It's Sweater Sunday... & a giveaway!

Happy Sweater Sunday! I didn't have a chance to process more to add to this this week selection, because of Spring Break, so this won't be one of my bigger selections (sorry!). These are all 100% wool with a couple of 100% camel & alpaca thrown it. Next week, I will go back to mixed fibers, and will have some cashmere (I didn't realize how low I was!).

Before I get to the sweaters, I wanted to tell you about my giveaway on the Crunchy Catholic Momma blog. In honor of her Blogiversary (her blog is 3 years old!), Tricia is has posted a different interview & giveaway for each day of this past week. Go here to enter for a chance to win any one sweater from my shop! While you are on her blog, make sure to check out all the other fun giveaways she has!

Now on to the sweaters!

This pile is all boiled wool, and wool that is similar in thickness & texture to boiled wool (charcoal, black, black, black, green, brown, brown, brown)...


These 2 are a green taupe ribbed wool (feels like a thick merino), and a rust/tan heathered shetland...


These 3 (purple, pink [sold], light blue) are all embroidered and are similar in texture to boiled wool...


some patterned wool...

an Icelandic wool ($8)...


2 mens size 100% alpaca ($10 each)...


and 2 mens size 100% camel sweaters ($10 each). The ribbed one is froggable (can unravel to reclaim the yarn).



Each sweater in this post, unless otherwise stated, is $6 each.

Happy Sweater Sunday!!

What is Sweater Sunday? It is when I show off the sweaters that are being added to my inventory. This is an opportunity for anyone to "call dibs" on sweaters they see here that they want to buy. This also saves me the time of listing them all individually in my shop, so it's a win-win. To "call dibs" or ask any questions, please email me (krisnstevep@netzero.com). Pricing for individual sweaters is generally as follows, with a few exceptions: wool & wool blend sweaters $6 each, cashmere $8-$10 (woman's sizes $8, big men's sizes, froggable, & patterned $10 each), hard to find fibers like alpaca & yak, and vintage sweaters $8-$10 (depends on size, pattern, and brand for the vintage), and froggable merinos are typically $8. Since I seem to get the same questions about Sweater Sunday, I will be posting this paragraph on the bottom of each Sweater Sunday post.

A few random Resweater things... Facebook, Sweater Sunday

As some of you with Facebook pages know, FB has changed a few things. One of the better changes, is that you can "like" other FB pages as your page, meaning that I can now "like" another page as Resweater, instead of Kris (my personal page). When I "like" a page now, I have the option of "featuring" it on my sidebar. They are randomly rotating, now that I have more than 5 pages "liked". If you have a recycled wool related FB page, feel free to leave the link to your page in the comments here, and I will "like" your page as Resweater, and add you to my featured pages. Free advertisement for you!
If you want to do this with your own pages, just "like" a FB page, like Resweater's FB page for example ;), using your page as your identity. Now go back to your page and click on "edit page" (upper right on page), then click on "featured" (on the left), click on "edit featured likes", select any pages you want to be on your page's sidebar (select 5 & they will always be there. Select more than 5, and they will rotate randomly), and click on save.



I'm sure many of my newer readers have questions about Sweater Sunday. I post a brief explanation of SS at the bottom of each SS post, but a reader emailed me with some great questions that I thought I would share, in case others wanted to know:

1. What do you charge for shipping and handling?

I charge by the weight of the sweaters, just like the post office, until you reach my
shipping max. My shipping max is $6 for Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan, and
$10 for all other states. You never pay more than $10 for shipping. It's my way of giving
a "volume discount" to those that are buying multiple sweaters.

2. How does one pay for the goodies? Is it through your shop?

If you are purchasing sweaters only from my shop, you can pay through my shop. If you are
buying sweaters from my shop and Sweater Sunday sweaters, you can check out the sweaters
from my shop without paying, and I will send you an invoice with all of them on it. If
you are only buying Sweater Sunday sweaters, just let me know & I will send you an
invoice. If you are not in a hurry, and want to wait a week or 2 to see what comes in, to
combine shipping, you are welcome to ask me to hold the sweaters for you until you are
ready. Just please be committed to buying the sweaters you ask me to hold them.

3. Can one "order" a sweater from a previous sweater Sunday if it is still 
available?

You sure can! Many get listed in my shop if they don't sell that weekend, so you may want
to check my shop first.

4. If I want a sweater but would like to know the size, do I need to call dibs first and 
then ask you about the size? Is it okay to change my mind if the size not what I want?

You are always welcome to say specifics, like "I want the green cashmere, as long as
it is a size medium or larger", or "I want the blue lambswool, as long as it's
not a v-neck", etc. That's what a lot of my regulars do. That way you are calling
dibs on it, only if it falls within the terms that you state.

5. Also, I understand that froggable means that the sweater can be unraveled and the yarn 
re-used. But I am not sure what the photos you have under the froggables ones mean. 

Those are a close up of a knit gauge against the sweaters. I don't knit or crochet myself
(yet), so I don't know the technical terms, but it helps them to see how thick the yarn
is.

Do any of you have any questions about Sweater Sunday that you would like me to answer here?

This Sunday will be a random mix of sweaters, as usual, but after that I am going to try posting them in themes for a while. What would you like to see as the first theme? All cashmere? All merino? All lambswool? All blends? You tell me!

Resweater will be making some major changes for safety!

Our country is in the middle of a bedbug epidemic, and I need to change the way I do things. Let me preface this by saying that I have not had any insect problems of any kind, I have just become more aware through the news & articles. These changes are strictly of a preventative nature. I have not heard of any in my area, but many thrift stores in the US have had infestations of bedbugs. Due to the nature of what I do, and the volume of thrift store sweaters that are brought into my home, I need to make changes before it's too late. I could just keep the sweaters in the garage, to protect my family, but that doesn't protect my customers once I send the sweaters out. Bedbugs are extremely resilient, and it takes a lot to kill them & their eggs. I obviously wanted a safe non toxic method for our environment, and for the safety of both my family & yours. After speaking with a pest control expert, we agreed that the best solution was freezing. He said it takes 10 days of deep freeze to guarantee that any bedbugs & eggs will be dead. I bought a large chest freezer this weekend, just for the sweaters, and put it in my garage. From now on, I will be taking the sweaters as I get them, and placing them into the chest freezer for 10 days or more. After that, they will be brought into my house for Sweater Sunday and proper inventorying.

What does this mean for you? You can be absolutely certain that there are no bedbugs, moths, eggs, or bugs of any kind, in any sweaters you buy from me. No thrift store can offer you that guarantee. The downside is that if you are requesting me to look for certain colors/patterns/etc. that I don't have on hand, it will take longer to fill those requests because of the 10 day "quarantine". Also, I will start charging an additional 25 cent charge per sweater, to cover the additional costs & labor involved in the process. So, what was $6, will now be $6.25, and what was $8 will be $8.25 etc. I am hoping that you all agree with me that the 25 cents is well worth the piece of mind.

ETA: From time to time I will also be putting sweaters in the dryer, in medium size loads (a large load could cause insulation from the heat), for 30 minutes at a time. This way I can add to my inventory in a quicker way when needed, though it is not as cost or energy efficient.

It's Sweater Sunday! ... and some Resweater updates

My thrift stores are starting to carry sweaters again!!! That combined with a city wide garage sale this weekend, and my stock is booming again! I will be listing some mystery lots shortly. What are mystery lots? I offer lots of sweaters in my shop, that I choose, in a similar theme or fiber, for a discounted price. For example, I might have a cloth diapering mystery lot with all soft 100% wools, or a lot of just lambswool. It depends on what I have a lot of at the moment. Why do I do this? It saves me oodles of time to not have to take pictures & list the individual sweaters, while saving you oodles of money! You are more than welcome to make requests, but I only have what I have, so please understand that it is not a totally custom lot.

Whew, it has been, and still is, a busy summer! So sorry I have been neglecting my blog here, but my son will be starting school in 2 1/2 weeks, and I will be blogging full force again soon.

I have created a new winter hat that I love, and will be posting a tutorial for that soon. I have also created a few more designs for my diaper covers that I hope to post soon too.

On with the sweaters! Here's the wool & wool blends...


the merinos...


the cashmere...


some stripes...


a couple of fair isles...


a merino argyle, a embroidered merino, and a pretty floral lambswool blend.