Because I enjoy incorporating fun textural yarns into the kids’ afghans I crochet for charity, I was very happy to find these three pretty-colored chenille sweaters when I recently visited Sal’s.
Luckily, green just happened to be the half-off tag color on that day, so they were only $2.00 a piece! After weighing the pile of sweaters, two and a half pounds, and allowing about 10% for waste during unraveling, I figure my chenille yarn cost me only $2.75 per pound. Yay!
I can hear you thinking, “But you still have to unravel those sweaters before you have any yarn.” What you don’t know is that if I take apart a sweater and start unraveling each piece, my DH will quickly turn these…
into these, while he watches TV or a dvd.
Now you know why I’m more than happy to knit him as many pairs of fingerless mitts and cowls as he wants! lol.
alottastitches 
Linda, now you have done it! I’m going to have to start looking for my yarn at our local thrift store via sweaters. Being on a tight budget, it has to be cheaper that running to Wally World and paying $3 plus for 8 ounces. Thank you again for inspiring me and so many others. 😉
I hope you bring home a bagful! But be careful – it’s a cheap, addictive, way to grow your stash. I often find luscious luxury fibers in sweater-form too!
If this is your first time to buy commercial sweaters for their yarn, the Thrifty Knitters group in Ravelry has a wonderfully helpful resource page, “How to recycle/harvest yarn”
It’s heartbreaking to discover you bought a beautiful sweater that can’t be unraveled. sigh. Still happens to me once in a while when I forget to look before I buy. Luckily, some thrift stores allow timely exchanges. 🙂
I look forward to hearing about your first sweater/yarn haul!