How to Unravel a Sweater to Upcycle Yarn

We had our first yarnbombing meet at the Singapore Science Centre on May Day. I  must admit I was rather nervous as I have never done guerilla knitting before!  We had a good turn out considering it was a public holiday. Considering the extreme weather we have been experiencing, we will be yarnbombing the apatosaurus in our next meet on 24 May, 10am. - it will be a good opportunity to tell the kids about climate change. More photos and updates on the Facebook page. 

So since I started the yarnbombing, I have been scrummaging around my stash for some yarn scraps.  I needed to make 4x4 inch granny patches for the apatosaurus's scarf. I decided to unravel an old top that I had crocheted many years ago. 

My sleeveless sweater made from cotton yarn

Unravelling is not easy, and I did a bad job of it! If your sweater is handmade then it was knitted / crocheted in portions ie. a front piece, back piece and sleeves. As I crocheted mine such a long time ago, I couldn't remember how it was made. It was only when I started unravelling that I realised the scallop edges were added on separately to the main garment!  

Step 1:

Where's the "glue"? The key thing is to find the edges where the pieces were sewn together! These are generally found at the side in between the front and back pieces of the garment, and where the sleeve joins the main body. The sleeves would also be joined to form a tube.  I usually gently stretch the knit to see where the stitches are.

Step 2:

Cut the stitches - CAREFULLY! I made the mistake of cutting the wrong bit of yarn and ended up with lots of useless, short pieces of yarn.

Step 3:

Once you have separated the garment, you then need to find the strand of yarn which you knotted and tucked away somewhere. I found this very difficult, but you can find it if you are patient. It is usually found in the corner of the separated piece.  Once, you have found this then it is easy to unravel the sweater!

Step 4:

Wind as you unravel. It's very easy to unravel first then wind, but I found that all the noodles of yarn get all knotted up and you end up more frustrated than ever! I used the toilet roll tubes to hold the yarn.

Step 5:

Start yarnbombing! I think most people will wash their unravelled yarn. For me, I decided not to as it looked fine and I'm using it for yarnbombing purposes.