Summer hiatus!

As some of you know, summer's are very busy for me at home, running around having fun with my son, taking day trips, bike rides, and gardening. Last year I took a summer hiatus or 2 from Resweater, and it was just what I needed to recoup. I will be taking my first hiatus starting tomorrow, June 15th, and will "return" Monday, June 25th, in time to post Sweater Monday. During this time, you are free to email me if you have any questions, but I will not be doing any blog posts, trips to the post office, listing in my shop, or any other time consuming business tasks. I appreciate your understanding!

It's Tutorial Tuesday! Make a recycled wool bike seat cover!

I went for a bike ride the other day, and though the rest of me felt great, my bum was too warm! I of course thought of breathable, moisture wicking wool, and got to work!



First, take a piece of paper & make a template for the seat top, making sure to add on about 1/4" all around for seam allowance.


Now, using that template, cut out a piece of felted wool. You will also need a strip of wool long enough to go all the way around your seat piece. You probably won't have a long enough piece to do that, so just sew 2 pieces together, like I did, then join the ends, so it makes a complete circle. You will want this to be about 1" deeper than the bike seat's side.


Now you will want to sew the circular piece to the seat piece, wrong sides out.


It should look something like this when you are done doing that...


Now you will need some elastic. Please note: I like to use what I have on hand, so I used a thick piece of elastic, but a thinner piece of elastic would have worked much better than what I used. Stretch the elastic while you zig zag stitch it to the [not stretched] wool edge. You will be sewing it to the outside edge (the "wrong" side of the wool).


When you are done going all the way around, you can flip it right side out, and it should look like this...


Now it's time to put you cover on your bike seat! If you used the right elastic & stretched it enough while sewing, you should be done. If your cover ended up not tight enough, like below (because I used too thick elastic), there is an easy solution.


Take the cover back off, flip it inside out and sew closed the skinny part, like this...


When you flip it right side out again, it should resemble a goofy looking slipper.


Now when you slip it back on the bike seat, it should look perfect!


I tested it out with a long bike ride, and it works great! No more plastic seat sweat (yuck!)! It also looks cute with my water bottle cozie :).

It's What I've Been Working on Wednesday- insulated thermos cover... with a tail!

You know something like this has to have a story, right? Well, it does :). My brother in law likes go out on his front porch in the evening. Lately there's been a skunk hanging around the front of the house at night, so he's been worried about being sprayed while he's out there. My niece (his daughter), who is such a fun & funny person, couldn't resist pulling a prank on him with her boyfriend. They took a realistic stuffed animal skunk, attached fishing line to it, and strung it through a tree. When they moved it around, my b-i-l panicked and tried to get in the front door. They locked it. And video taped it. LOL!

Anyhoo, they had asked me a while back to make a cover for his thermos, since his coffee was going cold too quickly. Because of the handle and strap, I used a cardigan, so it could be buttoned around the handle.



I couldn't resist adding the tail ;).

It's Tutorial Tuesday! Make an insulated water bottle cozy!

Did you know that wool is naturally insulated & moisture wicking? That's what makes recycled wool an excellent choice for water bottle cozies! Your water will stay cold, but your hands will stay warm. The texture of the wool helps you keep a better grip on your water bottle, and the condensation will be wicked away, so you won't be left with a soggy cozy. We've been using recycled wool cozies on out steel water bottles for a long time now, and can't live without them! Ready for the super easy tutorial?

Take a felted (not too felted, so there is a bit of stretch left to it) wool sweater sleeve, and place it on your bottle, to determine how long you want it to be. Mark it, take it off the bottom, and cut straight across. Don't follow the pattern of the sweater when you cut (if you are using a patterned sweater), because the patterns can run at a slight angle. Then cut a circle that is the same circumference as the bottom of your cut sweater sleeve bottom.


Now turn your sleeve part inside out, and place the circle on the cut end, wrong side out.


Now sew the circle to the sleeve.


It should look something like this when you are done...


Now flip it right side out, and you are done!


Now we are ready for summer!

P.s. These are washable too! I've washed my son's cozies a dozen times. Just wash on cold, so they don't felt further. I just threw them in cold cycles in the washer, but if you want to be extra careful, just hand wash cold and lay flat to dry.

and the winners of the boys clothes giveaway are....

orange monster patch jeans - Megan
owl patch jeans - Siana
monster patch jeans - Anna
sweater - Leslie

I will be contacting you all shortly!

Recycled wool boy's clothes giveaway!

Since I haven't been posting much, how about some giveaways! I feel a little weird about doing a giveaway with my son's outgrown clothes, but these are all one of a kind. The jeans especially were very popular on Pinterest!

The rules? Please post which item you want (in the comments section of this post). Don't forget to leave an email (so I can contact you, if you win). Blog/tweet/Facebook about this giveaway, and you can post again for each (total of 4 posts max per person)! I'm sorry, but this giveaway is limited to the US. This giveaway ends at midnight (central time) on Friday, May 25th. I will use random.org to determine the winners.

Ready for the choices?

1. A super cute recycled wool sweater made by Victoria Velting. It fits a 2t-3t.
(there is no spot on the bottom of this sweater... my camera lens has a scratch on it).


2. A merino wool baseball style shirt made by me. We used this as a night shirt. Wool is naturally fire retardant (without chemicals!), dust mite resistant, moisture wicking, and temperature regulating, so absolutely perfect for pjs! Approximate size is 4-5t. If you don't win, you can make your own from the tutorial here!
(there is no spot on the bottom of this shirt... my camera lens has a scratch on it).

3. 3 pairs of size 6 jeans (all slim fitting styles), patched by me.

- Gap jeans original fit, size 6, with handmade recycled wool orange monster patch, made by me.


- Faded black wash Gap jeans boot fit, size 6 slim, with handmade recycled wool monster patch, made by me. The other knee is threadbare, and will need a patch soon too. I accidentally washed these on warm, instead of cold, so it is slightly bunchy around the patch, but it didn't deter us from using them ;).


- Gap jeans original fit, size 6, with handmade recycled wool owl patch, made by me. The other knee is threadbare, and will need a patch soon too.


Good luck! :)

Free wool!

I am clearing out some space, and need to destash. I have the following free for the cost of shipping! :


Gone: Box of felted wool (and some cashmere) scraps (6 lbs, 12 oz.)...


some lightly felted to felted (except the scenery one) low wool content sweaters (5 lbs, 12 oz). For content, most are here. The black one on the far left is 60% alpaca/40% acrylic, and the navy with fair isle is felted, and most likely 100% wool, but is missing it's fiber tag.


Gone: and lastly, a box of felted seams (3lbs, 8oz)...


To calculate what shipping will be for them, just go to the post office price calculator, and plug in 60134 as the from zip, yours as the to zip, and the weights above, and it will give you the costs for shipping to you (hint: click on the "Priority options", as well as the "other options" tabs, to see the cheapest shipping options).