Recycling cashmere

 I return to one of my favourite subjects. You cant beat cashmere for lightness, warmth and softness. The downside is, the washing machine is not its friend and I can't be the only person whose gorgeous beige luxe cowl neck jumper came out looking like a needle felted Yoda toy- now there's an idea...

I've been experimenting with some cashmere samples. fashion industry waste, and here are two ideas I've come up with so far.

500ml mini hot water bottles from ebay, the pre-felted samples are hand sewn on and the tops are stretchy so you can fill them with hot- not boiling- water.

I used a washing machine cycle which takes about 2 hours set at 30 degrees, with a towel or pair of jeans for company.This was enough to provide a thick but not too thick felted material which is still soft to the touch. Felting in the machine is always something of a lottery though, if in doubt experiment with a small piece first, measure before and after to gauge percentage of shrinkage and use this when designing. 40-50 % in this case.

 There's a pattern online for slippers by making one large ' bag' shape which looks for all the world like a pair of dangly breasts. After felting in the machine, one 'breast' shape is turned through into the other to make a lined felted slipper.

I had a go using cashmere strips sewn together and washed as detailed above, not bad for a first attempt. I might put a sole on made from manufactured felt to prolong their lives.

Last but not least, this lap blanket is made using double crochet (20sts using 4mm hook)strips, sewn together and a border worked inc by 3 at each corner.Border uses a mix of sc, dc and tr depending on how wavy it gets. The border is twisted  fringe, easy but time and yarn consuming- there are tutorials on the internet on how to make it.

The yarn I had hanging around from a time I had the patience to unpick and unravel fine knit cashmere sweaters and ply the yarn into a knitting weight, akin to aran.