regrand opening

For years there was a Kleenin' Korner laundromat in our neighborhood that had a rather crusty banner reading "REGRAND OPENING. (some date way in the past) Free Soap!" I've always loved how confidently wrong REGRAND OPENING seemed. It seemed to sing out its wrongness, instead of just chirping, oh, say, GRAND REOPENING? And the free soap? That was just the icing on the cake.

That place is gone now. I was just reminded of it, thinking about a title for today's recycling post. And so here we are at the last knitalong of the book! And it takes no knitting whatsoever! A recycle along! 

The idea is to make something, anything at all, out of a previously knitted item. It can be previously handknit or previously machine knit, by you or not by you (for example, from Goodwill). The little shrug above is one of my recent recycled crafts - my first attempt at blanket stitch. It combines an old Gap sweater with some Blue Moon Fiber Arts yarn in the Neptunite colorway, an oddly perfect match. The bird is just hanging out for interest.

If you're interested in joining, I'm posting all the details over on knitalong.net.

And I think I'll send some free soap to a randomly-chosen winner :-)

Comments

[aimee noel]

I'm very tempted to felt my sweater that won first place at the fair... very tempted... But first I'll check goodwill out... this sounds very fun and creative!

[sappmama]

Hi, before I get all giddy, do I have to submit before photos, too? I'm asking because most of the time I cut garments into raw materials (sans taking pics) and stash them until I'm ready to turn them into something.

Have a nice day.

[larissa]

Hi Sappmama,

No, you don't need to provide before photos. It's a cool idea, but we won't have much room for that in the book. Our mosaic will be mostly if not all finished recycled objects. So send your best finished pictures!

Thanks,
Larissa

[Cruz]

What a fabulous little sweater! Is it for you?

[larissa]

Hi Cruz,

Unfortunately once the sweater was felted and cut and sewn up, the little shrug is about 5-7 year old size. I made it for fun, not sure what I'm going to do with it.

[Erica]

Hee, hee! There's a grocery store a few miles away that had a huge "Re-Grand Opening" sign up after it got remodeled. 'Round here, it's an ESL issue. Pretty funny...

[LaDonna]

LOL! We MUST have lived in the same neighborhood. Was this cleaners on the corner of Belmont and 39th?

BTW, I'd love to get that Meathead to you. I responded to your previous email but didn't hear back.

[EmmaC]

Omigod, yes! The laundromat on 39th and Belmont! I lived on Morrison for a few years (several years ago) and chuckled at the Regrand Opening every time I passed by--which was every day. Larissa, when I read your post, I kept thinking, "Wow, that sounds totally familiar. Does Larissa live in PDX? Was that laundromat in PDX? Is it all just a coincidence?" Man, thanks for jogging my memory, LaDonna. If you hadn't posted, this would have bugged me for many sleepless nights! Whew!

[somebunnyslove]

Was wondering if you still had anymore of the Neptunite. `http://trekcelt.blogspot.com/` from Blogger is looking for some to finish a shawl and she is willing to purchase it from anyone who has it.
=:8