Author Topic: Resting or blocking handspun skeins (Read 2818 times)

Blackbird · « **on:** March 20, 2015, 12:47:21 pm »

I've recently spun, skeined and knitted (knat??) the first ever item from my sheeps' wool (from my Heb/Longwool wether) - a hat I'm absurdly proud of!
I let the skein rest for 3 weeks before knitting. I've just spun another 2 skeins- should I leave them to rest (desperate to start more knitting!) or is blocking better? If so, is it just a case of dunking skeins for 20 mins in warm water, squeezing out moisture and leaving to dry?

Any thoughts from more experienced bods gratefully received!

Louise Gaunt · « **Reply #1 on:** March 20, 2015, 01:29:45 pm »

I usually give mine a warm wash, rinse, squeeze out the water in a towel then leave to dry. If it needs fluffing up a bit or is a bit irregular in thickness I might thwack the wet skein on a work surface a couple of times, and if very overplied I wil put a weight on the skein- usually a bottle with a spray dispenser I.e. Bathroom cleaner, as it will hang in the loop of the skein.

Fleecewife · « **Reply #2 on:** March 20, 2015, 02:58:38 pm »

You can also put your hands in the loopy ends of the towel-dry skein and snap them apart a couple of times. I've never rested my handspun and it seems ok to me after a wash. But maybe I'm not fussy

Love the hat and the woolly boy.

Bionic · « **Reply #3 on:** March 20, 2015, 04:10:35 pm »

Quote from: Fleecewife on March 20, 2015, 02:58:38 pm

You can also put your hands in the loopy ends of the towel-dry skein and snap them apart a couple of times. I've never rested my handspun and it seems ok to me after a wash. But maybe I'm not fussy

Love the hat and the woolly boy.

Agree with all of this

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #4 on:** March 20, 2015, 05:13:29 pm »

Love the hat!

And yes, it's a fantastic feeling, isn't it!

No need to rest your skeins, no, but you should wash them to 'set the twist'.

After washing and rinsing (a little vinegar in the penultimate rinse is said to rebalance the pH), I do snap them between my wrists and thwack them against a wall, seems to shake the fibres into what will be a nice relaxed state once the skein is dried.

Do not ever hang a weight on the drying skein unless you are seeking a specific outcome and know what you are doing. In general, if you weight it while it dries, you will get an unpredictable outcome when you wash the final knitted item as the twist will go back to its natural shape when wetted

By all means block the finished garment if you want. I usually just shape it while wet and dry flat, but do block lace shawls.

The other finishing that skeins may sometimes want is fulling/felting. If it's a woollen yarn that could pill, you can felt or full (not-quite-felt) the yarn to make it more cohesive. Or you can full the finished cloth, which is what they do with jumpers on Shetland - by stretching the jumper on a jumper board and setting it outside to face the elements!

I'm still learning about fulling, and have just started to weave, so I don't know much more than that yet.

Blackbird · « **Reply #5 on:** March 20, 2015, 07:35:22 pm »

Thanks all for the advice and comments! I read somewhere about not weighting skeins if you're going to knit rather than weave the yarn. Have washed skeins this afternoon and am just letting them dry to take up the twist. Next project is a mobius scarf in stripes of tawny brown (from my moorit Shetland), more deep brown from the Heb cross and natural white from neignbour's Shetland.

I did want that Shetland but other half threatened to divorce me if I came back with any more sheep...

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #6 on:** March 21, 2015, 08:59:11 am »

Oh I love the sound of that Mobius scarf! Have you chosen a pattern?

Blackbird · « **Reply #7 on:** March 21, 2015, 08:03:38 pm »

I've no idea what weight of yarn it will be, so I will just make something up, doing knit 2 together, yarn forward to make a holey effect. I reckon even I can't go too far wrong with a scarf! (I'm not a very advanced knitter!)