Saturday, September 26, 2009

massive tangle

This morning, in what was to be a triumph of technology that hastened the enjoyable process of watching freshly spun skeins of yarn dry outside on a sunny fall day, I put fifteen skeins of handspun yarn in the washer. I wasn't washing them, understand. I just wanted to spin the water out of them after I'd carefully washed and rinsed them by hand in the sink.

Except I also decided to let the washing machine do an extra rinse. Which maybe wasn't so smart. Also I have a front loader, which I understand might have been a particularly bad choice. You know, if one were to choose a washing machine for its ability to spin the water out of handspun yarn.



We have now run this experiment, and there will be no need to run it ever again. Consider this my contribution to yarn science. I have attempted a crazy thing and suffered for it, so you don't have to.

For the curious, there are 12 skeins of yarn there, three of the burgundy, four of the green, and five of the natural white.

I did manage to separate three skeins from the main tangle, but I don't think I'll be knitting with any part of this yarn any time soon. There are sections in these skeins that are like tiny colorful dreadlocks.

5 comments:

Granna Judy said...

Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear. So sorry!

Ipo said...

i saw knit 'em, could make a great shawl, nice and textured...

Granna Judy said...

I think Ipo's right -- would make a great shawl or scarf. Can I give that a try?

JoVE said...

Oh dear does seem the right response.

Except that I am truly grateful that you ran the experiment and shared the results. Because I have contemplated doing this. I also have a front loader. So I'm glad to see how it turned out. You have saved me, at least.

Susan (and SmokeyBlue in spirit) said...

They might work for a felting project. You have my complete sympathies.

Oh and we are at half an inch and counting. February will not come this year as the snow will have accumulated to over the roof by December.