Washing Yarn

Remember the yarn I won on eBay that smelled like an ashtray?

It was beautiful yarn, and I got it for a great price:




When I first got it, I noticed that it smelled like cigarettes. Very much!
So, I put it out in the sun for several hours.


This usually works wonders. But not this time. The yarn still smelled AWFUL.

So, I started unwinding it with my yarn swift, and let it rest in the storage room to air out....hopefully.


No such luck there. This yarn needed SERIOUS help.


This weekend, I finished unwinding it all with my swift, and it all ended up in nice hanks like this:


They still smelled to high heaven, so I washed each hank by hand in some laundry detergent and warm water. Then, I rinsed each hank with cold water, and hung them outside on tree branches to dry. I'm sure my neighbors thought I was crazy.

(I would have taken a photo of the drying hanks, but then I might have been committed.)

Of course, as soon as I got them all out on the tree branches, it started to rain. HARD.
:P

When the rain finally subsided, I went back out again, and squeezed out as much rainwater as I could handle. MAN!!! This was WORK!

I was almost brought to the point of using a few choice words, but I persevered. It smelled nice outside after the rain, and there were kids out playing in the streets, so that helped my mood a bit.

The skeins were left outside for several hours, and then brought back in when the sun was starting to set. They were still a little damp, so I had to hang them all over the house on every doorknob available. There were 11 hanks of yarn, but not that many doors in my house, so I improvised by using the knobs on the kitchen cabinets as well.

Now, three days later, I have dry hanks of yarn. They do smell better, THANK GOD!!!