Upcycled Sweater to Hooded Circle Scarf and Leg Warmers

I'm so forgetful when I do the laundry. I have inadvertently thrown a wool sweater into the washer and dryer on multiple occasions. I don't even realize I've done so until I'm folding the laundry and thinking "I didn't know Avery has this sweater also" (because it shrank so small it looked like a 3T shirt).  The odd thing about some of the sweaters is that it shrinks only lengthwise, not width wise.  I have been known to still try to wear those sweaters.  This project uses one of those sweaters.  It is a wool, cotton blend so it didn't shrink so badly, but it was short enough that when I wore it my sister asked me if I bought it at Baby Gap.

The cool thing about wool is that when you put it though the dryer it felts it so that you can cut the sweater without finishing the edges.    I decided to take advantage of this felted sweater and make hooded infinity scarf and leg warmers with this sweater.  I was lucky that this was a cowl neck sweater so I could make the hood out of the cowl neck.  If you have a sweater that you would like to felt (it needs to be wool or cashmere) you can run it through the washer and dryer a few times.

This project does require some sewing.  I used a sewing machine on with the zig zag stitch to make the scarf.

The leg warmers were easy.  Simply cut the sleeves off.  Because the sweater was felted it does not unravel.  You can pop it in the dryer a couple of times to felt it some more.

For the circle scarf cut sweater into two parts of equal width. Take each piece and cut it open width wise so it make two long rectangles.

Take both long pieces sew them together (by hand sewing, or using a zig zag stitch on the sewing machine), to make one long circular shape.

Cut the cowl neck of the sweater off.
Cut the neck of the sweater in half, then sew the two pieces together along the part that was attached to the neck of the sweater.

I added decorative bias tape to the hem after, as this part will be seen when the hood is down.  This is completely optional. Once hood is complete attach to infinity scarf by hand sewing or using a sewing machine.