How to wind a skein
Your beautiful yarn has arrived! Now what?! Well, it should stay nice and relaxed in the wound up hank until you're ready to start a project. Once you've decided it's time to unfurl this beauty, there's a few steps to follow for the best results. Most importantly - DO NOT start working with the yarn directly from the skein, it definitely needs to be wound into a cake or ball. If you're going to do a lot of work with hand-dyed skeins, you may decide to look into investing in a yarn swift and a winder. There are countless videos out there about how to use this equipment. I went for a couple of years without these accessories, and I lived; but they really do make preparing yarn for use a breeze. You can also hand wind yarn - no extra equipment needed. Untwist the skein, do not cut the ties that secure the skein yet, make sure all yarn strands are aligned and put your hands in the loop. Move the loop up to your forearms and give the whole loop a 'snap'; pull it tight for just a second. This allows the individual yarn strands to separate from each other a bit. If needed, snapping a couple of times is fine. You don't to stretch the fibers. Then move the yarn loop around the backs of two chairs, the hands of a willing helper or even your own knees if you've been keeping up with your yoga; spaced so that the yarn is taut - but not tight. At this point you can carefully cut the ties that secure the skein and work the ties out of the loop, one of those ties is the start & end of the skein. Wind the yarn into a loose ball, I even wind onto a cardboard paper towel tube sometimes! It may seem like a difficult process the first time, but it does get easier with practice; so buy more yarn!!
Fiber care tips
Technically, Superwash wool yarn can be machine washed; but we highly recommend hand washing and air drying all our yarn blends. Don't twist or wring out water after washing; put your item between two towels and roll up. Apply pressure to squeeze water out of the yarn, into the towels. You put a lot of time and effort into your item, treat it gently!
When you're blocking an item with highly contrasting colors, steam blocking is best. It's a good idea to test a swatch for color fastness, especially when working with highly contrasting colors. It's highly unlikely that our yarn will bleed color, we take great care to make sure the dye is set and exhausted during the dyeing process. If you do run across a rare skein that bleeds color, (#1 - we want to hear about it!) put the skein into a microwave-safe bowl and cover with water. Pour a few splashes of white vinegar in with the yarn. Heat in a microwave at five minute intervals until very warm (about 185 degrees). Allow the bowl to sit until cool, that should allow the excess dye to fully exhaust. Wash out the vinegar with a couple drops of dish soap and rinse under cool water.
Avoiding color pooling
Hand-dyed yarn can vary greatly from skein to skein, that's the beauty of it! Because of the variations, color can sometimes pool in unexpected ways in a project when you're using more than one skein. You can avoid this pooling, or lean into it - there is no wrong answer! However, if you don't care for pooling, you can alternate two skeins of the same colorway as you work. Knit or crochet one or two rows with one skein, then one or two rows from the other skein. Repeat throughout your project.
Ordering enough hand-dyed yarn
We are a small-batch yarn company, colorways are in stock for a brief time and may not be repeated for quite a while. We highly recommend ordering all the yarn you need for a project at the same time.