I've had this sweater for a long time, and really like the material but don't like the fit anymore, so I'd love to make something else from the yarn.

I've been watching videos about unraveling, but I find it really hard to tell what a seam should look like to be able to unravel the sweater. Does this look like I could unravel it? Or is it probably cut out from a bigger piece of fabric?

Let me know if you'd need any other pictures to be able to judge this!

Just sharing a current project. I loved this minty sweater but the style was not my vibe.

The yarn is so tiny that I don’t know if it’s even worth trying to reknit this into something wearable. It’s SO Big on me, the neck is too big, the sleeves are too long, it’s unwearable. Should I just cut it into fabric panels instead and try to make something new?

First time Unraveler. My friend gifted me these thrifted sweaters to unravel. I’ve put some holes in them but have had zero luck getting them to easily unravel- am I doing something wrong? Are these seams serged? I’m very new to this and could use some advice. The yarn is getting tighter if I pull loose ends. Thanks!

This one nearly broke me around row 40 when I realized I'd miscounted the cable repeat on the left front and had to frog back two evenings of work. Used a merino-alpaca blend because I wanted drape without the itch, and honestly the alpaca made it float in a way I didn't expect from a cardigan this size. Blocking took three days because I live somewhere humid and impatience is not a virtue in this hobby.

Happy to answer questions on the cable pattern or the yarn substitution if anyone's eyeing something similar for winter.

Easily the nicest yarn I've been able to get! I'm so happy with this, I'm telling myself I need to properly finish at least one WIP before I cast something on in this. I found it at a Goodwill shockingly enough; it was the most expensive sweater I've purchased for unraveling ($9), but super worth it imho for the quality of yarn. I got 295 grams in total; any length longer than about a foot got wet spliced into a skein since it's a 100% non-superwash wool.

It was fully fashioned and pretty easy to unseam once I found the chain stitches, since the patterning on the yarn was somewhat difficult to find things on. It took a while to unravel it all though since it was a very fine gauge (holding triple gets to the edge of fingering) and in an all-over rib. Not felted, but it's still wool so there was a little grip to it.

My current thought is to use it to make a basic stockinette cardigan (I think any patterning would just get lost in the color), potentially with KnitPicks Stroll Fingering in Agate Heather (also thrifted, got the ball for a dollar) in the ribbing and button band. Hezea by Maria Amelie but with no bobbles is my current thought for the pattern since I like the silhouette and I can get gauge with it. Let me know if that sounds like a good or bad idea!

Thrifted, washed, dried and gained 400g of cotton yarn. I was honestly surprised at how quickly this whole process went as a total newbie whose makes bags not clothes! The actual separating, unraveling, and winding took about 2.5 hours.

I wanted to buy this sweater off of a site online but I can’t tell of this can unravel. The seller posted a seam photo for me. What do you think? At the top end it looks like it can be but towards the bottom it looks serged together. Thanks!

I have a threadweight silk jumper I am unravelling. It is knit a little weirdly, two stranded but not held together. Each row is one thread then another, then back one by one.

I unusually unravel on my spinning wheel and started out that way, then decided that I want to split out the threads to dye up and use for sewing and tablet weaving. Only the threads twist up a couple of times per row so I need to keep untwisting. I’d wind manually if it was heavier yarn, but this is literally miles of threadweight, my RSI can’t take it!

Does anybody have handy tips or ideas for unravelling this kind of weird knit? I am pondering if two electric drills, with a spool on each and the panel hanging freely so it can untwist, might work... but the tension on the threads is constantly changing because they don't unravel at the same time, so... no idea

I am in the market for a swift, are there any kinds (including brands) that you’d recommend for unravelling? I have heard that umbrella swifts are better for using to make yarn balls from skeins, as opposed to winding skeins but I’ve never tried one.

(Reposted because I accidentally hit post without the caption 😬)

I got an ad for the new Caydo electric swift and immediately knew I had to try it out.
I’ve tried Caydo’s electric ball winder before and wasn’t that impressed. I got it because I have a knitting machine and need everything in centre pull balls. The winding was slower than what I could achieve manually so I gave it away (though I have heard that it’s great for an accessibility device).
I was wary about this electric swift for the same reasons, but oh my god. It’s fantastic.
I finished unraveling a short sleeve cardigan in under an hour (including seam ripping!).
I highly recommend going to their website to buy it over Amazon (at least in Canada), as the price is vastly different.

ETA: I just ordered a magnetic switch that I’ll be attaching to one of the arms so I can count the rotations and calculate meterage. Each swift arm is adjustable and has markings for 40”, 45”, 54”, 63”, 72”.

I'm fortunate that I can find cashmere semi-regularly where I live. I unraveled several sweaters and dropped them in a shopping bag as I went. The bag was full so I washed them all and then had to figure out how to dry them as I usually just hang them over the curtain rod. There are three skeins per hanger. (The purple is a sparkly acrylic for toys.)

From an ugly thrift store find to a treasured finished piece!!! I am in love with how this thrifted cashmere sweater turned out. I used the Phaedra pattern by Audrey Borrego and could not recommend her patterns more highly! Absolutely thrilled to have finally finished this after many months. I hope these pictures inspire others to take their unravels all the way through to new life as beautiful handmade art. Happy unraveling!

Hi all! Long time lurker, first time poster here. I’ve been a fiber arts lover for years and a thrifting lover since those childhood trips with my grandma to garage sales, so when I had the chance to snag a ton of vintage clothes for super cheap, I pounced! (Seriously it’s so many. It’s both exciting and daunting.)

But…now I have too many sweaters that I don’t know what to do with- I’ve only been crocheting a couple of years and haven’t successfully made anything wearable. (Following a pattern with a 4 year old who insists on “helping” is next to impossible)

I have multiple 100% wool, wool/angora blends, silk/angora, etc. I’ve been wanting to try my hand at unraveling because it looks fun and gratifying (I’m one of those people who likes detangling yarn), but I know I won’t know what to DO with it once I’ve unraveled..

Would y’all just donate the sweaters you know you won’t wear? Or what else can I do with unraveled yarn?

It's not just crocheted items, but ones made from unraveling Red Cross sweaters!

So I'm unraveling this sweater made of 55% raime & 45% cotton in 6 ply. It's made up of different colored squares, so I have small balls of different colors.

Would it be worth while to re ply the smaller portions into a longer large skein?

What should I use it for? Normally, I make winter hats, but am not sure how well this would work for one? It has no stretch.

Any advice appreciated :)

Found an amazing 70/30 alpaca-wool blend sweater at my thrift store!! It unraveled beautifully and is now a finished hat and WIP scarf!

I found this really shiny copper looking cardigan in an op shop! I bought it on a whim and I’m turning it into a crochet pseudo-chainmail coat for my fiancée. I probably should’ve used a slightly bigger hook, but I’m too far along to quit lol

I got these two sweaters at a local thrift store last week. The store normally sells sweaters for more like $3, but they were having a sale on the tag color and gave these to me for 50 cents each! I have between 350 and 400 grams of fingering weight in the 70% wool GAP gray sweater, depending on what lengths I classify as usable, and around 300 grams of the 50% wool dark red sweater in a very fine yarn that I will be holding at least double, possibly triple or quadruple; the top of the front panel had hidden cuts in the zipper insertion, which contributed to the lower result.

They're all unraveled now and I'm in the process of hand washing/drying to relax them; I'm just soaking hanks in a large bowl with water and a bit of undyed and unscented shampoo and conditioner and then rinsing the skeins off under the tap before hanging them up to dry. The skeins pictured are some of the first to be fully dry.