How to Reuse Ripped Out Yarn

I think every knitter form time to time starts a project (and maybe even finishes a project) only to determine it’s just not right. Maybe the garment doesn’t fit, or you don’t like it as much as you thought you would, or you just are sure you’re never going to finish knitting it.

It totally happens, but if you still like the yarn, how can you reuse it?

I will admit to having ripped out projects and immediately (or some time later) knitting with the yarn again while it’s still all wavy from having been knit before. But I also know that’s not the best way to do it.

Yarn gets wavy because it’s held under tension in the knit fabric, and that funky fiber might make the project you want to knit with it look a little weird. It might change your tension or make the stitches wavy in a way that’s not super attractive. Some people find it harder to knit with the second time around, too.

The good new is, while it’s not a quick process, it’s pretty easy to reset the yarn so it’s like new when you want to knit with it again. I found this post from My Crochetory that explains how to do it.

It’s basically working backwards by turning the yarn back into a hank (or into a hank for the first time) and then relaxing the fibers by washing and drying them. The most important thing is to make sure you do this gently so you don’t felt the yarn to itself if you’re working with natural fibers.

She’s got lots of great tips and illustrations of the process over there, so be sure to check it out for all the details.

Have you ever knit with reused yarn? Do you do this process or just knit with the yarn as is? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

[Photo: My Crochetory.]

A few years ago I wrote a post that was full of patterns for knit mushrooms, but I don’t think I ever did a post that was knitting patterns with mushrooms on them, so today’s the day.

I love the Fungi Beanie from Jacki Bean, which calls for worsted weight yarn and uses duplicate stitch to add the mushrooms and other details. I think the colors she used for the design are tonal/multicolor so it doesn’t use as many colors as it looks like, but you can use whatever red, green, brown and white yarn you have in your stash for those details.

How about some mushroom socks? The Magic Toadstool sock form Stone Knits includes a ring of mushrooms around the leg, contrasting heel and toe and a little more colorwork at the toe for extra cuteness. As shown it uses four colors and comes in three sizes.

Or there’s the Fairy Ring Socks from Katie Green, which have mushrooms of two sizes on the legs, plus a bit of wavy grass. They have a contrasting cuff, heel and toe and some colorwork flecks in the body of the sock as well. This one is available in eight sizes to fit everyone from a baby to an XL adult.

This trippy cowl from Hunt Hand Knits looks like a lot of fun to knit. The Fungus Among Us Cowl is shown using four colors of DK weight yarn, though you can do it with as few as two if you’d rather.

Stitch some mushroom mittens with this cute pattern from Holly C Watson. This design uses three colors, and it’s shown with a self-striping yarn on the mushroom caps, which makes the colors change without you having to do any work. The pattern is charted but it’s a pretty easy repeat. The mittens are one size.

If you don’t feel like knitting mushrooms but still want to give your project a touch of the forest, the Toadstools Cardigan from Julie Taylor may be what you’re looking for. It’s stitched as a plain cardigan worked in DK weight yarn and sized for newborns up to 4 years old. The mushrooms are added with embroidery and the pattern includes the design, which you can trace onto water soluble stabilizer to stitch the mushrooms onto your sweater. Or anything else you want. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

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