Hung

Once I got the skeins rinsed, and rolled up in a towel (several towels, actually) and then snapped a few times to straighten out the strands, I hung them up to dry. I do not believe in weighting the skeins, as some do, because there is no need to do so. I also like to keep some elasticity in my yarns, and don't want them stretched out like commercial yarns.

I have a wooden yarn blocker, so these skeins are all wound to the exact same size (I can't adjust the size at all) but I noticed while they were off the blocker before being washed that they were all different sizes. In truth, it is hard to tell, since most of them were so kinked up that they were shortened a lot.

After I threw them into the bath, and leave them awhile, I find they do relax a lot. Most of the kinks seem to disappear too. After the rinse, I insert my hands inside the skein and then snap them open. Not with a great force, but just enough to straighten out the strands because they do get tangled a bit while being handled in the water. I then hang them up, usually on wire or plastic hangers because that is what I have! And then just let them dry.

If you take a look at these, you will see they are pretty straight, there are nearly no kinks at all now, and there is no twisting! So all my fears about having tight over-twisted kinky skeins was all for nothing! They just hang there, nice and neat, very relaxed, just as they should. I like that. But do you see that they are not all the same length? I mean, one would expect them to be, since that is how they started out.

These are all wool, but from different breeds of sheep, so there is a different amount of crimp in each fibre. There probably is some degree of variance in the amount of twist as well, since I am not that consistent on the spindle! Still, I am a little surprised by how some are shorter than others. This will require some investigation.

However, here is the pic of all 18 (yes, eighteen) skeins hanging when mostly dry. I'll get some close-ups as soon as my beauties are ready!