Saturday, March 05, 2005
Unraveling the Sweater...Not the Memories.
For this project I used a sweater that I had bought to make my first ever credit-card purchase. As some of you may have experienced upon turning 18, I signed up for my first credit card on my college campus in exchange for some lame "prize" like a t-shirt or a pack of gum or a coupon for half a burrito. After realizing that someone out there was actually willing to "GIVE" me "free" money....I did what any 18 year old girl would do and hit the mall to rock that card!
My purchase was this green zip-up cardigan from J-Crew. J-Crew, the store that was previously inaccessible to me...because, according to my mother....."it's inappropriate to spend $125 on jeans"....but not if you have free money!! So with my credit-card in hand, loaded up with a whopping $100 credit limit....I hit the sale racks. I walked out of the store toting my sweater dreaming of all the outfits I could pair the fine frock with. That would have been fine and dandy....had I not lived in San Diego...where it seldom hits below 70 degrees...in the winter.
The sweater later followed me onto my...what I now lovingly refer to..."My Great American College Tour"...which included official transfers....to 5 different colleges in 6 years.
The sweater kept me warm in Santa Cruz....and then protected my skin from frost-bite in Michigan. It made me look cool when hanging out with friends....and made my friends look sexy when hanging out with boys.
Now I'm back in sunny California...older, wiser, and in a whole lot of credit-card debt...and the poor sweater has been sitting in my closest...neglected...and lonely. Much like the Valvatine Rabbit, it was tattered and loved....but also outgrown by it's owner. I couldn't bare to part with it, however, not with all the memories attached to it for my friends and I.
For these sentimental reasons, I choose this sweater to be the victim of my first Fiber Recycling project. Loaded with the information that I received from the ReKAL site, I began to unravel the vary fibers that kept me warm and hip for so many years. As I snipped, pulled and tugged at the stitches, I couldn't help but reminisce about all my crazy college days and became determined to recapture the moments by re-knitting the yarn into 2 scarves that my best-friend, Katy and I could share...in two different places. With the sweater re-fashioned into a two scarves, Katy and I could secretly smirk about all the memories we share....memories that are safer locked into the stitches of our scarves.
Step 1. The Infamous sweater....minus the groovy collar.
Step 2. Unraveled. Hanging as a hank...ready to be washed.
Step 3. Washed up and ready to dry...for a week!!
Step 4. Balled up and ready to knit.
Step 5. Ready to knit up into Backyard Leaves from Scarf Style for Katy.
My purchase was this green zip-up cardigan from J-Crew. J-Crew, the store that was previously inaccessible to me...because, according to my mother....."it's inappropriate to spend $125 on jeans"....but not if you have free money!! So with my credit-card in hand, loaded up with a whopping $100 credit limit....I hit the sale racks. I walked out of the store toting my sweater dreaming of all the outfits I could pair the fine frock with. That would have been fine and dandy....had I not lived in San Diego...where it seldom hits below 70 degrees...in the winter.
The sweater later followed me onto my...what I now lovingly refer to..."My Great American College Tour"...which included official transfers....to 5 different colleges in 6 years.
The sweater kept me warm in Santa Cruz....and then protected my skin from frost-bite in Michigan. It made me look cool when hanging out with friends....and made my friends look sexy when hanging out with boys.
Now I'm back in sunny California...older, wiser, and in a whole lot of credit-card debt...and the poor sweater has been sitting in my closest...neglected...and lonely. Much like the Valvatine Rabbit, it was tattered and loved....but also outgrown by it's owner. I couldn't bare to part with it, however, not with all the memories attached to it for my friends and I.
For these sentimental reasons, I choose this sweater to be the victim of my first Fiber Recycling project. Loaded with the information that I received from the ReKAL site, I began to unravel the vary fibers that kept me warm and hip for so many years. As I snipped, pulled and tugged at the stitches, I couldn't help but reminisce about all my crazy college days and became determined to recapture the moments by re-knitting the yarn into 2 scarves that my best-friend, Katy and I could share...in two different places. With the sweater re-fashioned into a two scarves, Katy and I could secretly smirk about all the memories we share....memories that are safer locked into the stitches of our scarves.
Step 1. The Infamous sweater....minus the groovy collar.
Step 2. Unraveled. Hanging as a hank...ready to be washed.
Step 3. Washed up and ready to dry...for a week!!
Step 4. Balled up and ready to knit.
Step 5. Ready to knit up into Backyard Leaves from Scarf Style for Katy.
posted by Cristina at 7:04 PM
2 Comments:
How fun girl! I went through my closet again and have a bunch of clothes for good will. I think I put some sweaters in there too. I'll look through again and see if I have any you might be able to recycle. - Schmate -
What a wonderful fate for such a well-worn sweater! I wish I had something with that many memories to re-create.
