What happens if you crochet with old yarn?

[slholland]

Hello! My mom gave me some yarn that she got at a garage sale, but it's older acrylic yarn. I can work with it, but you can see as you're crocheting that the individual threads in the yarn are starting to become defined, almost like it's unraveling a bit. Of course, of the 200 skeins I have around the house, my son picks THIS skein (moms, please all roll your eyes with me) as the ONLY one that matches his girlfriends coat, therefore I HAVE to use this one to crochet her hat with. What's going to happen to the piece if I use this yarn? Will it hold up as long as I'm able to finish the piece? I hate to waste my time if it won't! Thanks much!

[katyallen815]

I can't reallly say, as Ive never had that particular instance happen to me, however, I was shocked once, on Ebay, someone listed yarn, and said in their description hurry and buy this before it expires! Meaning the yarn, not the auction, and I wrote her asking if yarn had an expiration date, or what, she never answered, i wasnt' being snotty, just really inquiring.....Sooo make a long story short, I don't know, give it a shot! Good luck!@

[gremlin]

My Mom is currently working with yarn that she has had for at least 40 years. You can see the different threads in it, but it is not unraveling. It also seems to be a bit thicker than the current "standard" for worsted weight yarn. She is making a blanket with it, and it seems to be holding up just fine.

I've used other older yarns from her stash, most of which were at least 20 years old when I used them. The projects I made with it all held up just fine.

[FrLopLady]

swatch and wash and see what it does. Maybe even wash it a couple of times with various loads

[DebraKay]

I think it will be fine. The only real dangers in old yarn are that it sometimes fades and picks up odors and dust from the place it was stored. The "unraveling" you are seeing is probably just a less tightly wound yarn to start with. That doesn't hurt anything except making it a little more difficult to work with as you sometimes get your hook in between where it should be as the yarn separates.

 

I have used some yarn that was 15 years old and it was just fine. I know some of the cheaper yarn like what the old Zayre stores sold was not tightly wound and would separate a bit as you used it. Maybe that is the case in the skein you are using. That is funny that your son picked the one old yarn when you had so many newer choices he could have selected! Boys are like that! I made my son's girlfriend slouchy berets during their senior year. She really liked them. Fun memories! Good luck and I am sure your son's GF will love the one you make!

[RoseRed]

You didn't say what brand of yarn it is. Could it be Wintuck? That's just the way it is. (That was my Grandmother's favorite yarn of all time)

 

What's going to happen? It'll turn into a hat. I don't think it'll unravel.

[acraftylady]

We get a lot of yarn donations at church that are older and not had that problem. We can tell they are older when they have 50 cent stickers on them. Mary

[DebraKay]

What's going to happen? It'll turn into a hat. I don't think it'll unravel.

 

Just a little coffee spewed at the monitor on that one! LOL! Everyone needs to start their day with a laugh.

[RoseRed]

[Granny Square]

I'd worry about wool, or if the acrylic had been left in direct sunlight for years or subjected to heat, but I'll bet that hat will be found by an archaologist 5000 years from now and it will be wearable after laundering. It's pretty tough stuff.

[Janetm]

I have yarn left from when my Mom used to make afghans. It is probably 20-30 years old. I recently made her a mobius shawl out of it and it came out great! I don't think you should have any problems with it.

[LI Roe]

I have used old skeins of yarn and never had a problem with them. This is just a thought but if you are concerned it may unravel, can the pattern be adapted to add a strand of sport yarn in the same color to give it just a bit more substance??

 

LI Roe