Many modern spinning "teachers" say that yarn can be finished by winding a skein, wetting it, and letting the skein dry under various conditions. I do not find that this works, I say so, and spinners bash me.
I like skeins for washing and dyeing. Yarn in a skein can be washed with less water than yarn on a reel. However, I have never been happy with the quality of finish achieved by allowing yarn in a skein to dry in the skein. with, or without, weighting.
If you are going to wash or dye a skein of yarn then it needs to go onto a squirrel cage swift, and be wound off onto a reel.
Fine yarns need to be washed on a reel. The old silk reels work well, as do AA's Shaker Rockets.
As an alternative, if the yarn does not need washing, steam works very well to set the twist. See AA.
I have no doubt that Iron Age weavers routinely worked with blocked yarn. If the yarn was dyed after spinning, the blocking might have been done by the dye, but I would guess that often the spinner finished the yarn. Truth is that if you have a horse trough or a barrel, you can wash the yarn on the niddy-noddy, then dry it in the sun or hang it in the rafters on a rainy day. This is better than letting the skein dry loose or weighted. This works, and is inexpensive, why don't see this in the modern spinning texts?
Why do spinners bash me for honestly saying what works for me and what does not? I think this says more about the spinners than about my testing.
I like skeins for washing and dyeing. Yarn in a skein can be washed with less water than yarn on a reel. However, I have never been happy with the quality of finish achieved by allowing yarn in a skein to dry in the skein. with, or without, weighting.
If you are going to wash or dye a skein of yarn then it needs to go onto a squirrel cage swift, and be wound off onto a reel.
Fine yarns need to be washed on a reel. The old silk reels work well, as do AA's Shaker Rockets.
As an alternative, if the yarn does not need washing, steam works very well to set the twist. See AA.
I have no doubt that Iron Age weavers routinely worked with blocked yarn. If the yarn was dyed after spinning, the blocking might have been done by the dye, but I would guess that often the spinner finished the yarn. Truth is that if you have a horse trough or a barrel, you can wash the yarn on the niddy-noddy, then dry it in the sun or hang it in the rafters on a rainy day. This is better than letting the skein dry loose or weighted. This works, and is inexpensive, why don't see this in the modern spinning texts?
Why do spinners bash me for honestly saying what works for me and what does not? I think this says more about the spinners than about my testing.
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