Recycling Old Wooly Tights

[Healing Hands]

Can anyone tell me what I can do with some of my winter wooly tights that now have hole in the heels where thay have rubbed in my wellie boots over the winter, is there a way that I can recycle them? I am not 100% sure if they are all wool or if they have something else in the wool. Any suggestion would be grateful.

[jazzactivist]

Well, HH, my gran used to cut the foot off the damaged legs and wear another pair on top for extra warmth! But then she had trouble getting her skirts off too, so used to just put on one on top of the other until by the end of the week she was wearing 5 and looked enormous. Then her weekly home help came on Friday and helped her take them all off and wash them. My guess is that you aren't ready for that yet, though.

I don't know of any clothes type uses, but woolly tights are good for cutting up and using to tie up your plants. Or for stuffing cushions.

[Crocus]

I've seen cushions covered in recycled jerseys, etc.

[sheddie]

Cut the feet and top off and make into those sausage type of draught excluders H.H. X

[Healing Hands]

Thanks Jazz, nope I do not think I am quite ready for that yet like your Grandmother, but it did make me smile and maybe could imagine myself like that later in life!!!! :D

I have seen recycled jumper's turned into cushions and have thought about doing this myself, I have some of Nigel's old jumper's that I kept, as they smelt of him and I thought they would make good use of them and still have them close to me.

Would my old wooly tights go onto the compost heap?

[bonnie]

You could always cut the feet off and if you and a friend want to do a bank job you could pull one foot each over your heads and wear them as balaclavars.

[franbee]

If the legs are sound, cut off the feet and wear them with a pair of socks over, great for wellies and boots, or currently fashionable without the socks.

[JG]

Thanks Jazz, nope I do not think I am quite ready for that yet like your Grandmother, but it did make me smile and maybe could imagine myself like that later in life!!!! :D

I have seen recycled jumper's turned into cushions and have thought about doing this myself, I have some of Nigel's old jumper's that I kept, as they smelt of him and I thought they would make good use of them and still have them close to me.

Would my old wooly tights go onto the compost heap?

I have successfully composted old jumpers, towels, jeans, a duffle coat (!) and cotton pyjamas and knickers. Hubby complains, though, when he's digging out compost for me and gets knicker elastic tangled up in the garden fork! Sometimes find interesting clothes labels amongst my plants too.

[Healing Hands]

JG, how long does it take for the clothes to compost? as I am sure that I shall be able to do this also, if I know I cannot use the items for other things.

[JG]

Healing Hands
The clothes just disappear at the same rate as garden compost - although my compost is rather slower than, I think, other peoples, as it is not really hot enough and can be dry. Most gardening advice I've seen says 3 months, but I would say that ours is more like 4 - 6 months before usable, and I've never got it to that friable, crumbly texture that you see on TV, where you can use it as seed or potting compost. I use it as a mulch on my heavy clay, in my raised veg beds and in trying to break up the cloggy clay when creating new beds out of a field.
As he's the one that turns it, my hubby would recommend cutting up the clothes, as he says I'm too impatient and lazy and expect huge chunky bits of garden waste to just disappear! I do remember that we've cut up jeans and the duffle coat, but not knickers, nor wool jumpers and they really do disappear - except for the elastic!
I'm not sure that this is a masterclass in making compost, but I hope that this helps.

[keepersdaughter]

Could you use the cut up tights and any other old clothes that are not wearable and use them to stuff pillows maybe?. I posted a couple of days ago about making pillows out of old teeshirts, jumpers too.

[Rustic Pumpkin]

Embarrassing moment: I once made a 'winter gardening hat' from the body. Cut off the legs and tied them in knots to make 'ears' and then the body made a great pull on cap worn only in the garden. Not bulky and didn't get in the way like some of my other caps.

Also, I cut off the feet and oversewed the leg ends, then cut the legs off and oversewed those ends, sewn the 'foot' end into five holes and made a pair of very fine fingerless gloves with very long sleeves to go under jumpers in the Winter as an extra layer to help me keep warm.