The Importance of Wet Finishing Your Hand Spun Yarns.

Hello my lovely fellow spinners

Today I have decided to discuss a simple, yet often overlooked topic which I hope you will take just a few minutes to read. It could change your spinning life!

The topic of finishing hand-spun yarn often comes up, with many wondering how exactly to go about it or even understanding exactly why we should do it. There are various techniques depending on the type of yarn you've created. For example, a standard plied yarn benefits greatly from wet finishing in a bowl of water, while a more intricately textured art yarn might require a gentler approach, like steaming, to preserve its unique texture.

In today’s blog, I’ll focus on wet finishing simpler yarns to help you understand what happens during the process and how to achieve the best results from your beautiful hand-spun creations. After all, it would be such a shame to spoil all your hard work at the very end!

Let’s dive into the process in more detail. Wet finishing is one of the most crucial, yet often overlooked, steps in hand-spinning. After spending hours spinning, it might seem like your yarn is finished once it’s plied and wound into a skein, but wet finishing can be the difference between an average yarn and an exceptional one. It stabilises, balances, and readies the yarn for use in knitting, crocheting, weaving, or other fibre arts. This post will cover why wet finishing is necessary, what happens during the process, and the risks of skipping this vital step.

Why Wet Finishing is Necessary

Hand-spun yarn, straight off the bobbin, is in a delicate state. The fibres haven’t fully settled into their final positions, and the tension from the spinning and plying process can leave the yarn feeling stiff, overly twisted, or uneven. Wet finishing helps to set the twist, allowing the fibres to bloom and relax into their natural state. This process creates a yarn that is more cohesive, balanced, and true to its intended characteristics.

By not wet finishing, you risk working with yarn that hasn’t fully settled, which can lead to skewed stitches, inconsistency in the thickness, and even unravelling during use. Wet finishing also removes any dirt, oil, or lanolin remaining in the yarn, ensuring a clean product that’s comfortable to handle and wear.

What is wet finishing and what happens during the process?

Wet finishing involves soaking the hand-spun yarn in water, which allows the fibres to relax and the twist to settle. The soak can be done in plain water, or sometimes a mild wool wash is added to remove any remaining oils or dirt. The water should be hot enough to put your hands into comfortably and safely and the detergent of choice mixed into the water before adding the skein of yarn. Do not agitate the yarn at all, just leave it to rest and do its thing for about twenty minutes. Remember, the combination of hot water, detergent and agitation causes the felting that we most probably do not want.

During this bath, the fibres swell slightly and rearrange themselves, which helps even out any inconsistencies in the spinning.

Once soaked, the yarn is usually squeezed (not wrung!) to remove excess water and then hung to dry. As it dries, the fibres fully adjust, the twist sets, and the yarn blooms—meaning it puffs up and becomes softer and fuller. This stage is where you see the yarn transform from its “unfinished” state into a more refined and usable product that will make you appreciate this extra little bit of effort and make you proud of your hand spun creations.

Take a look at the photographs which show the difference in the skein of yarn before and after the finishing process.

It is quite amazing to note the differences and reminds us of the importance of testing our spinning for every project before committing to a large quantity of fibre. In the photographs you can see that the yarn measured 30 inches before finishing and looked a little flat with definite gaps between the plies. The wraps per inch (wpi) were 14 giving a DK yarn. However, following the finishing the yarn shrunk in length to 27 inches and bloomed to fill the gaps giving a final wpi of 9 or Aran weight which is quite a significant difference. This just shows that if I had planned a DK weight yarn for a project and spun it to that gauge I would have been disappointed with an unsuitable yarn. So always test, test, test!

What Could Happen if You Skip Wet Finishing?

If you skip wet finishing, your yarn may be less balanced and stable. It could retain too much twist, causing it to feel overly tight or wiry, which can result in problems when knitting or crocheting, such as spiralling stitches or uneven tension. In weaving, unbalanced yarns can cause distortion in the fabric, making it difficult to achieve the desired structure.

Furthermore, unwashed yarn can still contain oils, dirt, or even excess dye, which can affect the texture and longevity of the final product. Over time, this can lead to the yarn breaking down faster, or the fabric it becomes a part of developing an unpleasant odour or feel.

Inconsistent yarn is another issue when wet finishing is skipped. While some areas of your skein might be spun tightly, others could be looser, and without the uniform relaxing effect of water, these differences will be much more apparent. The result can be a fabric that feels bumpy, uneven, or simply not as enjoyable to wear or work with.

Wet finishing is a simple but powerful step in the hand-spinning process that can greatly improve the quality and usability of your yarn. By allowing the fibres to relax, removing impurities, and setting the twist, you create a yarn that is balanced, durable, and beautiful to work with. Skipping wet finishing might save you time, but in the long run, it can lead to inconsistent, uncomfortable, or even unusable yarn. Take the extra step—you’ll be glad you did when you see (and feel) the difference in your final product.

I hope this blog post has given you a better understanding of the finishing process and as always I would love to hear your comments and see your results. So do feel free to comment and get in touch to share anything spinning related at any time. I am always here to help, support and cheer you on.

Happy Spinning

Bye for now

Theresa

x

PS If you know of any other spinners who may benefit from this little snippet of information do feel free to share it with them. The more happy spinners we have the better!