I’m still tied up with my friend who needs me. I’ll be her wheels until Tuesday noon or so, it has been a week of errands between errands yet totally worthwhile. I’m wiped out but she is, too… and more.

Words are easy for me to write… photos take a lot of time. Therefore, I’m not quite where I’d like to be here on the blog (I need current photos). That’s how it goes sometimes, when life needs to adjust to reality.

To keep you interested in the thread i started yesterday, here are links to previous garment/knitting projects I’ve remade (as mentioned in yesterday’s post):

1. A Ralph Lauren sweater knit of Manos Del Uruguay handspun/handpainted yarn, purchased at a Lakeland, Florida resale shop for $6. I undid it from the neck to the armholes, made the body of the sweater into a miniskirt and the arms into legwarmers. Adorable, and much fun. You’ll get the full story and big photos (including me wearing the skirt) if you click the links above, but you can peek at the legwarmers at a distance in photo top right.

2. A handspun/handknit sweater from Latin America, purchased for $5 at Scavenger Hunt in East Lansing (funky resale shop aimed at students). It was so skinny and long it would have fit a beanpole teen boy but none would have worn it.

The bottom rib was tight. The sleeves were at least 6″/15cm too long. The yarn on cuffs, bottom rib and neckline was really scratchy, never mind being a red-brown that was not my style. The sweater overall was as colorful as a Turkish sock but unwearable (notice the legwarmers in the “before” photo at left are those I made in the previous makeover).

I cut off the excess arm length at the cuffs. I cut off the bottom ribbing and unraveled the neck.

Then I bought some really soft Manos del Uruguay yarn in teal. I reknit the neck, cuffs and bottom rib in the teal. I actually used a little bit of the leftover burgundy/berry Manos from the Ralph Lauren sweater as small stripes both in the neck area and the bottom rib, just to make the teal yarn stretch a little further.

Even though I cut off 6″/15cm of the arms and merely knit 8 rows of a rolled cuff as replacements, the sleeves are still college-girl long. However, that minor issue can be lived with rather than cutting off some of the colorwork. The rest is just about perfect. I call it my beloved “Turkish Sock Sweater” though it was not created anywhere near Turkey. I wear it a LOT.

In the first photo here today I’m repeating a photo from less than 2 weeks ago. I’m wearing the Manos sweater-arms-turned-legwarmers in it. (The idea originated from Rae, I was going to make armwarmers which would have been too big.) I sure do like them!

Oh, and here are photos of a third project: sandals I remade, before and after. Discount girls’ extra-large sandals, too girly. I repainted the buckles with woman-colored fingernail polish, and I decorated the leather with permanent markers in different thicknesses/colors. I adore these! (The green socks are my very own Fast Florida Footies in Cascade Fixation cotton/lycra yarn.)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 6th, 2007 at 1:48 amand is filed under Knitting, Relationships. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.