Setting the twist

I have now spun at least one of the rovings that I bought from Etsy a few weeks ago and I have decided that today is the day that I am going to wash that, and all the other skeins that I have made to set the twist in the wool.

Once the roving has been spun and then plyed, the next step is to wash the wool in order to 'set the twist'. I guess this is so it doesn't come undone and can be worked with. I understand that this is also the stage where the wool can be 'balanced'. I haven't got into all the techy side of this yet. I am just doing as I am told!

I ran a basinful of hand hot water and added a sachet of Eucalan which is a no rinse wool wash that repells moths and removes any last traces of grease.

Apparently one should just place the wool in to soak without agitating the water or roughing the wool up otherwise it is liable to felt, which is not good. I left it to soak for 15 minutes and then took the wool out one skein at a time, squeezed the water out and lay it on a towel. I popped out to post Christmas Cards and had a chat with my neighbour and when I returned I hung the wool out on the clothes horse.

I have been advised that special care also needs to be taken when hanging the wool out to dry. It should not be hung out in the wind as this could cause felting. I cut up some strips of material and hung the skeins out by popping the material through the centre of the skein and pegging the ends of the material.

Now I just have to wait for it all to dry so I can use it!