I did however realize that recycling a new sweater from some inexpensive shop such as Ross or Marshalls is a great option. I was there shopping for the holidays last month and was lured to the men’s sweater rack. One thing I was confident of was that I would not be disappointed by finding a great sweater that had been ruined by washing and felting/fulling. While there were not a lot of colors and fibers that I wanted I did find one that is perfect.

A lot of nice yarn for just $20. Maybe I'll make a scarf and socks.

It’s a gray sweater in what I believe is sport weight, 45% lambswool. 40% modal, 10% nylon and 5% cashmere. I hunted up an extra large one to get the most yarn. It weighs 495 grams. The yarn is a mix of light and dark gray called Iron Heather, so it has a tweedy look. It has all the right kinds of seams – not serged.

And of course, Max my cat has to become involved in every knitting project.

The only odd thing is that it has a design on the front in intarsia, but that shouldn’t be a problem to unravel around.

The intarsia desing reminds me of a turtle for some reason.

Outside the sweater you can see Max approving of the cashmere content. Inside the sweater you can see the intarsia work. It didn't say it was this hand knitted. Do they have machines that can do intarsia?

I will give you an update when I get around to taking this sweater apart and unraveling it.