Week 44: Holy Sweater Tweak!

Mar 30, 2011 | 38 Comments

I don’t know about the rest of you but I’ve been getting super steamed as of late dealing with these…

Holy Sweater!

Holy Sweater, Batman!

Holes!!  I came across five sweaters that had these little bites in them that have all gone into a plastic bin for safekeeping until I have time to repair.  However, I had been wanting to try this method since last week’s leg warmer creation…

I had this cute argyle sweater that’s been in my collection for a bit, except I came across a few holes in the band by the waist as well as on the back of it when I finally got it out to wear.  Instead of trying to stitch these up, I went a different route.  I took off the sleeves!!

Argyle!!

Argyle!!

There were lots of these all over and I had hit my melting point!!

Holes, blerg!!!

Holes, blerg!!!

Once I took the sleeves off, I turned them inside out, put them back on my arms and pinned the area that I wanted to stitch to make them tight and fitted.  I needed some fingerless gloves to keep my hands/arms warm when typing!!

Pinned and sewed!

Pinned and sewed!

Post stitching, I went to the cuff of the sleeve and began to take out a few of the stitches on the seam to make a hole for my thumb.

A little bit o'seam rippin!

A little bit o'seam rippin!

I had one hole prepped, then I went to the other sleeve to do the same!

Le hole!

Le hole!

After these little tweaks, I had my ‘work gloves’ ready!!  Construction workers have theirs, gardeners have theirs, and now bloggers have theirs :)

Perfect for Blogging!!

Perfect for Blogging!!

I scrunched them a bit to make them look like leg warmers…

Scrunched!

Scrunched!

…and I stretched them out to cover my elbows for when I lay on the floor and type.  These elbows have been digging into berber carpet for way too long!!

Stretched!!

Stretched!!

It was all about the hands today…

I <3 You!!

I <3 You!!

…so when I got a peek of the nails on my server’s hands at dinner, I knew my post would be complete :)   ES, JS and myself had to take multiple looks at the talons which were legit, 3D, multi colored bows.

I mean...

I mean...

…and I thought my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle nails over Halloween were something else!!

In all
  • guest

    i need some of these for work… i do like the argyle part of the sweater, hope you do something with that sometime too, maybe a doggy bed cuz my dog chewed through his! hehe :)

  • Vanessa

    Love the hand warmers – I can totally see where you’d come from with those. Working at a computer all day myself – my hands definitely get cold!!! Way to be ingenious!

  • Savannah

    My office is so cold! There are women in the next department who wear gloves during July! I need something like this where I can hide my arms and stay warm but still let my fingers work! Good job.

  • Lent

    Wish you could have incorporated the argyle somehow. I just tossed a sweater that would have been perfect for this!!! Love the idea!

  • Tami

    Any chance the front of that sweater could become a pillow? Or purse? :D Love the “arm warmers”. Great idea!

  • Jazz

    I like leg warmers..these things would be good for around the house..I guess;)
    Those nails were crazy!

  • Btejkl

    I love the idea of the arm warmers. Usually I am so cold I wear sweaters to work all of the time but this is a cute idea for the days when I don’t. Please tell me the argyle front of the sweater will return – maybe as a vest. I loooove argyle – I’m wearing one right now:)

    • Anonymous

      Yes! I’m going to spend a bit of time mending the holes…you will see it again for sure :)

  • http://pioneerprincess.wordpress.com/ PioneerPrincess

    Holy Cow, I love it!!!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MJPB445UOWNOS5UILEAOY6LWDY Odile

    Sa-weeet!!!Love the nails lol.

  • http://www.feetprints.net/blog Stefanie

    Brilliant! I need to make me some of these. BTW, how did you take that picture of your hands on the keyboard? Is the camera in your mouth?! :D

    • Tami

      That’s a good question. But do we really want to know? :D

    • Anonymous

      My iPhone was actually wedged at my knees…it was a balancing act that took like 5 tries to make work! Camera in the mouth…I’m sure I’ll do that at some point :)

  • Val McMullen

    Another great idea! I should do something like that. My office gets cold!

  • HNTx

    I am so stealing this idea!!! Love it.

  • iReadNDADdaily

    amazing, because every time I turn on my laptop, I go straight for my sweater. can u say weekend project?

    • Anonymous

      I heart weekend projects :) Do it miss! Send me a pic…

  • http://www.TheThriftyWife.com Ashley

    Cute :)

  • Nicki

    Yeah, runners have been rockin’ the arm warmers for years! Cute!

  • ajumii

    had the moth thing too…make sure any other critters are dead before storing sweaters, by putting them into big zip bags and freezing them a couple days. Made mittens from some of my holey sweaters.

  • Sara

    the little random holes in your sweaters may be due to moths. It’s easy to pick them up when you shop in thrift stores. (unfortunately) You may have to call for professional pest control to take care of it. Wash all your sweaters asap and check the drawers, shelves, storage areas for signs of moths.

  • Sarah

    Made me think of an episode of Sex and the City with Carrie typing on her laptop with something similar on to keep warm. I also had an episode with silkworms or moths – a beautiful short-sleeved cream cashmere sweater (had a 1950′s vibe) was turned into Swiss cheese by those buggers. Holes everywhere and not enough to savage into something else. A few expletives may have slipped out…

  • Dee

    Hey everyone, they still sell mothballs. They’re smelly, but they work…you’ll bring up memories of your g’ma or a great aunt. I use them to chase the squirrels from digging up my potted plants, too.

  • http://carrycorn.wordpress.com/ Car

    don’t know if anyone mentioned it, or you may already know about this! but cedar logs work great to keep moths and stuff out. and they don’t smell terrible like moth balls.

    the fingerless gloves are amazing, btw! and your server’s nails are fantastic! i wish i could do that! but they would break way too fast on me….

  • Btejkl

    I have a beautiful cedar chest that was given to me when I was a teen. I have kept my sweaters in it ever since:) No moths and I love the smell of cedar (way better than moth balls)!!

  • Btejkl

    I have a beautiful cedar chest that was given to me when I was a teen. I have kept my sweaters in it ever since:) No moths and I love the smell of cedar (way better than moth balls)!!

  • Mdcordova

    the nails are cute BUT…. when I was a server I HAD to have clean, see-through nails, and it was encouraged not to have them long. ALL KINDS of yucky stuff gets on our hands and really gets under our nails, which are hard to clean with out a nail brush. Hands are one of the dirtist parts of our bodies. Polish flakes off (in food?) and servers are touching your food all the time. WHY servers are allowed to have these nails concerns me (sorry- but yucky pooh)

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_D4LUAZ22K4PKE3TYIUAL4VCANY Hannah

    Hey! I was wondering if anyone knows how to set up the openID for my blog. I’m kinda confused :) The “arm warmers” are very cute!!!! you should try making mittens and hats out of old sweaters!!!!

    Hannah

  • MegaGUEST

    I like servers that have short nails. More hygienic. :D

  • Cathryn

    Great idea Marissa. When my home office was in the basement, I needed gloves, too. I hit the thrift store for long, formal, wedding-type gloves. I found some ultra-soft pink ones and cut off the fingers. Now that my laptop is in my bedroom, so I could make the downstairs into a man-cave for my 16-year-old son, I don’t need them. If I ever do, I’ll remember the sweater-sleeve approach…

  • Hlh6

    If it’s wool, Marissa, that argyle would be supercute felted and turned into something fun…. I love felting sweaters to use later (my kids always are wanting felt for some project, and ugly women’s wool suits (fancy then, now… ug.) from the eighties in EVERY color felt beautifully into lovely stacks of crafting felt. But I got some great felt the other day from a hot water washed sweater, and it is my favorite. That argyle, if it’s felt, would make cute fabric to work with…

  • Novalee531

    I’ve loved reading you blog from Day 1 and my friend and I have definitely been inspired by your creativity.I’ll hopefully be sending some of the things I’ve done sometime here soon….
    But I wanted to let you know to-repairing sweaters is so easy! If you don’t want to lose the whole piece just get a needle and thread and handstitch/weave the hole shut,going with the pattern of the knit.It may not make much since typing it…but hopefully you get what I’m saying. I used to work at a dry cleaners and I did all the repairs there! Another little helpful hint for the care of garments–HAIRSPRAY! It will remove almost ANY stain but make sure to RINSE ASAP! or else you’ll get a little ‘wet spot’ ring look to it.

  • Jupiter70775

    go to target & get yourself some cedar blocks. store them w/ your sweaters & you wont have the problem of “mystery holes”. i store all my high end cashmere sweaters in a cedar chest over the summer & the less expensive ones get put in rubbermaid tubs w/ the cedar blocks. it only takes a little airing out come fall if you dont care for the smell of cedar.

    seriously, how un-appetizing would it be to find a cute little “nail bow” in your dinner? gives me the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it.

  • http://www.wom-mom.com Wom-Mom Ethne

    I LOVED your TMNT nails from Halloween! My bff’s and I are doing them for our annual Girls Trip this summer, and probably Halloween too! I haven’t tried fixing wool holes – I’ve been shrinking/felting it and making pincushions, pillow pals and other fun things out of it. Arm warmers – genius!

  • Mary

    Another possibility for sweaters past wearing is felting them to make a purse or bag . . .

  • Sheepish

    Your server’s nails? URP. How does she ever get her hands clean?

    Cute re-use of motheaten sweaters. The cedar blocks someone mentioned really work to keep moths away. Also, use a sealed container – those tubs don’t seal tight enough to keep critters out. Zip lock type bags work very well.

  • Anonymous

    Swooning over the TMNT nails from last Halloween, is it wrong to want them right now, in April?

    • http://www.facebook.com/awesomevegan Jennifer Gonyea

      Not at all! Do them anyway. :)