My Old Red Sweater

This sweater is an old favorite for lots of reasons.

I made it years ago from a pattern in Interweave magazine.

I repurposed the yarn from two cherry-red sweaters I bought at the thrift store. If I remember correctly, one was an angora-acrylic blend, and the other was cashmere–big boxy sweaters with some wear and tear that I found hanging side by side. I unraveled them and knit the two yarns together. I think I spent less than $20 on enough yarn for a whole cardigan, and I thought I was a genius.

That was before my mom died, and she helped me unravel the sweaters. It took hours, sitting on the couch gabbing, the cashmere constantly breaking as we went. There’s a zillion broken yarn ends woven into the inside of it.

This sweater turned out to be super sturdy, and I still wear it often after all this time. When I first made it, the fit was quite a bit looser, but it’s still comfy.

I wanted it to be my first post on this blog.

If you want to repurpose old knits for new knitting, I’ve got some how-to’s here.