Yogi Berra once said: “It’s not over until it’s over”. Change this statement to “It’s not finished until it’s finished” and it becomes excellent advice for spinners.

It’s a wonderful feeling to finish up spinning the very last of the fibers for a project and see all of your beautiful skeins just waiting to be made up into a scarf, a sweater, or perhaps and afghan, socks or a bag. But those skeins are not quite yet ready for use; they need to be finished first. Finishing yarns doesn’t take much additional time and it prevents unpleasant surprises from showing up in your final project.

Wool yarns need to be wet finished, unless they are to be used for felting or for weaving. Basically, this means to give the yarns a good washing. This washing does two things. First it removes any remaining grease and/or spinning oils from the yarn and second, it relaxes the fibers and gives the twist a chance to even out and allows the yarn to bloom. It’s surprising when you first see it happening, but twist actually does come out in the wash!

To give twist the best chance of equalizing, wool fibers must be totally wet. I like to soak my wool yarns in cool water overnight before the final washing to allow the water to totally penetrate into the core of the yarns.

For woolen spun yarns, especially for knitting, this is the time to full the yarn. To do this, wash the yarn in hot, soapy water and give it a bit of agitation. A small sink plunger works very well for this. Or put the skeins in a mesh bag and swish them around in the water but wear rubber gloves, as the water should be hot enough to be uncomfortable for your hands. Remove the skeins from the hot water and plunge them into cold water, then back into the hot water. Repeat this a few times. End with a couple cold rinses. You may add a bit of vinegar to the rinse water to help cut the soap residue if you like. Or, add a few drops of an essential oil, such as lavender, pennyroyal, or cedar to the final rinse. Then give the skein a good snap between your hands followed by a couple good whacks on a counter top or against an outside wall. This gives your woolen yarns a nice fuzzy appearance and a soft handle. One very important note: Do NOT finish your yarn this way if you intend to felt or weave your final project. The fulling will occur when you do the felting or after the cloth is woven.

For finishing worsted yarns, simply give them a gentle wash in hot water with a bit of soap, rinse and dry.

There are several ways to get the water out of your yarns so they dry faster. The method that gets the most water out the fastest is to put them into your wash machine and use the spin cycle. Or, just roll the skeins up in a towel and walk on the bundle. Another method is wuzzing. Place the skeins in a towel or mesh bag and then spin the bundle around. This is best done outside on a nice day as wuzzing has the same effect as a wet dog shaking.

If you plan to weave with your handspun wool yarns, do not finish them at this point. Woven fabrics are fulled after weaving. If your weaving yarns have active twist, you may want to block the yarn before weaving with it. To block, wash the yarns using the worsted method then hang them to dry using weights in the bottom loop of the skeins. A rolled up towel may give sufficient weight. Or you may want to consider a blocking reel for this purpose. Blocking will keep the active twist under control, making the yarns easier to work with on loom.