So you've spun your yarn, what next?
In nearly every situation you should wash your skein of handspun before you do anything else. Most handspun changes when it hits water. The plies even out, the crimp reactivates, and often the length changes. It's only after a bath that you should calculate your yardage, and decide how thick your yarn is. If you don't believe me then read this advice on calculating yardage.
So, your skein needs a bath, how should you wash it?
I usually go for a bowl of hot water, the sort of temperature I do the dishes in, add a squirt of washing up liquid.
The specialised wool washes are lovely for finished garments like lacey shawls where you want to handle them as little as possible. They're pretty unecessary for a skein of yarn, so save your money, and buy more fibre instead! I've also found (and many dyers report the same issue) that the specialist wool washes cause more issues with bleeding than standard detergent)
The skein then gets plonked in the bowl, completely submerged, and I then usually gently swish it through the hot water. After that it's rinsed in a bowl of water of the same temperature. This is the important part, putting your hot, wet skein in to cold water will full (felt) it slightly. So don't do that, unless you want to full the skein; maybe you've spun some singles and you want to reduce their kinkiness.
After that, it depends how impatient I am. I usually squeeze out the excess water, but don't wring your skein of yarn. If I'm in a hurry I'll roll it up in a towel and squash it, usually by standing on it, to squeeze out as much water as possible. If I'm in no rush I usually just hang it up to dry. Don't weight your yarn, it only disguises any imbalance, and distorts the thickness. As soon as the yarn gets wet again all the twist will reappear, the thickness will change, and your finished item will change shape.
In nearly every situation you should wash your skein of handspun before you do anything else. Most handspun changes when it hits water. The plies even out, the crimp reactivates, and often the length changes. It's only after a bath that you should calculate your yardage, and decide how thick your yarn is. If you don't believe me then read this advice on calculating yardage.
So, your skein needs a bath, how should you wash it?
I usually go for a bowl of hot water, the sort of temperature I do the dishes in, add a squirt of washing up liquid.
The specialised wool washes are lovely for finished garments like lacey shawls where you want to handle them as little as possible. They're pretty unecessary for a skein of yarn, so save your money, and buy more fibre instead! I've also found (and many dyers report the same issue) that the specialist wool washes cause more issues with bleeding than standard detergent)
The skein then gets plonked in the bowl, completely submerged, and I then usually gently swish it through the hot water. After that it's rinsed in a bowl of water of the same temperature. This is the important part, putting your hot, wet skein in to cold water will full (felt) it slightly. So don't do that, unless you want to full the skein; maybe you've spun some singles and you want to reduce their kinkiness.
After that, it depends how impatient I am. I usually squeeze out the excess water, but don't wring your skein of yarn. If I'm in a hurry I'll roll it up in a towel and squash it, usually by standing on it, to squeeze out as much water as possible. If I'm in no rush I usually just hang it up to dry. Don't weight your yarn, it only disguises any imbalance, and distorts the thickness. As soon as the yarn gets wet again all the twist will reappear, the thickness will change, and your finished item will change shape.
What to do if a skein bleeds when it hits water?
In an ideal world, no skein should bleed when it hits water. However, no matter how careful I am with dyeing some bleeding can still happen.
I dye to what's called exhaust, that means that the water surrounding the fibre is clear, there aren't any loose dye particles that aren't attached to the fibre. If it's not exhausted it gets heated up for a longer period. Once it's cooled I then rinse the fibre. I use water that's as hot as possible, and a glug of detergent, usually washing up liquid. At this stage I sometimes see a bit of dye bleeding. If that happens the fibre is rinsed until I get no more run off, and I then rinse again in hot water to remove the detergent.
In an ideal world, no skein should bleed when it hits water. However, no matter how careful I am with dyeing some bleeding can still happen.
I dye to what's called exhaust, that means that the water surrounding the fibre is clear, there aren't any loose dye particles that aren't attached to the fibre. If it's not exhausted it gets heated up for a longer period. Once it's cooled I then rinse the fibre. I use water that's as hot as possible, and a glug of detergent, usually washing up liquid. At this stage I sometimes see a bit of dye bleeding. If that happens the fibre is rinsed until I get no more run off, and I then rinse again in hot water to remove the detergent.
The thickness of a length of top makes knowing what's going on in the middle of that bundle of fibre tricky. I don't want to mess around with the fibre too much as then you get felting, and it messes up the combed smooth preperation. Often the middle of that braid isn't revealed until after the fibre is spun.
So basically, what I'm saying, is that you might get some run off when you wash a skein. I do everything I can to prevent it, but sometimes with the super-saturated colours I dye it's very hard to avoid. Blue's are particularly prone to this problem.
So what should you do?
Usually a couple of rinses will do the trick. I know it's a pain, but just give the skein a bit longer in each soak, and maybe change the water a couple of times, and the loose dye will all be washed away.
If a skein is bleeding like a stuck pig after multiple rinses, I can only apologise, that shouldn't happen, and it means it's slipped through the stages I use to try and make sure you don't get run off. Please contact me, I really would rather know about it.
However, this problem is solvable. It's no good just adding a glug of vinegar to your rinse water. Vinegar does indeed set acid dye, but you also need heat for it to work. And we're not talking hot water heat, we're talking very nearly boiling heat. It's a bit of an urban myth, and you read it everywhere, but from a scientific stand point, when you understand the chemical reactions that are needed for dye molecules to bond to fibre, it's impossible for vinegar in your rinsing water to cause the dye to set.
You do need to get the skein to be acidic again, like it was when it was dyed. So a good glug of vinegar is required, citric acid also works, and if you don't have any of those, so does lemon juice, but you will need quite a bit, and you will need to apply heat.
Every dye has a differnt fixing temperature, but in general if you got to just below boiling point you should be ok. How you apply the heat is up to you. If you have a pan that you don't want to use for cooking anymore you can use that. Just put your skein in, with plenty of water, and your vinegar. Bring it up to a gentle simmer (70-80 degrees C), give it 10 minutes or so , then turn the heat off, walk away and leave the skein to cool completely, the water should now be clear. When you rinse it again there shouldn't be any run off. If you don't have a pan you want to sacrifice you can also use your microwave, and a disposable microwave suitable container, or wrap your skein in clingfilm, just make sure the skein is well wetted (with plenty of vinegar as well as water). Use short 3 minute blasts, and again keep going until the water is clear. Leave to cool completely, and again rinse as normal.
So basically, what I'm saying, is that you might get some run off when you wash a skein. I do everything I can to prevent it, but sometimes with the super-saturated colours I dye it's very hard to avoid. Blue's are particularly prone to this problem.
So what should you do?
Usually a couple of rinses will do the trick. I know it's a pain, but just give the skein a bit longer in each soak, and maybe change the water a couple of times, and the loose dye will all be washed away.
If a skein is bleeding like a stuck pig after multiple rinses, I can only apologise, that shouldn't happen, and it means it's slipped through the stages I use to try and make sure you don't get run off. Please contact me, I really would rather know about it.
However, this problem is solvable. It's no good just adding a glug of vinegar to your rinse water. Vinegar does indeed set acid dye, but you also need heat for it to work. And we're not talking hot water heat, we're talking very nearly boiling heat. It's a bit of an urban myth, and you read it everywhere, but from a scientific stand point, when you understand the chemical reactions that are needed for dye molecules to bond to fibre, it's impossible for vinegar in your rinsing water to cause the dye to set.
You do need to get the skein to be acidic again, like it was when it was dyed. So a good glug of vinegar is required, citric acid also works, and if you don't have any of those, so does lemon juice, but you will need quite a bit, and you will need to apply heat.
Every dye has a differnt fixing temperature, but in general if you got to just below boiling point you should be ok. How you apply the heat is up to you. If you have a pan that you don't want to use for cooking anymore you can use that. Just put your skein in, with plenty of water, and your vinegar. Bring it up to a gentle simmer (70-80 degrees C), give it 10 minutes or so , then turn the heat off, walk away and leave the skein to cool completely, the water should now be clear. When you rinse it again there shouldn't be any run off. If you don't have a pan you want to sacrifice you can also use your microwave, and a disposable microwave suitable container, or wrap your skein in clingfilm, just make sure the skein is well wetted (with plenty of vinegar as well as water). Use short 3 minute blasts, and again keep going until the water is clear. Leave to cool completely, and again rinse as normal.
Hilltop CloudHilltop Cloud- Spin Different
Beautiful fibre you'll love to work with. Established 2011 VAT Reg- 209 4066 19 Dugoed Bach, Mallwyd, Machynlleth,
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