Recyceld Wool Sweater Throw

Once again I have been pinspired by a blanket that I saw, made from old recycled wool sweaters. 

So I finally made one for myself. I started with about 6 wool sweaters and then quickly realized I needed at least 6 more. I washed all the sweaters and dried them on high to shrink and felt them. 

 Then I started cutting my squares. They are 5 x 5, and I ended up with 192 total squares. I had it laid out on the floor for weeks as I kept adding to it, making it bigger and re-arranging the squares.

Then I decided that it still needed something. I originally had hoped to find a sweater with some fun striped print, but there was no such luck. So I made some fun owl appliques from other sweaters. 

Once I added them in, it still felt like it needed something more. I decided to get out my wool roving and needle felt some of the squares. And then my boys wanted to help, so I taught them how. They had so much fun, and all of our squares were done free hand. They did great! When they finished I used my sewing machine to sew their names on each square that they made. 

Finally I was ready to start putting it all together. I stacked each row and began sewing. It only took me about 2 hours to get all the squares sewn together. 

I bought a microfiber blanket for the back and a layer of batting for the middle. 

I stacked my layers and sewed it all together. Then I turned it inside out and realized that I had my stack layered wrong, and the batting was now on the outside. So I had some wine. And then grabbed the seam ripper. This took days.

I had to seam rip each stitch, there was no pulling it apart since it was all made from sweaters. 

The kids helped me "un-sew" it. I had been working on a little bit each night, and then one day I came home and my hubby had finished it for me! 

So today I was finally able to put it all back together. 

 I am very happy with how it turned out!

 So is Zach!

This is by far the warmest blanket I own! It was fun and easy to make and is now an amzing family keepsake. I love the art my boys added to it. 

Happy Sunday!