Reclaiming Baby Sock Yarn

 You will remember those baby socks I just knit and how they were different sizes because of differences in my knitting on those days.  Well...I just could not give them as gifts when they were so clearly not good.  SO...I did a sock yarn reclamation project.

1.  Find the end of the yarn where you wove it in.  This time it was at the toe where I Kitchenered them together.  It was fairly easy to find for three of the four socks but eventually I found the fourth one...possibly doing this in the middle of the night was the issue here!

2.  After unraveling each sock, wind each pile of crinkle-y yarn around a piece of sturdy cardboard. 

3.  Using some cotton yarn, tie the yarn together in at least two places.  Since this was such a small amount of yarn, I just did it in two places.  With heavier yarn and a greater quantity of yardage you will need to put in at least 4 ties.  The whole point of this is so the yarn will not become impossibly tangled during the next steps. It WILL do that if you don't tie it up very well.

4.  Drop the tied-up yarn into a bowl of warm water and let it sit at least 30 minutes so the water can really soak into the wool.

(You can see the white cotton wraps.)

5. Drain the water out of the bowl then gently squeeze out as much water as possible.

6.  Hang the yarn on a hanger.  Put a straight piece of something, in this case a knitting needle, through the bottom of the yarn bundles then add a weight...in this case a shirt on a coat hanger.  If you have worsted weight wool, you will probably need a heavier weight to pull out the "wrinkles" in the yarn.  For this fine yarn, what we have is sufficient.

7.  Let the yarn completely dry, then wind into a ball or cake as you choose.  (We are not at that step yet...!). You are then ready to use the yarn again.

The whole point of this is to get the crinkles out of the yarn so your knitting will be smooth.  If you do NOT do this and just reuse the yarn after frogging it, you will have a knit project with an unpleasing appearance and texture.  Ask me how I know...!