Q
When I'm out walking the dog, I see bits of wool caught on the bottom of wire fences. Is it OK to collect this, and can I use it for anything?
Jon Peters, UK.
A
As long as you aren't leaving the public footpath, you can certainly collect this fleece. It will be very variable in quality, and staple length (the length of the hairs.) It will also be very dirty, so take it home in a plastic bag.
First it will need washing : put it in a container full of cool water with a LITTLE liquid detergent (the sort you'd use for hand-washing dishes) and leave it to soak over night. Squeeze it very gently and replace in some fresh cool water to rinse. Gently squeeze the water out again and leave to dry on an old towel at room temperature.
When it has dried, your fleece can be used in a variety of ways. You could spin it with a drop-spindle (find out how to improvise one on the hints'n'tips page), use it in a collage or maybe felt it.
Q
My friend's got a hand-knitted cardigan which someone made for her. The wool's a great colour, but she doesn't like cardies. Can she unravel the wool and re-use it? How does she start?
Leonie Munroe. Derby, UK.
A
This kind or re-cycling used to be quite normal practice when the majority of knitwear was made by hand, not by machine, so yes, you certainly can re-use the yarn.
Look carefully to see how the garment was put together. It was probably made as two sleeves, a back, and two fronts, then sewn together, and a button band added to finish. You need to undo the sewing stitches which were used to 'make up'(join)the pieces first of all: this is the hardest part, as the maker will have tucked the ends away neatly! Next go to the place where each knitted part was cast off to find the yarn end, and start unravelling. The yarn will be kinky because it will 'remember' being knitted up, so you need to wash or steam it to straighten it out. Click here for details.
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