Recycled sweater yarn

So I had this sweater I had bought from Old Navy quite awhile ago... It was kinda frumpy and too boxy on me (not flattering) so I never wore it... but I hung on to it through SEVERAL moves because I liked the color.... and now I finally have gotten around to salvaging the yarn from it to be knit into cooler things!!!!!! How did I do this you ask?

(Side note: the sweater yarn is worth recycling because it is 58% wool... thats enough wool for me!!!!)

1. I spent an evening picking out the seams and winding the yarn into skeins (wound it around my arm) and then tying the skeins with little pieces of red yarn to keep them neat and not tangled. Look how curly the yarn is after being in a "knitted" state for so long!


2. I soaked the skeins in some warm water for awhile, squeezed them in some towels to get the water out and then hung them from doorknobs/hooks with a can of beans or whatever as a "weight"... this helps get all those kinks out of the yarn!

3. Once they were completely dry, I used my awesome ball winder and swift to wind them into these pretty skeins! Look how much yarn I got from this sweater.... SWEET!