2 ?s - Felting and yarn

[Guest ManyTimesBlessed]

1... How and why do you roll yarn into a ball before using it? I've always bought the skein and unrolled as I went, but I see a lot of blogs lately where people show pictures of their projects attached to a BALL of yarn.

 

2... How do you felt something? At what stage in the project would you felt, say, a sweater? (before the peices are sewn together, after the whole thing is put together, whatever)

 

Thanks

[MommaChelle]

I am curious about the ball rolling too. I dont ever use the yarn on the outside of the skein, I dig inside the skein if it's not already sticking out. There will most always be a piece of string inside the Skein of yarn - sometimes you just have to find it. Now Im not talking about the balls of yarn like the size 10 ball of thread - but actual skeins with a hole in the center.

[HollyM]

I don't know why someone would re-wind craft storel yarn like Red Heart or Lion Brand. If you buy "yarn store" yarn it often comes in this type of skein <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=36595&item=8123404321" target="_new">ebay yarn</a> and that must be rolled into a ball in order to work with it. Also some of the upscale yarns are sold in a ball instead of a skein.

 

As far as felting, I've never done a garment but I have done purses. I felt them after they are completed and any sewing is done. I would think if you felted them before sewing the edges might not line up when you are done.

 

Holly

[HollyM]

Whoops, I answered the why but not the how. If you do buy yarn in the "other" type of skein, you can unfold it and either stretch it across a chair back or have someone hold it while you roll it into a ball. You can roll it around your fingers, or roll it around a toilet paper tube. To use the tube, cut a notch at the top, catch the end of the yarn in the notch and wrap around and around (snug but not tight). When you are done, take the end out of the notch, hold on to it! and slide the ball off the tube. Now you have a center pull ball!

 

Of course you can always buy a yarn swift and a ball winder.....

 

Holly

[lilhatshack]

You know - that's an excellent question - i've always re-wound my yarn into a ball.....and I think its because my grandma would roll her yarn up into a ball before she started a project. I guess I always assumed you needed to. But, I will say that unless I can get a clean start from the middle of the skein - I think I like crocheting from a ball...seems like its easier to me. Just a thought.

[Guest SamplerLady]

(1) Many yarns (mostly wools and more expensive yarns) come in skeins. It's necessary to rewind in balls to use. Some of us do it out of habit cuz that's the way it was way back when before center pull skeins. I use a swift (kinda like an umbrella without the fabric on it) to hold the skein open. Then I attach to my ball winder and it makes it into a nice center pull ball. I spin alot of my own yarn, so having these tools are kinda necessary for me. Most people engage the help of DH or children to hold the skein while winding it into a ball.

 

(2) To wet felt (done to wool before making it into a fabric) or full (done to yarn knitted or crocheted into a fabric) something, one must have three things: change in water temp, change in pH, agitation. So, throwing the finished garment into the washing machine in hot wash and cold rinse with soap or vinegar provides all there. Especially if one adds tennis balls, sneakers, or jeans to the washing machine. Let it run through the cycle, check to see if it's fulled down to the size one would like. If it is, then it's done. Lay flat to dry and shape as you lay it out. If it's not, run it through the cycle again. Continue until it's fulled to the size you want.

 

Remember it's not an exact science and two identically made objects may felt differently. Another tip is to use needles or hook a bit larger than usual. Tight fulling requires lots of space between the pieces of yarn. )

[crochetme]

This is tricky; there are many different idiosyncratic uses of terminology. In my experience, store-bought yarn either comes in the form of a hank or a skein. A hank is a loosely tied then twisted length of yarn (see image on the right, here; this is a hank, untwisted, being prepared for winding into a ball). A hank must be wound into a ball for it to be used (otherwise, you end up with an impossible tangle of yarn within about three seconds). This can be done by hand, with use of a toilet paper centre, or with use of a ball winder (as seen in left-hand photo).

 

A skein is machine-wound, and is generally used by centre-pull (i.e., you stick your finger into one end of the skein, and fish around until you find the yarn end, then pull it out). Pull skeins (as they're called) don't need to be re-wound, and in fact are quite convenient. Since they're centre-pull, you can just plop the yarn next to you and it tends to flow nicely.

 

A ball is what you end up with after you wind the yarn that came in a hank. You can either wind the ball so that you pull the yarn from the outside, resulting in the ball dancing all over the place (some people put the ball into a ziplock bag, with the end coming out, to prevent this pesky yarn dance), or you can wind it in such a way that you can pull the yarn from the centre, much like in a pull skein.

 

And re: felting/fulling: Make sure the yarn is 100% wool! It won't work, otherwise.

[Donna]

Some links:

 

How to make a pull skein

 

Yarn ball handling

 

Reusing Yarn

 

Make your own yarn winder

[Tiffany]

Donna,

 

Thanks for the link about making your own ball winder! I knew there was something else my stand mixer was good for besides making cheesecake!

[Guest SamplerLady]

I knew there was something else my stand mixer was good for besides making cheesecake!

[Guest ManyTimesBlessed]

Thank you all so much! All your info was really helpful.