Hello there...

My recent tale of woe goes like this...

Years ago I knitted myself a cardigan/coat/sweater. I went to Romni Wools down town Toronto, and as cost effectively as I could...I bought some chunky wool, and some accent wools to make up the balence of what I needed...

If I am correct...I think the total bill was around $100 and being my first big project (with real wool even) I was very excited with it...

Looking back at it...it was badly seemed, and the shoulders were way too droopy...so I thought I would give it an overhaul...taking it down to the arms and trying to fix my droopy shoulder problem...I didn't get to far along when I realized ....my gauge is no longer the same...and the wool had gotten a bit...well..you know what a frogged piece of wool looks like....

Anyway...

I frogged the whole damn thing...and plugged some #'s into Sweater wizard, and I am crossing my fingers that I can make it with the few scraps I have remaining along with the frogged wool...

HERE IS MY QUESTION...

My once chunky yarn is looking a little more worsted these days...

Will it plump it self back up? Will a new blocking plump it up? Or will it just remain...well...for lack of a better way to put it....Ratty...?

Thank you in advance

Something you could do is wind it into hanks and wet it a bit, then dry, and see what happens to it. Or maybe just the yarn from a sleeve. I don't see why it shouldn't still be chunky yarn unless it shed a lot. If you knit very tightly with it, that may have compressed it, but I'd think it would spring back.

There are several ways to handle it. If it's superwash wool (the kind that doesn't felt) you can just tie it in hanks, as Suzeq says, and wash it in a lingerie bag or an old nylon. Between the laundering and the tumble dry, it'll most likely fluff up.

If it isn't washable, you can try using a steamer on it. Don't steam it till it's soaking wet or anything, just hold it up and squirt the steam at it until the fibers begin to plump. Let it hang to dry.

If you don't have a steamer, you can put it on a rack over a pot of boiling water for a few minutes. You can also hand-wash it as the directions call for washing the finished garment.

Can you tell I mess with a lot of olllld thrift-shop yarn?<g>

It is pure wool for the most part....I am going to knit the whole thing up and see how it does...I don't imagine it has lost much to sheding...but it is about 8 years old...and being all knitted up has probably just compressed it a bit...*shrugs*

When I go to re-block it (I can reblock it right?) I will see what happens to it...

Right now I am just hoping I have enough yarn!

Even if it's regular wool, you can handle as if you were hand washing it. Swish gently in some warmish water, blot the excess out of it and leave to air dry, probably flat rather than hanging.

Yeah...I don't like hanging this one...for the years when it was alive (ha...alive...I feel like I killed the damn thing) it was stretching out cause of the way I was hanging it on your typical hook.

For that reason I am kinda glad I am redoing it...but still...it hurts...

Wow...I just looked through all my pictures...do you think I could find one of me wearing it....*sigh*

i would probably treat the yarn before you start to re-knit it. so a very gentle hand wash and then leave to dry flat. That way it gives the yarn a chance to start behaving like yarn again and less like a sweater.

I agree with everyone else. I would definately treat the yarn before knitting it up again. The reknitting might compress it even more.
Good luck. I have some thrift store yarn that I bought only because there were 20 balls of the same lot. The problem is some are a bit dirty. I will have to see what I can do about that, and your post has generated some great ideas I wil use!

Well...me being the stupid idiot I am...decided I was more anxious to see if I actually could make up the back with the materials I had rather than do any leg work...so the back is actually finished...no adjustments made...

But so far so good...

This is what Ravelry was made for! I am going to post the process...if you want to check it out....

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Crycket/the-sweater-fix-project

I am probably going to have the sweater done faster than updates on the site....but I will let you know how it goes!