonderful things on Met Monday, but I'm very happy to have recycled with very pleasant results.

Blessings,

Andi