Happy Thanksgiving, if you're in the States and celebrating. Happy cold Thursday if not. I'm not celebrating the day conventionally — I'm sharing a turkey dinner from the grocery store with my coworkers, (nine bucks, everything included), and then I'm going to my sister's house to see family for a minute or two, then back home where there will be more family to see. Lots of family, lots of hugs, and then lots of sleep, since I have to get up at 4am tomorrow and do it all over again.
But I thought I'd stop in and show you a repurposed sweater.
You know I love Orange Alert. My own design, I've been wearing the heck out of it for six years. It pills awfully, and it isn't pretty, but it was sooooo utilitarian. I can't count the hundreds of hours I've sat at my desk, writing, wearing that sweater and sweatpants, my love blanket draped over my lap.
Recently, I felted it somehow. I'm not sure how I did it – it's been washed before, but this time it did the slight dreaded shrink-upwards. You know the one — suddenly the belly is no longer covered, and the arms are just that much too tight. I stopped enjoying wearing it, and yesterday, I made a decision.
I was going to felt the CRAP out of it and reuse it.
I threw it in the washer with the towels and put it on Hot in the most vigorous cycle we have. (Isn't vigorous a good word? I love that word.) Then I dried it! Oh, it all felt so forbidden and wrong and delicious.
It came out small, thick, and fuzzy.
Just right for a hotty cozy. You know that pattern I have for them? Yeah, I still don't have one of those for myself, so I thought this would be nice.
I cut around the hot water bottle like so:
Then I sewed it up, inside out:
Et voila:
Nice and warm for Digit. He's lost some more weight, although he seems to be reacting really well to the thyroid meds, and he's always cold (even resorting to cuddling with the hated kittens), so I fill this up and he sleeps right on top of it. We went to the vet this week, and now we're waiting for results. 🙁
I also stole the sleeves and made some really warm gauntlets:
I just chopped them off and stabbed my scissors through the side to make a hole for the thumb. I sewed the edges of the hole with the machine, but they might still fray some more, in which case I'll call them punk.
There. This makes me happy. My sweater lives, reincarnated, keeping both me and my cat warm.
I hope you're staying warm. Enjoy the weekend! Mwah.
How to turn a frown upside down x that’s a great way to use an accidentally felted sweater, I used a similar accident to make knitting needle rolls 🙂
Love this. Remake, recycle, reuse. But sad about Digit. It’s inevitable, but it’s still hard. Sending hugs.
Beautiful repurposing! And it’s still in your life for you to enjoy. Happy Thanksgiving to you!
Happy Thanksgiving! The repurposed sweater looks great, and I’m glad it can keep Digit warm. Hugs to both of you.
Very Clever
(BTW I’ve made one of your hot water bottle cozies, and I use it every night now that the weather has gotten cold here in Ohio)
Sorry to hear Digit’s news; hope the results are good. Meanwhile, awesome repurposing!
Great minds…. With Christmas just around the corner, I’m determined to make the cozies I didn’t get around to LAST year. Armload of already-felted sweaters waiting in the wings? Excellent!
An elegant solution indeed! I have a feline loved one in a similar fix. We just got him a pressure- activated heated cat pad from cozywinters.com and he loves it..plenty of room to stretch out and enjoy 102 degrees of comfort. Love to you and all of yours.
I love it! (And the gauntlets, too!) Now I need to go round up some sweaters to felt – we just moved into a 40 year old log cabin that leaks heat like a sieve – this is just what I needed for our bedroom. Thanks! (And our cats will think I’m awesome.)
you are such a superstar. love the new gauntlets and digit’s precious pillow.
Is RadioCat an option? It’s pricey, but it worked well for my thyroid-y furball.
The re-use of that sweater is freakin’ brilliant. I wish I were that clever. 🙂
Wow, what a fantastic idea! Love the arm warmers too – brilliant!!
One of our cats recently had thyroid issues and didn’t do well on the meds. But I’m happy to say after $800 and in vet bills and surgery, she’s on the mend! I hope sweet Digit makes a full recovery and does well with the meds. *hugs*
The gauntlets are brilliant! I finally bought three water bottles today. Never having used a cozy, I have a question: one needs to be able to get the bottle in and out, no (hence the ribbed neck on the knit version)? So I shouldn’t sew the neck too close if I’m making a fulled one?
Hi, Rachael!
“Congratulations, Rachael!”
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving.
I love what you did with your sweater, especially the gauntlets. My hands/arms are alwaysfreezing and it’s so painful, so that looks like it would really help me–even at night!
Thanks for the tip. And by the way: Congrats on your “3-book deal with Avon”–That’s pretty awesome!
Sincerely,
Cynde
Cynde’s Got The Write Stuff
I’m catching up with blogs after a while away, and wanted to tell you that I think this re-purposing of your sweater is brilliant. Way to recycle!