I have always eyed the stuff at thrift stores that look homemade in crochet and knitting but until today I didnt even realize that u could take those things apart for yarn.

So I'm looking for tips for someone that has never unraveled a piece before.

I have no equipment for doing it either.

I want to try a bunch of different fiber breeds without committing to full bags of each. an ounce of Norwegian wool an ounce of BFL, some Shetland just enough to spin a sample and decide what i like before buying more.
Most shops sell 4oz minimum which adds up fast when you want to try six or seven breeds. Does anyone sell wool roving by the ounce or is sampling just expensive and i should accept that 😅

I’ve inherited a Aran wool sweater that I absolutely love, but unfortunately it’s a bit too big for me.

I’d like to shrink it slightly, but I’m not sure how to go about it without damaging it.

Could I simply wash it and put it in the tumble dryer, or would that risk shrinking it too much or ruining its shape? Is there a more controlled way to shrink it just a little?

I’d really appreciate any tips or advice from anyone who has tried this before!

Hi! Has anyone tried one of these for unraveling? I am intrigued with electric because I get tired of winding manually. I am probably more interested in winding from my antique “weasel” swift to cakes than directly unraveling to a cake with electric winder (I use the large antique swift to straighten by spraying with water and drying on it, then wind to cakes). Just curious since this seems to be a new style.

Found a 50% wool 50% cashmere poncho, already took apart the seam holding the poncho together as well as the bind-off and this is on the edges. Is it possible to take this apart or do I just try to make this a scarf?

My girlfriend got me a crochet blanket at Goodwill to unravel for yarn. It is blue and black, obviously acrylic, a lot of pills but otherwise fine. She washed it and I just started unraveling so wish me luck! I want to use the yarn to crochet myself a spiral sweater. I plan to post updates. Here is the blanket.

Found this sweater dress at a second hand yesterday. With a bit of trial and error I ended up with about 600g of yarn!

Yarn shopping just got even more fun, and very rewarding!

This is a luxurious chunky 100% cashmere sweater in a salmon shade. I started unraveling it last winter but I’ve been going through some things and lost the heart to continue with hobbies like knitting.

Would anyone like to purchase it and finish off what I’ve started?
I‘d love to get back a fraction of what I spent on the sweater—does $32 plus shipping sound reasonable?

I can list on Depop or VinTed or Yarnswap. I’ve completed many successful trades. On Depop / Vinted, the shipping will be much cheaper and I have an established Depop account.

I decided to frog a large panel of the sweater I'm making, I ended up with like 3 skeins at least that I re spun into balls with my yarn spinner. I am making the sweater in panels, half of the panels will be purple "new" skeins, and the other half will be this hand painted "frogged" yarn. Will there be a noticeable difference between the panels made with frogged yarn and the panels made without? The yarn hasn't been blocked or anything, literally just crocheted (and then sat on a shelf for a while) and then frogged. But it's all ramen noodley now, and I'm worried the frogged yarn will end up fuzzier than the "new" yarn. Am I overthinking it?

Both colors are cascade 220 super wash wool.

3rd post in under 24hrs, sorryyyy...😅

I've been picking this sweater for houuurrssss, and so far...one sleeve done. These stitches are so tight, they seem to be sewn with two different threads? (Hard to see, but there is the light blue and a light green sort of in between). I also don't see the typical V's, looks more like chains on one side. Have been trying to unravel this from all directions, seems impossible. I've been cutting one stitch at a time, and even then It's so hard to rip out. Help?

I went thrifting today for yarn for the first time ever and found a beautiful but mangled seeing of bamboo yarn. It's totally salvageable. Then I found this solid color sweater and it was so soft and had a faint halo. I tried looking for a tag but couldn't find the fiber content. Then I got home and started looking at it more and finally found the tag. It's 70% acrylic and 30% nylon. I have to admit I'm disappointed as the whole reason I wanted to start doing this was to get better, non environment damaging yarns, on a tighter budget. 😮‍💨 I'm telling myself that it was worth it because at least I'm going to reuse the yarn but still just a little disappointed

Hiii, first post and first time frogging a secondhand sweater, yay!

I just found that this sweater has elastic thread sewn in to the cuffs (which I often use for my projects as well! A nice way to have extra stretch). Is there any way to save these threads? I think it looks like It's sewn in afterwards going "through" the stitches.

Any tips or ideas are very welcome!

I LOVED the idea of sweater unraveling for yarn. I tried it and I hate it. I'm sure I'm doing it wrong, but I'm not even motivated to learn. So, a sweater I loved but never wore is laying around, partially dismembered, and slightly unraveled (I barely started). I feel guilty every time I look at it. Does anyone living in or around Germany want it?? If you send me the cost of shipping, I'll give it to you. Please, take it. Except the buttons- I already used those... .

The sweater is wool and the yarn is held double. Size L. The picture is, of course, from before I tried my hand at deconstructing it.

I got this 100% wool sweater from a thrift store for 2 dollars and it's quite fuzzy but I really want to see it through. Ive used a seam ripper on the arms and pulled some threads out but I felt like there is too much friction and I think I might need to wash the sweater with hair conditioner? Any advices please :(( I really don't want to give up on it

Anyone know if it's even possible to unravel this? The yarn is so soft and actually thicker than fingering weight

Dry cleaner fucked up one of my favorite sweaters (thinning in multiple small areas, one already poked through). It's a good brand and 100% cashmere. Should this be a good way to begin unraveling or is this begging for a headache?

80% wool, 20% nylon
My puppy got into my brand new $$ wool cardigan sweater and chewed through the end of one sleeve. What’s the best method of going about getting this repaired/mended. I’m totally open to having it not look original, and for it to be a different.
Thanks

Most of the information I find is all about unraveling sweaters for yarn, I assume its because dealing with bigger strands is easier, but what about other things? Say socks, random tshirts, is there more to why people don't unravel them as often?

I am so sick and tired of having to spend time trying to find the center. Is there a trick to this? I try to put a small hook into the center to see if I can get close, but when the center is already a tangled mess there is no hope.