Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Wet finishing singles hand spun yarn



Yesterday, I posted the above picture of a skein of yarn hung to dry with a bit of weight on it. I got another bobbin full spun up today...



...and figured I'd show you why I do the step about wetting the skein in hot water and hanging it up. I'm making single ply yarn for a historic weaving project, and single ply means the yarn is by no means balanced. Given the chance, singles fresh off the bobbin will cork screw up into little tiny twisty springs!



See that? Those skeins are wound to be the same length. But the one on the left is the fresh batch, and the one on the right was soaked down and hung to dry overnight. Makes a difference, doesn't it?

If I wanted my yarn even smoother, I'd put it on a niddy-noddy and suspend it over a pot of steaming water for half an hour. But I just want to make the yarn manageable until I get around to dyeing it, so this treatment is enough for now.

No comments:

Post a Comment