A question about wool.

JCD_Capulet · 3 August 2007 at 5:16PM

Being an avid charity shop customer I tend to see lots of things I like and things which could be usefull to me if they were altered slightly. My question is this, has anyone experience of reclaiming wool from woolen jumpers before? I mean, has anyone unraveled a jumper to use the wool for another purpose? Is it possible to this without the wool itself comming appart?

I saw a jumper size XXL in my local charity shop (the one I used to manage) and it was only £1. The wool was lovley and soft but the jumper itself would be useless to me what with being a bit smaller in size. I wondered if it would be possible to reclaim the wool from the jumper so I could start knitting again. I'd still be doing my bit for the charity but be making something I could get alot of use out of.

Any thoughts or ideas folks?
Joanne.

Gingernutmeg · 3 August 2007 at 5:23PM

I've done this before - if it's just plain 'knitting' it's easy to just unravel it and knit it up again. It will be all 'kinky' when you unravel it but if you bend a coathanger into a square shape, wind the wool around it and steam it (over a kettle) it'll straighten out the kinks and freshen the wool up too.

JCD_Capulet · 3 August 2007 at 5:43PM

Excellent! Thank you Gingernutmeg! And appologies if I've posted this in the wrong place (which I think I have)

I'll nip back to the shop tomorow to see if the jumper is still there.

victotoro · 3 August 2007 at 5:59PM

I've done this too, but be careful - sometimes jumpers are made from knitted 'fabric' - so each row is just a short strand - you can tell if it's no good if the seams are overlocked.

[Deleted User] · 3 August 2007 at 6:08PM

yes my mother used to do it often. You unravel the wool and wrap it around the back of a chair or around someone`s outstretched hands so that you get a skein. Tie the skien in a few places then dampen the yarn. Dry it with some weight hanging on the botton end. Best done with pure wool. Smell it and see!!

Also you can cut and sew, this was something I did a lot of when I was machine knitting. Steam the knitted wool if it looks as though it hasn`t been set and this will stop the stitches running. Then just cut and sew ie it would be easy to make childrens garments from an adult garment

I would only bother if the garment was pure wool

JCD_Capulet · 3 August 2007 at 6:17PM

victotoro wrote: »

I've done this too, but be careful - sometimes jumpers are made from knitted 'fabric' - so each row is just a short strand - you can tell if it's no good if the seams are overlocked.

Thanks alot, Victotoro! I think the jumper is lambs wool or smething similar, it is very soft and seems to be pretty thick/chunky too. I know what you mean about the knitted fabric, I made myself a rug that way

kittie wrote: »

yes my mother used to do it often. You unravel the wool and wrap it around the back of a chair or around someone`s outstretched hands so that you get a skein. Tie the skien in a few places then dampen the yarn. Dry it with some weight hanging on the botton end. Best done with pure wool. Smell it and see!!

Also you can cut and sew, this was something I did a lot of when I was machine knitting. Steam the knitted wool if it looks as though it hasn`t been set and this will stop the stitches running. Then just cut and sew ie it would be easy to make childrens garments from an adult garment

I would only bother if the garment was pure wool

Thanks for the handy info Kittie. I'm quite sure it is wool, at first I thought it was that chenille (or however you spell it) stuff but it isn't. The fibres are much longer and don't have that faux-wool shine to it. Does that make sense? Thanks again

maryb · 3 August 2007 at 10:13PM

before you go to the trouble of winding it all into new balls you can check whether it is wool or not by just applying a match to a the end of a short length of yarn. If it's artificial it will sort of melt whereas if it is wool it will scorch

hope this helps

daisyroots_2 · 3 August 2007 at 10:25PM

Yes, my Ma used to do this, but she never bothered unless it was 100% wool, and she preferred hand knits - indeed she often unravelled something she'd knitted and gone off or we had grown out of. We would wind it in skeins (me and my sister helped) and then wash it, hang it outside to dry, then wind it into balls for knitting up into some other garment. The washing de-kinks it. Thus were many evenings of my teenage years spent!

homealone_2 · 22 August 2007 at 5:13AM

kittie wrote: »

yes my mother used to do it often. You unravel the wool and wrap it around the back of a chair or around someone`s outstretched hands so that you get a skein. Tie the skien in a few places then dampen the yarn. Dry it with some weight hanging on the botton end. Best done with pure wool. Smell it and see!!

Also you can cut and sew, this was something I did a lot of when I was machine knitting. Steam the knitted wool if it looks as though it hasn`t been set and this will stop the stitches running. Then just cut and sew ie it would be easy to make childrens garments from an adult garment

I would only bother if the garment was pure wool

i have handmade jumpers that i have spent monts knitting but are not really type of thing i would wear anymore but after spending so long knitting them could not bare to part with them so i was thinking of laying one out and trying to make a cushion cover by cutting out two squares and seing together but would need to sew by hand as i dont have a machine so was worrying it would unravel. any ideas of how best to tackle what seems like a great os idea that could go dramatically wrong and leave me in tears at the ruined garment

allIcouldwishfor · 22 August 2007 at 8:29AM

Leave LOTS of seam allowance and sew really small stitches! Or maybe you could sew it before cutting it, if that makes sense. There are books available about taking jumpers apart and reusing them for other things (can't find it on amazon at the mo but will have another look later). Might be worth checking your local library.

Knew I'd seen it somewhere.....http://www.amazon.co.uk/Second-Time-Cool-Art-Chopping-Sweater/dp/1550379100/ref=pd_sim_b_5/202-6753020-6753445

cheerfulness4 · 22 August 2007 at 9:05AM

kittie wrote: »

yes my mother used to do it often. You unravel the wool and wrap it around the back of a chair or around someone`s outstretched hands so that you get a skein. Tie the skien in a few places then dampen the yarn. Dry it with some weight hanging on the botton end. Best done with pure wool. Smell it and see!!

What happy memories this thread has evoked. As a little girl we were always having our school jumpers unraveled and then made into other things for the new year. I spent so many happy afternoons as a little one helping mum do this and it seemed that wool and knitting was always on the go in our house. Maybe that's why I love knitting so much now.

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A question about wool.

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