felting/sweater decon

[sairyuu.livejournal.com]

i am in the process of unraveling an intarsia'd sweater for yarn (it's 100% alpaca wool).

what i wanted to ask is has anyone noticed a diffence in the yarn quality from an old wool sweater? in some places i haev to break what i've dubbed "lintballs" that join my yarn togther. it's puesdo-felted on the side worn out. (as opposed to the inner side that i'm unknitting)

are older sweaters that are more worn/"felted" harder to unravel?

ps: really hot days/weeks are great to buy sweaters at thrift stores. i got 3 huge ones for 99cents each.