Cashmere and Lace Repurposed (Creative Every Day!)

I love cashmere, but right now I can't afford the yarn---at least not enough to knit myself a whole sweater. I'm always looking at lovely new cashmere sweaters--but again-the cost! And I am larger sized woman, so the choices are limited. Then one day in a thrift shop (while shopping for wool sweaters to felt for various projects) I spied this very large black men's turtleneck sweater. Hmmmm...it sure was soft! so I checked the fiber content---it was pure cashmere! I bought it in a flash.

I should have taken a shot of this sweater when I started--when it was a very large man's turtleneck...anyhow, I have refashioned (repurposed, recycled?) this warm, soft, cozy, fuzzy all cashmere sweater. Now I find myself wearing it almost everyday around the house, because it is so soft and warm.

First I threw it in the washing machine and then dryer with a load of wool sweaters--hoping to shrink the sweater some---but I discovered that cashmere doesn't shrink much, and it sure does not felt at all. So next I took out the scissors and cut out the turtleneck and then I turned the edge under and hemmed around the neck--by hand. The sleeves were much too long, so I cut them off and also hemmed them by hand.
Then I used some washable wool sock yarn to crochet the edging around the neck and sleeve cuffs. I just used a steel crochet hook and poked it right through the hemmed cashmere edge to make a row of single crochet, then crocheted some shells into this row of single crochet, and finished with picot row.



The neck and sleeves edging took me 2 evenings to finish--and now I have my own warm cashmere sweater, created for about $10.00. And I can just throw it in the washer and dryer to clean it, since the fibers don't shrink. Plus, every time I wear this sweater somewhere I get compliments on it.....