Hey All,
Here’s a question that i didnt see posted, I was given a whole garbage bag full of yarn, some of it appears to be pretty old(remembe “PHONEIX”…haha. Anyways, Im wondering if it could be washed before i knit with it…
Any ideas???
Rhy :??
Washing Yarn
Unless it’s really stinky, I think I’d knit first, wash later. You can wash yarn, but you’d have to unravel it and put it hanks before you did.
I kinda figured as much, but thought i would ask anyway.
Thanks again,
Rhy 
At the very least you could try letting the yarn sit outside in the fresh air and sunshine for a bit, that might help with getting rid of some of the smelliness, because it’s no fun to work with smelly yarn! :rofling:
I have had mixed success washing complete, intact skeins of yarn. This won’t work with things that will felt, but worked great for some acrylic yarns. What I did was:
Remove the lables and place each skein in an old (or cheap) kneehigh nylon. Shake the skein down to the bottom and tie off the other end. Wash the skeins in the washing machine on gentle cycle. Tumble dry until completely dry - make sure you check deep inside the skein as the inside can take a long time to dry. Alternatively you can tumble dry partway and air dry the rest - but make sure yarn fully dries to avoid mildew, etc when stored.
As I mentioned above, I have had mixed success with this. A batch of acrylic skeins came out great, while a batch of cotton ones didn’t work so well. However since the cotton skeins were smaller I put two to a stocking (with a knot in between) and I think this may have been why they fell apart and tangled. (There was more room for the skeins to rub inside their nylons and having the two connected increased the agitation). But if you are pretty sure your yarn won’t felt and it really smells it may be worth a test on a skein or two. Good Luck!
What a clever idea!
Very good info…thanks so much, i think i will try doing this to afew that i have & see how it goes…
Rhy :XX: