[franbhines]

I made a beautiful greyish- plum heather wool sweater, but made the hem way too short(forgot to allow for my chest and girth), so I added on several rows at the hem after the sweater was finished. I could live with that, but the neck was a horrible look--- not crew, not roll neck but more of a very short cowl neck, and looks terrible. I wore the sweater once--around the house and it's so warm on cold evenings. My question is --I love the yarn but hate the sweater look. Could I unravel (11 balls of yarn !) and use it for another style, or should I just chalk it up to a lesson in knitting and either wear it around the house or give it to Good Will? Has anyone else ever unraveled and re -knit a sweater before because they love the yarn so much they hate to just give it away?

 

[jgarrett28]

Yes I have! it is work and you need patience,but it can be done. just be careful at the sides. go to youtube.com there is a video on unraveling a sweater.

 

[Kneez]

I am knitting my husband a jumper, have done the back and he took poorly lost weight so I had to undo the back and half the front ( which is all cabled) and I am knitting it all up again and the wool is just fine! If you really like the wool it's worth undoing it and starting again! Good luck if you do )

 

[Yarn Happy]

Frog that thing, yarn is to wonderful to sit in a drawer. Make something you will enjoy wearing. I have stopped when close to half finished, and pulled it all out. My husband laughs at me, but I know if I don't like it, I will never wear it.

 

[Rosette]

If you still like the yarn, it sounds really pretty, undo it and make something you do like. Also, 11 balls of warm yarn is not cheap so don't waste it, re-use it. Happy knitting.

 

[casey1952]

I just did this 2 days ago. I only wore the sweater once and really hated the fit. The yarn is now waiting for another pattern to call to it.

 

[franbhines]

thanks for your help

 

[franbhines]

thanks for all the support and help. I'm going to tackle it right after Christmas

 

[Jessica-Jean]

If you give it to Goodwill, someone like me will be more than happy to buy and rip it for the yarn! That's where much of my stash comes from!

 

[toast]

I'm lucky to have a husband that has unraveled and rewond sweaters so I could reuse the yarn.

 

[Mystikerin]

Could you not just modify the neck? It sounds like you are ok with the sweater. Maybe make it a cowl or a turtle neck. Definitely worth a try after 11 skeins.

 

[Carol J.]

If at once you don't succeed, try and try again. I was told as a child, take it apart and make something else. You won't wear it enough to get your money's worth out of the yarn and effort. Once it is unraveled, the sweater is gone and a new one awaits.

Carol J.

 

[dragonflylace]

I recently unraveled a sweater that I knitted for myself and I just didn't like the fit,etc. After I unraveled it, I felt better about the whole thing. The sweater had been sitting in a bin, haunting me. Now the yarn is "happy", I am happy and now I can knit something else. I am going to use the top-down pattern by Designer1234 here on KP. She has a workshop with all the instructions to do it. So now, when I make this sweater, I KNOW that it will fit.

 

[caloughner]

I just did this 2 days ago. I only wore the sweater once and really hated the fit. The yarn is now waiting for another pattern to call to it.

I just did this with a sweater that was too big for hubby. Reknitting it now. Will be doing one I knit for myself next. It was worked from the bottom up and ended up too short and not a pattern that would take well to just adding on to the bottom. Also, don't like the edging (garter on bottom and sleeves) and want to change it to ribbing. Much better t

 

[caloughner]

I just did this 2 days ago. I only wore the sweater once and really hated the fit. The yarn is now waiting for another pattern to call to it.

I just did this with a sweater that was too big for hubby. Reknitting it now. Will be doing one I knit for myself next. It was worked from the bottom up and ended up too short and not a pattern that would take well to just adding on to the bottom. Also, don't like the edging (garter on bottom and sleeves) and want to change it to ribbing. Much better than having both sit in closet or tossing.

 

[Nigglynellie]

Yes, Agree with everyone else. Unravel and do something else. The yarn sound lovely and far to good to be sitting in the drawer because you don't like the garment! I have often taken a jumper that is dated in design and undone it to make another more fashionable item.

If you don't want the hassel - send it to me, I'd love to have the yarn!

 

[Catarry]

If you want to bring the yarn back to its unknit character, as you unravel wind it around the back of a chair, and gently steam it...just pass a kettle of boiling water below the yarn, or use a steam iron with steam blast from several inches away.
You'll see the yarn relax and the knitting kinks disappear like magic. Then just wait for the yarn to dry completely and rewind into balls.

 

[sonialyne]

If you want to bring the yarn back to its unknit character, as you unravel wind it around the back of a chair, and gently steam it...just pass a kettle of boiling water below the yarn, or use a steam iron with steam blast from several inches away.
You'll see the yarn relax and the knitting kinks disappear like magic. Then just wait for the yarn to dry completely and rewind into balls.

Another way of "pressing" whatever is wrinkled is to hang it in the shower (away from the water obviously) and let steaming water run for a few minutes. Very handy for clothes you can't iron.

 

[G.E.]

Ye, you can. I just re-knitted a sweater.
I unraveled a sweater
because the shoulders would not fit right and I also found a mistake at the very beginning.
I knew, I was "too fussy"and would always be annoyed if I'd make 'adjustments."

 

[cheecat]

I say re-purpose the yarn into something you'll love. I just recently did this with a seater top I had knit 3 years ago.Iit came out way too big but I loved the yarn. I realized that the yarn I had used would work up much better into a shawl, so I carefully ripped it out, wound it into skiens, soaked it in cold water to get the kinks out, hung to dry and it came out good as new. I just completed re-working it into a lovely shwl that I'm going to give to a women who has been doing some custom painting in my home. I hope she likes it.