The hapless knitter

It all began with a partially-completed project that I decided to frog. I wanted the yarn back from the project, so I wound it back onto the cake. This was the result:

So I wondered how to get the yarn smooth again. Unfortunately, this was before Sandi Wiseheart of the “Knitting Daily” blog had sent out her extremely helpful column about how to do this the right way.

I decided that steam—lots of hot steam—was the answer. So I put on a kitchen mitt and held the ball of yarn over boiling water and steamed it on all sides like it was a vegetable. Yes, it was dumb. The yarn was probably howling at me, although in my eagerness to fix this Problem Of The Wriggly Yarn, I could not hear it. Alas.

This was the result of the steambath:

Nice smooth yarn, right? Yes, a bit stretched out here and there, but I’ll deal with that later….

Oh boy. People like me should never get lovely yarn in their hands. I took the yarn out to cast on and discovered that much of it was stretched out (and steamed that way, of course) so the elasticity was completely gone. This was a sobering moment in which I had to face the impetuous element of my nature and admit that I had Wronged The Yarn.

(If yarn could talk! I can imagine this yarn at the store saying, “Noooo! Don’t send me home with Wordknitter!”)

Once again, the beloved Knitlisters came to my rescue by suggesting possible remedies. First I re-hanked the yarn, which was an adventure in itself. I tried using a chair back, hit a bit of a snag (literally), and spent a full hour untangling the yarn from itself. I chose to regard this as a “meditative interlude” and just went with it.

After untangling the mess, I ended up with the yarn over two chair backs, connected by one lone strand. At this point, I hauled out my swift and wound the 250 yards by hand onto the swift, guiding it with my hand off first one chair back and then the other.

I tied the hank in four places and soaked it in lukewarm water, then hung it up to dry on a hanger. Unfortunately, after the yarn had dried, the stretched out areas still had no elasticity, so I began to think there was no hope.

At that point, a couple of other Knitlisters suggested soaking the yarn in very hot water. I drew the hottest water I could, wet the yarn thoroughly, and let it soak in that water in the bathtub for a good 40 minutes. Then I pulled it out carefully, rolled it in a towel, and laid it on a big cooling rack (over a seldom-used sink).

Then I left it alone to heal for a good long time. I obviously had not proven to be a good yarn nurse, and I figured the yarn would be grateful to have some “alone time” to find its own internal fluffiness again.

Lo and behold, this is the result:

Beautiful wormy fatness! Fluffiness and elasticity restored! There are a few slightly thinner sections, but they are lots fuller than they were before, and even better, those sections have significant give to them. So my sore forearms will be grateful.

As with all my knitting fiascos, I have learned quite a lot. Nothing is lost. And this Dream in Color Classy yarn, color Dusky Aurora, will find its way into a project at last. I love a happy ending.