Reclaiming Wool, Stage One

Friends continue to ask about the "true" cost of stash-building. Accordingly, I'm beginning to document time and expense for reclaiming wool.

One way to obtain yarn is to purchase and deconstruct cast-off sweaters. The Goodwill "Bins," where tons of unsold items are offered by the pound every day, is a dependable source of wool sweaters.

Yesterday, I bought two wool sweaters (cost = $1.59/lb, combined weight = 2.66 lbs) for $4.23.

The Bins are 9 miles from my house, a 30 minute drive in "medium/light" Portland traffic. I spent 30 minutes in the store.

Removal of all seams and unusable edges for two sweaters took 90 minutes. Two pounds of sweater parts are now ready for skeining.

The Goodwill Outlet Store has dozens of bins. Each is changed-up every two hours

Customers crowd around when bins are changed-up

Two wool sweaters purchased at the Goodwill  Outlet Store for $1.59 per pound

The same two sweaters with seams removed -- ready for skeining