Dear Weavers,
I have a cone of cotton yarn, the top is faded from sun exposure and the yarn is weak also. I persisted in using it as a warp & weft on an inkle project I threaded last night- After repeated broken warp threads and broken wefts, I was irritable and nto enjoying the weavign at all. I will wind off some of the yarn and see if there is less weakenss nearer the center of the cone- it may be salvageable, but lesson learned...time is too scarce to waste on inferior materials!
XO Gail & Fog
True, true.
Use it as weft to make chenille yarn. Of course, life it pretty short for making your own chenille yarn, too...
Laurie Autio
Laurie, that is a brilliant idea! Thank you for the suggestion. XO Gail & Fog
I just had much the same experience. A cone of velvet yarn had been standing there on the shelf for too long, and I finally thought now was the right time to weave that towel projet. Breaking threads all over the place, couldn't even sley it without it breaking.
A quick decision, a pair of scissors, and OUT it went. And (almost) no regrets. But certainly a lesson learned about using up yarn from your stash in stead of just leaving it for next time....
I can tell you right now, guildmate Jerri Shankler concurs with Ellen. Throw it OUT!
Jerri practically had to wrestle me to the ground to get me to toss out a two pound cone of black that was just ridiculously weak.
My reasoning: "But it's black, and a good black is hard to find!" "But it's 16/2, and that size is hard to find these days!" "But I have 2 pounds, maybe if I unwind a pound, I'll get to the good stuff!"
I finally gave up. It was hard advice to follow, but *eventually* I did!
Sally
Yarn becoming weak or faded (equaling weak) is the main reason why as much of my yarn as possible is stored in cupboards instead of in the light. I love having a studio with lots of windows, so as much as I enjoy looking at my yarns, I know it isn't practical to keep them out. I know that some dyes fade more quickly than others. In my experience, blue fades the quickest.
