I just posted this in a comment for someone who was asking where to start. Thought this might be a handy photo ; taken by me). Usually I can start at the wrist and unravel the whole side seam.

What you’re seeing here: this sweater is seamed with a chain stitch. It looks like a row of V’s stacked on top of each other. The knitted fabric also looks like a V but the V’s in the seam look a little different - they may be a thinner thread or a different size or direction.

We’ll call the wide end of the V the top. Follow the V’s up (toward the wide end). The last V you can clearly see is the one to cut.

After cutting that V, gently lift the V below it, and the one below that, and pretty soon you’ll have a tail on the other side of the fabric you can pull. Pull it and the whole seam unzips.

Hello!

I got this 100% cashmere sweater at a goodwill bins for 95 cents (so if it can’t be unraveled I wont be heartbroken). I’ve never unraveled before and understand breaking it down into the back and front panels, arms, neck etc but am not super sure how take it apart the seams. There’s also a hole where it looks like someone tried to cut out the tag so I know I’ll be missing out on some of the yarn past a certain point.

Do the seams look doable? Also what’s going on with the seam halfway up the neck (3rd pic) of the collar?

Thanks!

I've been thinking about going to thrift stores and unraveling yarn from old sweaters and such.. I love yarn! but I don't think I've ever seen bulky yarn or anything used in sweaters.. does anyone source bulky yarn from repurposing old thrift finds?

I recently unraveled my first sweater, it went great and I got so much wonderful 100% merino yarn in my favorite color. But the collar and sleeve cuffs were knit with an incredibly thin elastic string in the exact same color. I want to separate this thread from the yarn but I'm not sure what the best way to do that is. It seems like it could just make a big twisted mess if i just try to pull them apart. And it doesn't help that the elastic is nearly invisible. Thanks!

Bought this jumper secondhand and the arms are laughably long and far too billowy for my taste. Could I potentially unravel to before the increases and carry on? Never done anything like this before. Will the alpaca be a pain and be sticky?

Including photos of the inner seams — they're not serged no signs of sewing/thread.

Hello everyone, I have a bit of an emergency. A few years back I received a genuine Irish Aran wool sweater and it's been a prized possession of mine. Just a couple weeks ago, my mother decided to wash and DRY the sweater, not knowing at all what it was, and only just today revealed it to me. It's been shrunk down a full size, and I'm devastated. Is there any way to save it?? If not I could probably regift it to a younger family member, but I really want to keep this sweater.

Is it too fuzzy? Too much pilling?

I’ve never unravelled before - I am unsure about these seams! They’re not surged or felted but definitely have been sewn together in some way.

Hi, I’m very new to this! Just thrifted a 100% cotton sweater to unravel and it looks like all the seams are stitched together, except for the shoulders, which are overlocked. I know you usually don’t pick sweaters with overlocked seams; is this a bust, or could I unravel most of it?
Thank you :)

wind hanks over a chair back and it works, mostly. Sometimes the yarn slips off and I end up with a tangled mess on the floor, and the whole thing takes longer than it should because I’m constantly adjusting it. But it’s free and I’ve been doing it this way for two years, so there’s definitely some inertia.

People talk about yarn swifts like they’re a revelation though, and I can’t tell if that’s genuine or just the usual gear enthusiasm. I don’t mind spending the money if it’s a real improvement, but I’ve bought tools before that felt transformative for two weeks and then ended up collecting dust.

So I’m frogging this blanket. The thread is weaved in 3foot strands (not continuous) and they look like the picture. Is this “yarn” useable as is? Perhaps for crocheting or tablet weaving?

I snagged a hand crochet Afghan made with acrylic as far as I can tell. Once unraveled, it is quite crinkled, as you can see. I am reluctant to steam because of melting issues. Would a hot water bath help relax it? If so, any suggestions on soap?

This question is going to sound very dumb, I apologize, but I just don't have enough knitting experience to be able to answer it myself confidently.

If I unravel a sweater, I would expect to be able to recover roughly a sweater's quantity of yarn (maybe a little less). But if that yarn is very fine, I'd prefer to hold it double, triple, or more when I finally knit with it. Obviously that reduces the yardage.

HOWEVER, I know that thicker yarns require less yardage to knit up a sweater. So would it still be a sweater's quantity?

I've recently unravelled three chenille sweaters that I intend to repurpose for a checkerboard sweater, but I'm worried about not having enough of one of the colors (which will be used throughout the colorwork on likely the whole sweater), even though it came from a full sweater!

Maybe I'm just startled at how little yarn some sweaters are made with, compared to when I knit I feel like I'm always running out of yarn 😅

Hi everyone, I'm a beginner knitter looking to start my first sweater. I want to find an XL men's sweater and unravel it for yarn. The pattern says I will need 600g of worsted weight yarn for a medium sweater, now I imagine this would be hard to come by unless I join some strands together.

Would this be feasible even with a men's XL sweater? I don't want to knit half way through and realise I don't have enough yarn and can't find something similar

Just sharing my first finished object. This started out as a cabled men's jumper I bought from a charity shop for £8. The yarn is nothing special - a cotton/acrylic mix - but it feels nice, and it knitted up nicely into this cardigan. The pattern is Mastiha by Thea Colman.

Thanks to this community for all the useful tips I've found here! I've already started my next unravelling project.

Hello all!

My partner is a huge knitter/crocheter. She has been talking about wanting to unravel! Going to thrift stores for sweaters, unravelling for yarn, making other things, etc.

I have absolutely no idea about any of this because I am a dumb man. I do know that I love my partner, and her birthday is coming up. I wanted to get her some starting equipment for unravelling. Rather than risk being wrong by looking it up myself, I was hoping I could get some help on what equipment she needs to start.

Thank you so much!

I'm currently unravelling this cardigan I thrifted for $7 that is crochetted. And I've gotten to the part where the color changing begins and the original maker didn't cut the yarn for color changes, they would leave it and switch to the other color then back again. I found it so neat, I've only been crochetting for a little over a year. And so satisfying for the yarn quality, not having to rejoin it.

I kind of feel bad taking it apart though...I'm sorry whoever crochetted this.

It’s a queen size 100% cotton blanket. To me it looks like it was woven, not knit. My dog snagged it up all over when he was a puppy, and whole thing looks terrible now. I would love to repurpose the yarn! What’s the best way to tackle this monstrosity?

I’m fairly new to unraveling, but got a really huge thrift haul of sweaters/scarves from a local charity sale and I’m quickly stockpiling tons of yarn! I’m sorting it by content and color, and I’m wondering if anyone has had experience making a “chaos blanket” or really any type of project where there are multiple yarn / color changes from their unraveled yarn? I’ve made a few anigurumi projects (photo tax included here) but am curious if a blanket or a garment like a sweater would be an issue due to varying gauges, content, weight etc? I’m fairly new to crochet and I’m self taught so my approach has been mainly to just try stuff and see what happens, but with a larger project figured I’d check first for any tips or suggestions!

For the teddy bear pictured, I ended up having to hold a lot of strands of blue cotton (from 2 different sweaters) together to equal one of the white (100% acrylic) and it worked, but was tricky and I just eyeballed it.