I am doing a strange thing.

It all started like this...

I have an ugly sweater.

I have an ugly sweater made of beautiful yarn.

It cost two dollars, several years ago, at Vintage Avenger in Arcata, CA.

Its brand name is Geiger, and I kind of bought it just for the cool metal thing that says "Geiger". I was into Geiger counters at the time. I had bought an old one for my mom for christmas.

Judging by its ugliness, it was made circa 1985, but was still in perfect condition.

Details: sleeves about 3 times the size of my arms (and they are not tiny arms), also too long. Body too short. weird poofiness from shoulders down to too-tight, too-high waistband.

It did have lovely buttons, though. And the yarn! It's 67% wool, 17% mohair, and 16% acrylic. And it is SO SOFT! And those colors... it's a short of red/purple/black blend, but not variagated --- I think it's one strand of purple/red and one strand of a very dark blue or purple. Very fine. Almost small enough to be fingering weight.

I HATE this sweater.

And I LOVE this yarn.

So I am doing a strange thing.

I am chopping this sweater into pieces (sleeve, sleeve, body) and ripping the yarn out. Now, because it's steeked and the seams are machine sewn, I end up with a TON of pieces of yarn, between 1 and a half and 3 feet long each.

My floor is covered with little bits of purple mohair.

And I'm BY GOD going to knit me a new sweater. Probably from this pattern. Though with full-length sleeves and no stripes, obviously. I am a no-stripe gal. Pluswise, where would I ever find a contrasting color worthy of this yarn?

Color photos forthcoming, as soon as I get a paycheck or sell off some possessions or something and the moratorium on buying things like camera batteries (and *sniff* yarn) ends.

Also to come: socks from very vintage (and very tiny) yarn, socks for my Shmeeble (read: boyfriend), perfect fingerless mitts for mom, and other exciting items!