The Reclaimed Wool Project
Years ago, when I was interested in learning to knit (and yarn was a LOT cheaper), I picked up a lot of knitting needles and a quilted holder for all of them, but none of it hs seen much use in recent days, and I don't seem to have either the time or the patience to knit anything as complicated as a sweater. I do, however, have a desire to have warm throws to use in cooler weather, and still remember the toasty knitted afghan that my grandmother used for years. Real wool yarn is rather expensive, and the synthetic yarns don't have the warmth of wool, so I've actively started reclaiming the wool from old sweaters that have outlived their usefulness as clothing. The first one to tackle was an old Irish wool cardigan.
Finding the seams in the old sweater was the most challenging part as the sweater pieces were held together with the same yarn as the body of the sweater, but eventually I got the whole thing de-knitted and rolled into balls. Those balls, in turn were wrapped into skeins and gently washed in the bathroom sink and hung to dry over the bath. Once dry, they will be rolled back into the balls of yarn I prefer to use and stashed in a bag to keep them clean.