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#621627 08/28/10 06:15 AM
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Hello everyone - I am new to spinning - I have spun some merino fleece and plied it into about a 4ply yarn - took me absolutely ages.

I don't know what to do with it now - Do I just knit with it - or do I have to put it into boiling water -? I have read loads of books and all that has happened is I am more confused than when I started - there seems to be some many things your supposed to do with it before you can knit it - Can someone help me with this please as I have 500grams and am itching to make something.

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I bet it did take you absolutely ages to make a 4 ply!! Great job!!! Now all newly spun yarn should be 'finished'. That is to say the natural skin oils and dirt from spinning should be washed off of the skein. Ties your skein in 3-4 places with a figure eight tie so that the skein stays manageable in a skein form while you wash it. Then with mild dish washing soap and warm water, a sink or bucket, I soak my skeins for about an 1 hour more or less, then I squeeze (don't wring) the water from the skein.

I then take the skein outside and wuzz it. This gets even more water out of the skein. I then let the skein drip dry.

Either on the clothes line of in the shower. You can also lay the skein on a sweater dryer to drip dry. Of course the more water you get out initially the faster the skein will dry.

After your skein is dry, you can wind it into a ball and start knitting, crocheting do what ever You would like with it. The reason you wash or clean the skein after spinning has several reasons. Besides cleaning, you also allow the twist to even itself out in the yarn. Some people also like to "full" their yarn before it is dried. You can do this by beating the skein against a wall or counter top after washing but before drying. Then helps the yarn felt a tiny bit and makes the yarn stronger by allowing the fibers to cling more tightly to neighboring fibers in the yarn and again more even.

Your yarn sounds terrific and I would be excited to knit with it too.

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Thank you so much for that information but when you say natural skin oils and dirt - I forgot to say that I bought this in a long roll - it was already carded and combed out and clean - all I had to do was pre draft it ( I think that is what it is called ) and then spin it. Does this make a difference - I realised after I had posted the message people might think I had the fleece straight off the back of the animal. Do I still have to soak it in warm soapy water for an hour or so please?

I have already tied the skeins in several places to keep it in place.

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That is true, the "batts" are fairly clean, but the natural skin oils from your hands as you spin is what accumulates on the yarn as you make it. I know it doesn't seem like there should be any dirt but there is. AND you still want the twist to equalize somewhat. So yes, you should still soak the yarn in soapy water. However remember, you always have the final say in how you want to finish your skeins. You don't have to do anything other than start making a garment/item once you have finished spinning the yarn. But you will be surprised if you wash the finished yarn, you will see how dirty the water is when you are done.

Don't leave the ties on when you get ready to knit with it. Put it in a ball for knitting or crocheting.


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Thankyou for you help Nikkiwys - I will let you know what it turns out like - I was hoping that I might have spun it thin enough to knit on my knitting machine - but we are in the process of trying to move home - it isn't easy at the moment - we had a buyer and were all packed up ready to go - and it fell through at the last moment - so we are sitting here surrounded by boxes looking for a new buyer. My spinning is the only thing I can do to keep me sane - which is why I have 500 grams spun - I just lose myself in it. I am not going to unpack my machine again until we finally get moved, so I guess it will be a hand knit - I have a cardigan I am knitting at the moment ( bought yarn ) so this will be next. I have just bought some Alpaca - straight of the animal - it is still wrapped up in a ball as it came - so that is my next project - can you tell me if I wash that and card it before I spin it? The lady I bought it from said that alpacas have very little lanolin so it doesn't need washing first - is that true?


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