[uhn-rav-uhl] verb, un·rav·eled, un·rav·el·ing or ( especially British ) un·rav·elled,
un·rav·el·ling.
1. to separate or disentangle the threads of (a woven or knitted fabric, a rope, etc.). My first attempt at unravelling a sweater and recycling some yarn! There are quite a few tutorials out there on the internet these days, and here is a summary of what I have learned about the process (in case you want to try one of your own!) The first step, of course, is to find a sweater (or two) to unravel. The main things to consider are:
- Weight: There are lots and lots of sweaters out there made from very fine yarns, which can be quite difficult to take apart. For my first attempt, I looked for worsted, and sport-weight yarns.
- Fiber content: I only wanted sweaters with natural fibers because (in my opinion) it is just not worth the time or money for acrylic, so be sure to read the tags. If there is a small percentage of nylon or acrylic, it will be less breakable and therefore easier to unravel, so a little man-made fiber content might even be preferable!
- Condition: It seems as if many wool sweaters end up in the thrift store because they were accidentally tossed in the washing machine, and a felted sweater will not unravel; an unfelted sweater will have a clear outline of each individual stitch, and you will be able to see through the fabric when it is stretched. Also, be on the lookout for stains or holes that might affect your finished yarn.
-
Seams: To get long lengths of usable
yarn, your sweater must have sewn or crocheted seams (rather than serged). The
easiest sweaters to unravel have crocheted seams (you will see a small crochet
chain up one side of the seam).
I unraveled the red sweater in a
similar manner, but it was a little more complicated because of the Fair Isle portions
of the sweater. However, I was able to do both sweaters in a couple of hours.
At this point, I was left with this:
Now you will have several balls of
yarn, and you are ready to turn them into hanks for washing and stretching. If
you have a niddy noddy you are all set... but for the rest of us, a couple of
chair backs work just fine. I count the number of times I wind the yarn around
and multiply that number by the diameter of the chair backs to calculate my total yardage. At this
point, you can tie the ends of your yarn in a figure eight to hold them, and
then add several more figure eight ties around the hank to keep it from getting
tangled.
Now you will be left with several large, very kinky hanks of yarn that are ready to be washed and stretched! Fill a sink, tub, or large bowl with warm water and some wool wash or mild dish soap and stir. Gently push the yarn down into the soapy water (avoid using hot water and any agitation so that no felting will occur) and then let the yarn soak for at least 30 minutes.
After soaking, rinse the yarn with
room temperature water, gently squeezing out the excess water. You can then
roll the yarn up in a towel and apply pressure to get out some more moisture,
or use your salad spinner :). Extra kinky yarn needs to be stretched to help straighten
it out. I hung my hanks up on plastic coat hangers with a "canned
food" weight to help stretch them out as they dry.
Once your yarn is completely dry, it
is time to ball it back up by either placing it back on the chair backs to re-wind,
or using your swift and ball winder. Since your recycled yarn does not have a
ball band, make sure you label it with your fiber content from the garment
label, and your calculated yardage (because you will not remember in 6
months.... trust me!!) In case you are
wondering, the total yardage for the purple wool was about 1200 yards... not
bad for $4.99!
I also whipped up some of these yarn labels so I can keep all that pertinent information with my yarn.. feel free to use them for your own, non-commercial purposes :). Just click on the picture to download the .pdf file from DropBox.
I also whipped up some of these yarn labels so I can keep all that pertinent information with my yarn.. feel free to use them for your own, non-commercial purposes :). Just click on the picture to download the .pdf file from DropBox.
Saw this on the Simply Notable Ravelry group. Julie's right, it IS a great tutorial :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you enjoyed it! Using recycled yarn kind of gives me permission to try new designs/patterns/projects without worrying that I might mess up, lol! It's freeing, in a way!
DeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteTk u for helpful info - was looking for a yarn stash label/tag & found this at the same time - tried to download but it gives me an error message - any hints as to how I can download - these r so cute with the lamb & yarn on them. Many tks.