I stupidly bought a box of cheap yarn at a yard sale (is there a Knitters Anonymous?) When I got it home I discovered that some of it is dirty. These are large, tight skeins. I’m afraid that if I try to wash it like it is, it won’t dry properly. OTOH, if I unwind the whole thing to wash it, I could end up with a terrible mess. I suppose I could just make it up into a rug or dog bed and wash it after it’s finished, but that’s not very appealing either. Anybody have a brilliant idea to share?
I have to admit I have never washed dirty yarn, and I don’t know if this is brilliant or not, but I think I would make the balls into loose coils (kind of like you would coil up a garden hose to hang it), then I would rather loosely tie scrap yarn around the strands of yarn (If you have bought yarn in hanks, it would be like what you have there after you undo the hank shape.) so that you still have the same garden hose type of thing, but it is tied so that it is confined a little more to the doughnut configuration. Then I would carefully wash it by hand, maybe towel dry a bit and lay it out to dry. When dry rewind it into a loose ball. Tight balls are not good.
PERFECT! Thank you. I was too mad at myself to think straight. 
I agree with Merigold. You might want to do only one to start with incase you find that you don’t care for this yarn even after it has been washed. That way you won’t have wasted a lot of time washing all of it.
Luckily, only a small portion of it is dirty. The rest is fine.
I had(have) the same problem. I have a ball of yarn(velvet spun) and it is dirty. Actually just dusty from being in my basement but I think I’ll make something and wash it later. It sheds a lot and I may not have much left if I wash it first.
Maybe just a good shaking will fix yours. I have a huge spindle of thin, almost string-like yarn that must have sat on a shelf for 20 years. It has dust caked in all the grooves. I may try vacuuming it. There must be a gazillion yards on that puppy, so I definitely won’t be unwrapping that one to wash it. :roflhard:
Shortly, after learning to knit, I purchased a cone of DK weight 100% wool from ebay. The yarn itself was not bad, (but not the best)but it smelled dirty and it was dirty. All I could do with it was to strand it with other yarns. Afterwards, I would have to soak and rewash the items several times. The more I washed it the brighter and cleaner it became, but it still has a faint odor of dirt.
I didn’t throw it away because after all I was still learning different techniques, etc. I also learned a lesson about what I bought and from where or whom.
LOL! I had a similar experience when I bought a huge batch of tapestry yarn at a yard sale. It was in a plastic bag and looked great. When I got it home and opened the bag, the yarn reeked of cigarette smoke. I laid it out in the sun and kept stirring it around. I did that for several days. When I put it back in the bag I put a scented dryer sheet with it. After doing this several times the smell went away. I bought it to sell, but I had to disclose the smell. I’m sure I could have gotten more for it without that disclosure, but it did sell eventually.
Same here. . . . I bought a large amount of ggh goa yarn from NBDY and it’s arrived and it’s dirty. I bought WHITE! Ugh. I am going to skein it, tie it and treat it as if I was going to dye it but just let it soak, then rinse and do it again. Since it’s white I could even use a touch of bleach I suppose, if it comes to that; but I thought I would start with Grandma’s trick – Borax. I thought it was such a great deal. But the white clearly shows how it must have been handled and handled in the original store(s) that had the yarn on display. I’ll be posting pictures of transformations in my stash on ravelry.
If it’s a big, tight skein and most of the dirt is surface dust or grime, and it doesn’t actually stink, I’d try rinsing out the last few yards to make sure it’s likely to come clean. If so, I’d use it and wash the finished product. If not, I’d start unwinding from the outside to see how deep the crud goes. You might be able to sacrifice a few yards to get to the clean part.
Otherwise, sure, make a hank out of it, make sure it’s fastened well, and wash it however the label says. There’s another reason I love acrylic–it launders, in the skein or out of it.