Knitting With T-shirt Yarn

Step 2:

Decide what colors you'd like. Here's what I used:

For the faded red shirt, I chose Violet Dye and for the heather grey shirt, I chose a bright Sunshine Orange. Basically, you will be overdyeing the Tshirt color for a mixed shade. For example, the Violet gives the red fabric a rather cranberry/plummy hue. The Sunshine Orange saturates the light grey but the final color is more muted and heathered than if it was dyed on white fabric. It's color mixing by overdyeing!

Time to dye!

For each dyebathe, shake, measure and mix ¼ cup of dye to 2 quarts of very hot water. Immerse the yarn in the dye and stir for even color. Remove when desired color is achieved. In my case, it was about 5-10 minutes. Rinse in cool water until the water runs clear. Wash in warm water with mild detergent and hang dry.

Step 3:

Roll up your yarn and start knitting! I decided that my heart design could use an extra color so I just cut up a solid black T-shirt as well.

(Note: You can also, dye the T-shirt before cutting it into yarn. In hindsight, I think that would have been a little easier)

Step 4:

On graph paper, I designed a simple heart pattern. Here's my pattern if you want to follow it:

Step 5:

Then using size 11 needles, I easily whipped up this knit panel.


Once the knit panel is finished, it was hand-sewn onto an old canvas tote bag. I sewed only three sides, leaving to top unattached to make a handy front pocket perfect for a book or newspaper. AND...It covered up a undesired logo to boot. I call that a double upcycle!!