spinning yarn

Step 10 Wind a hank and block

Your finished yarn needs to be removed from the spindle for washing, also called "blocking." Blocking will set the yarn, and help it bloom a little. If you were to be making a plied yarn, you would first twist the finished "single" (that's the name for what you've just made) with one or more other singles before blocking.  But since we are just making a single, we'll plow right on ahead to making a hank.

You could invest in a niddy-noddy, which is specifically designed for winding yarn into hanks, and is fun to say, but you can also just use your forearm. Wind the yarn off of the spindle and into a series of loops around your thumb and elbow.  Tie the ends together, and use scrap yarn to make one or two ties around one side of the hank, which will keep the yarn from getting tangled. Your hank will be all wonky and squiggly. Do not fret.

To block your yarn, submerse it in lukewarm water, gently squeeze out the excess water, snap it between your hands a few times (or some folks even whack it against a hard surface) and hang it for drying. I hang my hanks on doorknobs, or shower curtain hooks. Since this is a single, and has a lot of active twist, you will also want to weigh it down it to help get the kinks out. A spray bottle full of water or other liquid works nicely as a weight, since you can easily hook it onto lower half of the hank. Alternatively, if you happen to possess a yarn swift, you could stretch your hank on that to dry.

You can turn a hank of yarn into a skein by twisting it a few times, folding it in half, and pulling one end through the loop at the other end.