thrifty find: green sweater

Finally! The thrifty find I missed last week. This isn’t actually my find. I guess when you regularly blog about recycling, reusing and refashioning, you get a reputation. A few weeks ago, my friend Kelly texted me this:

Kelly: Knit emergency: think you could repair this? Hanger damage on an Eileen Fisher sweater.
Me: I think so. It looks like a lot of dropped stitches, but the yarn seems intact. Are any of the strands cut?
Kelly: Nothing cut as far as I can tell. It’s a *huge* discount, and I’ll buy no matter what, but having it repaired would be an excellent bonus, you know?
Me: We’ll make it work.

Actually, I thought this would be a simple pick-up-the-stitches job, but too long on the hanger had pulled the neighboring stitches too tight. I got out a tiny crochet hook and gently started pulling on loops. I tightened up the loose stitches and tried to evenly distribute the yarn across the others. It wasn’t the most exciting task. (For the quilters out there, it made my eyes cross like endless stitching in the ditch.) It was worth it though. Except for three or four stitches that just won’t behave, everything else looks good.

Of course, my “dedication” to perfection comes into question again. This area is mostly covered by the long, cowl-like collar. No one will ever see my work. Kind of crazy? Well, at least I know it looks good.

There’s another thrifty find to this story. When Kelly gave me the sweater to fix, she also gave me a pair of very nice, dark denim J. Crew jeans that she found thrifting. They fit awesome and I love them. Thanks again, Kelly!