As you can tell from my title I’m pretty stoked. Got 288g of lace weight/light fingering from a thrifted 100% cashmere jumper, which converts to $425 when compared to retail options from my LYS. No I need some suggestion of what to do!
This was the very first sweater I unraveled (about a month ago, and ive since done about 8. >.< )and ive modeled and 3d printed a 16 dent rigid heddle for my loom. I needed a finer dent heddle because this stuff is super fine, more like 6 threads held together. Not twisted. Rather than a yarn. And this is also my first time doing waffle weave (or a variation of waffle weave anyway).
Its looking soooo cool! As it is 100% cotton im expecting this to work as kitchen towels. Hopefully... lots of firsts.
I know the first answer is Don’t Try. But I’m invested! How best can I manage wrapping the yarn as I unravel and then use it (probably 3 strands at a time) to avoid tangles? Thank you!
I started unraveling because it was hard to find affordable natural fibres. The craft store seems to be all blends, and vendors with 100% linen, wool, cotton, silk, etc are expensive. I also love unraveling cotton and wool (almost more than knitting them!) and making my own color ways. Another huge part of the appeal for me is eliminating waste and just in general being a person who is thrifty and resourceful (I also love canning, etc.).
A big part of unraveling is about the environment and saving materials from the dump. If that's the case, shouldn't we all be unraveling acrylics? Cotton and wool will biodegrade more easily and are better to have in the dump or green bin, and there is so much acrylic out there!
This was just a thought I had while thrifting. While I'm recycling beautiful natural fibre, would it be more ethical to recycle beautiful plastic fibre?
What do you think?
From a size M knitted cardigan at the thrift store to a size me crocheted Whiteshell Tank (pattern by Janine Myska). As a bonus I reattached the tag with washing instructions under a Kylie and the Machine “upcycled and upstanding” label. You can see how little is left of the cardigan: button plackets that I didn’t unravel and an itty bitty scrap. Sorry I forgot to take a pic of the original cardigan or the unraveling process!
I live in a rural area and there are no yarn shops here. We have one small thrift store in the town near me but so far this year I’ve only found two sweaters there. We do have a discount clothing store. I was there today and noticed they had some discount cotton sweaters and I thought I’m gonna look for the largest size and just check out the seams.
I found a pretty coral coloured vest and it turns out the seams were good and for $12 I bought this oversized vest. It took a while to figure out how to take it apart, but I eventually did.
I used the weighing method this subreddit taught me and I have 232g or 680m of really soft 100% cotton DK weight yarn for $12.
I think this would only work for summer yarns as all their sweaters are acrylic. But really happy I found this!
Edit to add: I never thought I would buy a new sweater and frog it. I always buy from thrift shops.
i was unraveling this 100% acrylic knitted vest and it decided to fall apart on me? 1st image is it falling apart, 2nd and 3rd image is the original way it looked. did i do something wrong, or do some parts rip?
Will it drive me crazy as a first unravel piece (that I didn’t knit myself)? I’m worried about the pocket and the double layered edge and the zipper-area. Any tips and suggestions on where to start?
I’m unraveling this sweater and I don’t know what type of knitting it is. This photo shows the back folded into the back so you can see both. I pull two colors at a time while unraveling. My brain thinks double knitting but I can’t find photos to support my theory. Help!
I thrifted a women’s medium cotton-wool sweater to unravel because I loved the yarn. I started making a sleeveless granny square vest (about 56 squares total), but now that I’ve made around 30 squares, I’m realizing I probably won’t have enough yarn to finish.
I’m surprised since the vest is much smaller than the original sweater. I thought I’d have plenty of yarn.
Do you have reliable ways to estimate how much yarn you’ll get from a thrifted garment, or how much a project will need?
Also, I really don’t want to start over—what would you do in this situation to finish the project nicely? Would adding a similar yarn work? Are there any issues with mixing yarns (e.g., for joining or finishing), especially in terms of structure, fit, or durability?
This is a cashmere cardigan and it looks like the side seams are good to unravel but the middle back and across the back has this weird seam. Does this look unravelable?
Hello unravelers! I’ve been a knitter for a little over a year now and have been wanting to start up-cycling yarn from sweaters instead of buying new.
I have this XL Mens 100% cashmere quarter zip that I’d like advice on if it is worth unraveling or just keeping.
I’ve watched a few how to videos, but I’m not confident in my ability to examine sweater seams yet. Especially a quarter zip. It seems to be sewn together around the zipper but I’m not sure.
Any advice on if this is doable would be much appreciated! Thank you all.
TIL that when pulling the crochet strip off the top of a sleeve, you should only touch the very top middle, don’t touch the sides! I blame the steroids that I just had with my chemo, which made me super ambitious, and I completely forgot where I was picking, and I picked all down the right slope (in red). So that entire section of sleeve came off in strips of short yarn. It felt like forever to pull all of them out and make a pile. All I could think of was The Monster At The End Of This Book because the anticipation and waiting for it to be over was taking forever!
I wanted to make a post to help new unravelers steer clear of my mistake - it’s so easy to lose your place at the top of the sleeve and start going down the slope.
$5.99 Goodwill sweater, but so sticky! I needed to have my seam ripper in hand almost the whole way. Now that I’ve done a couple more unravels, it feels like the acrylic ones are harder to unravel, but maybe this one was just a little bit more felted. It was also a double track 😩. But I do learn more with each experiment!
Hey, I’d like to unravel this t-shirt (cotton+acrylic mix 50/50). I’m a knitter but besides unraveling my own projects new to this haha
So what’s with this seam, will it come apart or will I create one-knit-row-ramen instead?
I’d appreciate some advice on how to find out for future projects :)
I got super lucky and scored a 100% cashmere sweater for $9! The beautiful soft yarn is now well on its way to living a second life.
I unraveled my first cotton sweater and noticed that the strands lost their twist in the process, resulting in what looks like bunches of sewing threads. I'm starting with my new knitting project anyways and it's going fine, but I was wondering if there's a way to tell beforehand before unraveling if the strands will keep their twist?
My first ever unravel! I’m just too excited to not preview my joy, so sharing now!! Did I remember to get pictures before I started? Nope! Did I get a tag picture? No way! This sweater wasn’t in the worst shape, just a small hole near the wrist. That said, this is 100% cashmere, brooks brothers, creamy white with flecks - I’m making hanks so I can also dye it. All that’s left to unravel are the front and back panels - sleeves and turtleneck are UNRAVELED!! 🤩
(Please excuse, I’m too lazy to even turn the picture the right direction lol)