How to Recycle Yarn, AKA "Frogging"
A Guide to Unpicking Garments and Re-Using the Yarn
In the current economic climate, the knitter is as keen to save money as anyone.nTraditionally, knitted garments have been unpicked and the yarn reused. This is a skill which can easily be resurrected.
Choosing the garment to be frogged.
It is possible to unpick one of your own knitted creations (for example if your child has now outgrown a beloved sweater) to obtain the yarn.
An examination of the racks of thrift and charity shops will often reveal an item ripe for recycling. Check the seams before making your purchase, however. Some mass produced garments as knitted in large flat pieces and then cut like fabric. The seams are sewn with an overcast stitch to prevent unravelling. Obviously, these garments will only produce short strands when unpicked and therefore have very limited value.
Choose garments which have clearly defined stitches and have not felted through wear and tear, as these will be almost impossible to unpick.
Obtaining the yarn.
Once you have located your garment, it has to be taken apart in the opposite order to its construction.
- First, unpick any edgings such as neck or button bands.
- Then, carefully snip and unpick the garment’s seams, leaving you with flat pieces.
- Starting at the top (assuming the garment has been knitted from the bottom up), carefully snip the last cast off stitch and gently unravel the garment pieces.
- Try to save as much yarn as possible, but be realistic; some patches of the original garment (such as elbows) may be worn, leaving this yarn thin, uneven and unsuitable for re-use.
- There will also be a certain amount of wastage, particularly around cast off edges as the original knitter may have used knots to secure stray ends in the garment, which have become impossible to untie over time.
- As you are unpicking the item, wind the yarn into hanks. If you do not have a skein winder, such as a "Swift", improvise using the back of a chair, or the legs of a footstool.
Preparing the yarn for re-use.
Tie each hank in several places, which prevents tangling during laundry. Ideally, use a contrasting yarn to make the ties easy to find.
At this stage the yarn will be very crinkly and will need to be straightened. The easiest way to do this is to wash the skeins of yarn; launder them as you would a completed garment. Alternatively, if you know that the garment was clean before being unpicked, the yarn can be steamed. This can be done over a kettle, a pan of boiling water, or in a vegetable steamer.
Dry the skeins away from direct sunlight. Using one of the contrast colour ties, attach them to a wire coat hanger, and leave until completely dry.
The yarn can then be wound into balls, ready for re-working.
This is an inexpensive way to obtain yarn and prevents garments being thrown away when they can be re-used.
