How to Easily Dry Hand-Dyed Skeins of Yarn

After pre-washing hand-dyed skeins of yarn, it’s important to make sure they are completely dry before using them. In this video tutorial, Charlotte Lee shares the best ways to dry hand-dyed yarn. Written instructions can be found below the video.

Materials and Tools Shown 

More About Charlotte Lee

Let’s Get Started!

Removing from the Wash Basin

After the skeins have soaked for about 20 minutes, they are ready to come out of the water. Avoid wringing them out, as this can distort the yarn. Instead, gently squeeze the skeins to remove as much water as possible.

Removing water
Avoiding wringing. Instead, squeeze to remove water.

Using a Towel to Remove Extra Water

Lay a towel out and spread out the skeins, giving them plenty of space, as if you were placing cookies on a baking tray. If they don’t all fit, don’t crowd them. Use a second towel for the rest.

Roll the towel lengthwise so the skeins don’t sit on top of themselves. This prevents water from moving from one part of the skein to another. Once rolled, take each end of the towel and gently rock it back and forth. You can also kneel on the towel roll to press out more water. If you want the skeins to be even drier, repeat the process with a fresh towel.

Using a towel
After rolled in a towel, rock the roll to encourage more water to be drawn out.

Hanging to Dry

Before hanging the yarn, place your arms through each end of the skein and give it a quick outward snap. This helps straighten any twisted or squiggly strands.

Using the tags attached before washing, hang the skeins up to dry. Place a bucket or bowl underneath to catch any dripping water.

If you need a refresher on how to wash yarn, we have two tutorials:
• Benefits of Pre-Washing Hand-Dyed Yarn
• How to Successfully Pre-Wash Multiple Colours of Yarn Together!

snapping the skein
Give the yarn a light snap to align all the strands.

Do You Have Questions About How to Easily Dry Hand-Dyed Skeins of Yarn?

Join our community!

  • At the School of SweetGeorgia, we’ve built a vibrant and welcoming community of fibre-loving makers, passionate instructors, and dedicated staff. Whether you’re looking for guidance on a new technique or just need a little creative encouragement, we’re here to support you every step of the way.
  • Not yet a member of the School? We invite you to come and see what it is all about! Use the code: EXPLORETHESCHOOL to save 15% on an All-Access monthly membership!
  • We welcome you to join us in our SweetGeorgia Community. This is where we share projects that inspire, have fibre-filled conversations, host make-alongs, and participate in a variety of virtual meetings! We discuss all things knitting, crocheting, spinning, weaving, machine knitting, and more! 
  • Want to stay in the loop? Subscribe to our newsletter! It’s a simple way to stay updated on what’s new at SweetGeorgia and the School of SweetGeorgia, catch up on the latest articles, watch new SweetGeorgia YouTube videos, and be a part of our community without any pressure to post. We value your presence, no matter how you choose to connect with us!

Original publication: July 25, 2023; Refreshed: December 2nd, 2025

The post How to Easily Dry Hand-Dyed Skeins of Yarn appeared first on SweetGeorgia Yarns.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Joining Crochet Granny Squares – It’s Easier Than I Imagined!

Image
I recently learned how to continuously “join as you go” (JAYG) for crochet granny squares and I LOVE this technique. And so on today’s Taking Back Friday video , I want to share an update on my Jethro Cardigan project and how I joined the granny squares. As I shared in a previous vlog episode , I’ve been making crochet squares out of three different sets of our Superwash DK Party of Five mini-skein sets. I finished making the 36 granny squares needed, which no two are identical. However, after crocheting all of the squares, I was stuck on how to join them together. They simply sat finished in a pile for a couple of weeks. Luckily, Tanis provided resources with her pattern and one of them was for the “Join as You Go” tutorial. It was fantastic. I’m so proud and excited that I’m almost done. I love how it is turning out, and playing with colours has been the most fun part of this project. If you’re interested in making your own Jethro Cardigan, I want to give you some encouragemen...
Read more

Plying Tips for Handspun Yarn Success

Image
WHAT is Plying? Plying is when bobbins containing handspun singles are removed from the wheel, placed on a lazy kate, and then subjected to more twist.  To achieve a balanced yarn, more twist is added in the opposite direction of the first twist. This is not always the case, however. Some designer yarns add the second twist in the same direction as the first twist. This article is a review of some of the key aspects of plying handspun for balanced yarns using a spinning wheel. Transforming handspun singles into multi-ply yarn offers numerous benefits. WHY Ply? Many factors come into play when choosing whether or not to ply my singles. To give you some food for thought, here are just a few considerations I use in my own practice: Give a Yarn Strength The more plies, the stronger the yarn. Unless I want a dense fabric, I usually weave with singles or 2-ply yarns. Multi-ply yarns are good for strong rug warps or fabrics requiring densely packed weft yarns. One way I...
Read more

Crocheting Granny Squares for the Jethro Cardigan

Image
Crochet Granny Squares are just so much fun to make! Just… one… more round… one more square… For today’s Taking Back Friday episode, I talk about the crochet granny squares I have been making at every possible moment for this past month. I’ve recently been inspired by the Jethro cardigan design by Tanis Lavallee from Tanis Fiber Arts. The Jethro cardigan combines both knitting and crochet in one project. You start by crocheting a bunch of classic granny squares, and then join them all together. Then, you pick up for knitting the sleeves and trim. It’s a really fun and easy way to play with colour, especially with making your own palettes and colour combinations. Mini-skein sets work perfectly to allow for fun colour play with these granny squares The goal of making these granny squares is to play with colour, but I didn’t want to go and buy 6 to 10 full skeins of DK-weight yarn in order to get enough of each colour. And so, I feel like the answer here is DK-weight mini-skeins . ...
Read more