I am trying to find out if it’s worth my time trying to spin up some yarn and try sell it on eBay.
My goal would be to make 12WPI yarn, 2 ply, undyed, and 50 gram skeins.
It would bloom after the dye work would be put into it, or when blocking it in.
The fiber would be Merino wool, because this is all I can get in enough quantity.
Do any of you work with yarn like this? Is it wrong gauge, or does it need color? Do I need block the skein before selling it? I would love to spin it up, tie it off without making it wet.
I wonder if @mullerslanefarm @Shintoga @FluffyYarn can help with this. I don’t know if they have experience with sales but maybe.
1 Like
@brassfitting Different people like different colors and/or even natural colored yarns that they can dye themselves. Different people prefer different weights of yarn. Personally, I like using 9-15 WPI for knitting or crocheting, and using 15-30 WPI for weaving.
If you’re not going to dye the yarn, you will want to wet finish it so it will bloom (and shrink). Your customers will not be happy if the yarn they bought changes structure after they work up the yarn and wet finish it.
If you will be dyeing the yarn, you will want to wet finish it so all excess dye has been removed. Your customers will not be happy if the dye comes off on their hands when they’re working it or after they wet finish it.
“It’s not finished until it’s wet finished.” 
If by ‘blocking’ they skein you mean ‘weight it’ while wet, then I wouldn’t. Wet wool stretches. Tensioned wool can remove extra twist while weighted or stretched. Once the wool becomes wet, it will go back to its natural structure. For a customer, that would mean their object can be skewed or shrink a lot more than expected. Wet finish and let it dry naturally.
You could spin the yarn, skein up 50 grams, and offer it for sale. The question you’re asking is should you.
If I was a customer that spent good money on handspun yarn and the dye transferred to my hands or the object I spent time on knitting/weaving, et al shrunk up more than I expected or twisted my project, I would be upset. I would contact you for a full or partial refund and/or leave a negative review of your product.
That said, if you really do only want to spin and skein off without wet finishing it, make sure you say so in your description so your customers won’t be surprised.
It’s difficult enough to get people to buy your product for the first time. By offering a properly finished yarn will get you more return customers.
Happy Spinning!
3 Likes
Good advise. It must be wet finished before offering it. And, make sure it don’t bleed.
My current plan is spin up the 50 g skeins, undyed, wet finish them. I would be using wuzzing on them. Dry them out in front of my fan. This way it only takes 3 or 4 hours get dry.
1 Like