Thrift store sweater to fuzzy feet

I bought this sweater (this is just the sleeve)at the Thrift store for $3.00. It was 100% wool and in very good condition. My enabling husband and I took it apart in the evening while watching T.V. I will end up with enough yarn to do several pairs of Fuzzyfeet. I had been wanting to try Kool-aid dying so I thought this would be a great project. Here is my adventure in both Kool-aid dying and Fuzzyfeet

First I wanted to make 4 skeins of continuous yarn so I felted together enough pieces to make 4 1-1/4 oz skeins. I just pulled off a couple of inches from each end that I wanted to felt together then wet the ends and rubbed them together between my palms for heat and friction.

Like Magic!!

Then I wrapped the yarn around the back of a chair and tyed them loosely with acrylic yarn. Each wrap is about 1 yard. I end up with approx. 200 yards of recycled wool.

Then I put it all in very hot water from my steamin hot dispenser-about 165 degrees. You don't want to agitate it because it could felt and that would be bad. I just kind of pushed it down into the water with an old wooden spoon.

Meanwhile I got my Kool-Aid ready. I used 6 packages of Berry Blue. My total yarn amount is about 5 oz.

Mixed the Kool-Aid thoroughly in a very large glass bowl with about 2 cups hot water. You don't want to use anything reactive like aluminum, or that would stain like plastic. It has to be microwave safe. You can do this on the stovetop as well. You can see more about Kool-Aid dying on Knitty.

Then I added the hot water that the yarn had been soaking in, and added the yarn, pushing it down into the blue water with the spoon. Still being careful not to agitate. I zapped the whole thing in the microwave in 2 minute intervals until the water was clear. For this batch it took about 5 times at 2 minutes each and the final water temp was about 175 degrees.

I drained off the Kool-Aid water and put fresh water and a little mild dish soap. I let that soak for a while then rinsed it thoroughly.

I carefully squeezed the water out of each skein,

I layed them out on a towel to absorb as much water as I could. After that they went onto a couple of plastic hangers and outside to dry.

Here they are all dry and ready to wind into balls.

After felting the ends together so I would have only 2 skeins I used my ball winder to wind them up. All ready to make the slippers!

To be continued.........