Does anyone still spruce up worn-out woolen clothes these days?

http://www.hausfrauentipps.de/tipps/getragene-wollsachen-stricksachen-frisch-machen

The things you find when you can’t sleep.
Back in Grandma’s day, this was probably quite common, but surely not anymore?

I find working with wool that’s already been knitted and then unraveled quite tedious, since you first have to shape the yarn by dampening it and wrapping it tightly around a hard object.

Before I cut off the sleeves of an old wool jacket and sew new ones on, I’d rather knit a completely new wool jacket. The difference between brand-new wool and wool from the front and back panels that’s been worn for years is really noticeable.

I remember unraveled yarn from my childhood; it was great for practicing
and for making little yarn dolls with fluffy hair :-)

These days I would wash a garment like that on hot and then sew something from the felted piece, like wrist warmers, a hip warmer, or something like that

Yes, exactly.
Unraveled wool is good for practice,
but if you actually want to wear it, I’d leave it alone.
I’ve noticed it with my own crochet-and-unravel experiments: at some point, the wool just isn’t quite as fresh anymore.

Hi!
I sewed pillowcases out of my favorite sweaters—ones I’d knitted myself and couldn’t bear to part with. One of the sweaters has a very thin spot at the elbow, so I want to felt a heart and sew it on there.
Best regards

@Cherry
That’s a really lovely idea, turning sweaters into pillows.

I often re-knit a sweater into something else. I have one made from a linen-wild silk blend—I’ve altered it three times and still wear it today.
I wet the yarn and then wind it tightly around something; that’s how I let it dry.
I’ve also done this with ribbon yarn—I rarely wore that sweater, but I practically never take the top I made from it off.
Best regards, Hilde

Well, you guys do have your hobbies ;)

Taking it apart and reworking it is definitely better than throwing it away. =)

Tell me, unraveling sweaters and such that still look good—or where the yarn is still in decent shape—might be a good idea, but with woolen items that have perhaps faded over the years, or where the elbows or the cuffs at the wrists are worn out, that’s not such a great idea anymore.

Can you re-dye the yarn and, if necessary, cut out the damaged sections in between?
Or would that not be worth it—or would it probably be much more expensive than just buying new yarn at the store?

I tried once—just once—to take apart an old wool sweater, but it wasn’t hand-knitted; it was probably machine-made.
I couldn’t manage to get the yarn off in longer pieces—they were all just so short. And if you have to tie them all together, it just doesn’t look right. I kept getting stuck while unraveling it and couldn’t make any progress at all. At some point, I just ended up fiddling around with the scissors.

If you’re unraveling hand-knitted items—maybe even ones you made yourself—that might be okay, but machine-made stuff? That’s no fun.