What a surprise to get such extreme shrinkage! Holly, I'm wondering if this yarn was wet finished before it was woven. I know that many weavers prefer to wet finish after weaving, believing that the yarn settles into the web better that way. I'm wondering if this is a case where the yarn should have been pre-shrunk...washed and abused and even felted a little before weaving. Though it sounds as if it might have shrunk so much that you wouldn't have had enough length for your project! And, the yarn would probably have been much thicker after wet finishing...not what you designed.
I, for one, am going to be doing a little more sampling of wet finish methods on my handspun from now on! I do usually handwash my skeins, but now I'm going to do some small test skeins with agitation. I know I have a couple of fleeces in my stash similar to the one you describe, and I don't want any nasty surprises like this! I love this list...I'd never have given this a thought before I read this post. So much effort goes into a handspun project that this kind of final result is a real blow. Lynn C Seattle Holly wrote: > > All the care that went into this blanket, but it shrank ***25%*** when > gently washed. > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
