Reusing frogged yarn

Dear community,

What do you do with frogged yarn? Throw it away or reuse it? Do you have any tips and tricks for that?

Cotton:
As soon as I unravel it, I wind the yarn directly into a new ball or around the existing one. With cotton—which I use almost all the time—this works very well, and the crinkliness disappears completely the next time I crochet with it.

It depends: unraveled plush yarn and chenille yarn usually can’t be reused because they shed fuzz during unraveling. But it works quite well with cotton, acrylic, or sock yarn.<\/p>

I’m practically a world champion at unraveling. 

I reuse most of the yarn for something new. But as ruthk mentioned above, that doesn’t work with every type of yarn. That yarn then goes into the box of stuffing material or, sometimes, into the trash can. 

My mom used to wash the unraveled yarn and then wrap it tightly around 4 chair legs so it would become smooth again. I just wind the unraveled yarn into a ball right away—it smooths out that way, too.<\/p>

Best regards, Inge<\/p>

Since I mostly use acrylic yarn, unraveling it works well. I have to agree with Petra, the “world champion of unraveling”—I unravel a lot, too. But I always wind the yarn into a ball right as I’m unraveling it, so you can’t see any damage from the process.

However, if you’re working with fluffy yarn or very fine yarn with “lots of fuzz,” like cashmere, unraveling doesn’t go as smoothly. With yarns like that, I only unravel them when absolutely necessary—and when the mistake in the handwork can’t be overlooked. But even then, I do it very slowly, centimeter by centimeter, so as not to ruin the yarn; I’ve actually managed to reuse such yarn before.

Best regards, Regina

Dear Inge, I know that method of washing the yarn and wrapping it around chair legs from my mother too. I’ve never actually done it that way, though. She would wrap the unraveled yarn around her forearm, tie it together like a skein, then wash it and stretch it around the chair legs—probably to smooth it out while it was drying. Afterward, she’d either leave it as a skein or wind it into a ball of yarn 🧶.

Best, Regina

Unraveled yarn is often extremely wavy after being unravelled. That’s why I wind the yarn onto a small board or piece of cardboard and briefly hold the board over a pot of boiling water from both sides. The steam makes the yarn nice and smooth again. The steam also makes the yarn slightly damp. If I’m impatient and can’t wait for it to dry on its own, I’ll sometimes place the yarn a safe distance away from a space heater to dry. 

Best regards

Michaela

@Regina, that’s exactly how my mom did it, too—I was always allowed/had to help out

Best, Inge