How to wash a skein of yarn

[olg]

I have read on here about washing and drying yarn before you use it. I know this is a dumb question but how do you do that without messing up the skein? And how do you get it to dry in the middle instead of staying damp and forming mildew, or a musky smell?

[Katieallen311815]

oh this i know about, first of all is it acrylic??? If it is, take a few rubber bands, and put them on, in several places around the skein, then put the skein, in a delicates bag, or a pillow case, and rubber band that tight shut.. Wash gentle cycle, for just a few minutes, not a full length reg wash, just a few minutes, let them rinse in a short rinse cycle, and throw the whole pillow case in the dryer for like 5 or 10  minutes, you will need to set it aside then for a day or two, and let it complete drying whilst sitting out..

 

that worked for me, and I have done it a couple of times, once when someone gave me some yarn, it had a coffee stain on the ouside,and this proceedure worked well, it was usable from there on, you might have to ball it up though, but the skein should stay in workable order, if you did it in  gentle, short cycles, and rubber banded it in a few places. hope that helps ya.

[Katieallen311815]

some have used a leg of panty hose cut down to put the skein in too, i read that somewhere, whatever works for you, I guess, l ol

[magiccrochetfan]

My 2 cents worth:  I would make the yarn into a hank (a big loop) and tie it in 6-8 places---just take a short piece of yarn and tie it around.  Then I would soak it for a while in a no-rinse cleanser.  then lay it flat it to dry.  If your yarn is hand-wash, you would have to do it this way.  But even for acrylic I think i would still do the same process.  I've done this several times  with yarn that had been crocheted or knitted and needed to be washed in order to unkink.  

 

here is a site about spinning your own yarn, but the first pic shows how i made the yarnn into a loop by using my arm http://www.instructables.com/id/spinning-yarn/step10/wind-a-hank-and-block/

[olg]

Thank you katyallen8090 and magiccrochetfan for your wonderful help. I just could not picture in my mind how to do this.

[Katieallen311815]

your'e welcome, and do let us know what worked for you!!

[olg]

Katyallen8090: I'll let you know.

[Katieallen311815]

[shuttlebuggy]

Brilliant!

[Katieallen311815]