Straightening unpicked yarn--how?
angela...@lfn.com
Has anyone got any hints on straightening yarn that has been previously
knitted? I have unpicked a childs' pullover to reuse the yarn---100% wool
dk/worsted weight---and would like to know how to successfully get rid of the
kinks. Any advice gratefully received!! Thanks--A...@lfn.com
Judith Edwards
I used to do this a lot when my children were small and I was poor! I used to
wind the yarn into hanks, using the back of a wooden chair. Tie each hank in
2 places with contrasting yarn. Then hand wash and dry. Replace the hank
on the chair back and wind into balls.
Works really well with pure wool.
Good luck!
Judith
Judith Edwards, Assistant Librarian
University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
Tel: 0171-380 7833 Fax: 0171-380 7373
e-mail: j.a.e...@ucl.ac.uk
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/
Fred Perry
In article <5d22b3$1...@lana.zippo.com>, angela...@lfn.com says...
>
>Has anyone got any hints on straightening yarn that has been previously
>knitted? I have unpicked a childs' pullover to reuse the yarn---100% wool
>dk/worsted weight---and would like to know how to successfully get rid of
>the kinks. Any advice gratefully received!!
>
>
Home Knitting" c.1930-40's :
Re-knitting Wool
--after unpicking the wool--
"The skein must be tied in several places to keep it in shape and to prevent
the wool getting tangled ; a long skein will need more ties than a short
skein."
"Now the wool can be washed, if necessary, in the usual way for washing
woolens ; this process will straighten the wool, too."
"When the wool is not being washed it must be steamed to straighten out
most of the crinkles. To do this either hang the skein in the steam from a
kettle for a time, or else put it in a vegetable steamer and keep the water
underneath boiling ; but do not place the lid on the steamer or the steam
will condense and fall on to the wool. The wool must be dried thoroughly
before being worked again."
I, personally have tried the steaming method on DK wool and found it works
great. Good Luck.
Fred.
Lisa Dusseault
In several past projects (including the only one I have an online picture
of, at
http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/u/ldusseau) I have used yarn that was
previously
knitted. I never bothered removing the kinks. Possibly it worked for me
because I wind the yarn over my first finger, under the second, over the
third and
under the pinky as I knit. This keeps the yarn at a constant tension --
good for
tension and good for dealing with kinky yarn.
Lisa
Fred Perry <fpe...@cris.com> wrote in article
<5d5krv$q...@chronicle.concentric.net>...
Manny Olds
angela...@lfn.com wrote:
: Has anyone got any hints on straightening yarn that has been previously
: knitted?
Coil the yarn up into hanks and then use some combination of moisture,
heat, and tension. Some examples of things people do:
soak it and then hang it up--some people put a weight on the end
put the hank in the microwave with a bowl of water
I personally would combine the unkinking of the frogged yarn with washing
it. I wash the hanks in the bathtub with lukewarm water and some economy
shampoo. Then I press the water out (very gently to avoid felting) and
hang them over plastic clothes hangers on the shower curtain rod. I don't
worry about weights or about any residual waviness.
--
Manny Olds <old...@clark.net> in Riverdale Park, Maryland USA
"One of my favourite phrases from psychoanalysis and literary studies is
'polymorphous perversity'. I`ve never been too sure _exactly_ what it
means but I`ve got a feeling that it's something worth aiming for."
-- Jason Rutter
CASE CAROL A
I read somewhere that you should bend a metal clothes hanger so
it is square, wrap the yarn around it and dunk it in cool water.
Then let it dry on the hanger. When you take it off, it is smooth.
On 2 Feb 1997 angela...@lfn.com wrote:
> Has anyone got any hints on straightening yarn that has been previously
> knitted? I have unpicked a childs' pullover to reuse the yarn---100% wool
> dk/worsted weight---and would like to know how to successfully get rid of the
> kinks. Any advice gratefully received!! Thanks--A...@lfn.com
>
>
>
>
Helen Gunther
A tried and true method for straightening unpicked yarn involves
steaming the yarn. The easiest and cheapest way to do this is with
common metal coat hangers and a hot shower or kettle.
First of all, you want to bend the coat hanger into a square shape
(leave the hook on top). Wrap the unpicked yarn around the coat hanger
so that the yarn stretches across the square. You may need more than
one coat hanger depending on the amount of wool that you have unwound
since you do not want the yarn to be too thick on the hanger.
Next, hang the hangers in the shower or over a kettle and get a good
amount of steam going. Leave the yarn in the steam until the kinks are
gone (this is easily checked by unwinding a small amount from the
frame).
Finally, wind the yarn back into balls and you are ready to knit once
more.
Good Luck!
Helen
--
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Yarn Forward - Your Virtual Yarn Store.
An on line catalogue for your knitting needs.
http://www.yarnfwd.com
Noeline McCaughan
angela...@lfn.com wrote:
: Has anyone got any hints on straightening yarn that has been previously
: knitted? I have unpicked a childs' pullover to reuse the yarn---100% wool
: dk/worsted weight---and would like to know how to successfully get rid of the
: kinks. Any advice gratefully received!! Thanks--A...@lfn.com
The usual and easiest way is to wind each ball of the wool into a skein (you
can do this around a kitchen chair back) make a couple of loose ties around the
skein to maintain control of the yarn and then either wet it in warm water for
about five minutes and hang it to dry, or else steam it by laying the skein on
a cake rack over a saucepan of boiling water so that the steam unkinks it.
When the wool is perfectly dry rewind into balls and use.
Noeline.
Helen Gunther
M. Shirley Chong
angela...@lfn.com wrote:
>
> Has anyone got any hints on straightening yarn that has been previously
> knitted? I have unpicked a childs' pullover to reuse the yarn---100% wool
> dk/worsted weight---and would like to know how to successfully get rid of the
> kinks.
Hi Angela--
Turn the yarn into skeins--between one and two yards around is a good
size. If you have a skeinwinder, that is of course the easiest solution!
But if you don't, winding the yarn around the back of a chair or between
two pegs on the wall works well, too.
Tie the yarn gently in 4-5 places with Figure 8 ties (ties that
divide the skein into two bundles and look like a Figure 8). These
should be neither tight nor loose.
First try washing the yarn in the hottest water that comes out of the
tap. Run a sinkful, put in a tiny squirt of dishwashing liquid (like
DAWN) or ORVUS. Drop the skeins in, push them under the water and let
them soak for at least 15-30 minutes (or however long before you
remember them again!). Take them out of the water and rinse thoroughly
with pleasantly warm (to your hands) water. Squeeeeeeze the water out of
them and then put your hands in the middle of the skeins. Snap your
hands apart a couple times (so that you are twanging the yarn from
inside the skein), move your hands a quarter of the way around the skein
and repeat the snapping motion. Let your skeins dry (I hook them around
the towel rail in my bathroom with a towel underneath to absorb drips).
When they are dry, look at the yarn. Do you like it? If it's still
kinky, on to the next step. Even if your yarn isn't kinky at this point,
you might want to try the following--it fluffs and finishes the yarn
beautifully (since you don't know if the mill that made that yarn did
the steaming step, you'll have to experiment to see if it improves the
yarn).
Put a kettle on the stove filled with a couple cups of water. When it
is gushing steam, take one skein and gently move it through the steam,
being VERY careful of your hands. Put gentle tension on the skein until
the kinks pull out. When the yarn is thoroughly steamed, lay it flat on
a towel to dry.
All this might sound like a lot of trouble, but to me, a really
beautiful yarn (texture or colour or sentimental favourite) is worth it.
After you've washed and steamed one skein, you can decide what to do
about all the others and do them at your leisure--there's no need to do
them all at once.
M. Shirley Chong
PVBYT
I use my microwave...lay a wet towel on the bottom and loosely pile the
unknitted yarn and "zap" it. The steam does the job. Let it dry
completely before reworking.