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February 8, 2006
I'm Wondering....
This Wednesday, I'm wondering...
How do you tame stubbornly curly yarn?
Almost exactly three years ago, I made Jason a hat. In a frenzy of cleaning and organizing a few weeks back, I came across the hat and asked him why I so seldom saw it on his cabeza. His answer: The hat had been a tiny bit loose when I made it, remember? Not a problem at first, he told me, but with each successive wearing it grew. It got bigger and bigger until it was really too big -- not to mention ineffective for keeping his noggin warm.
In a world of intractable problems, I told him, this was one I could actually solve. I ripped the hat, gave the yarn -- a wool/acrylic blend, by the way -- a good washing, and hung it up to dry. I did some math and got the needles ready for a re-knit. But wait! The next morning the yarn was dry but still really curly. Huh? I repeated the bath (in warmer water this time, trying to relax the fibers a bit) and this time when I hung it to dry I hung a heavy hanger on the bottom of it to try to coax it straight. Still no luck.
My experience has been that knitting with curly yarn makes for uneven, bumpy knitting. What else can I do to straighten this out? Can I apply more tension while the yarn is drying, or will I damage it? Is there such a thing as "straight enough" for knitting?
Posted by shannon at February 8, 2006 1:42 PM