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Knitspiration
🦸♀️ What's so super about superwash yarn?
I get a lot of questions about yarn, especially when it comes to choosing the "right" yarn for a project.
Should I use wool or cotton?
100% acrylic or a blend?
DK weight or Worsted?
But one of the most common questions is whether to use superwash yarn or not.
And the answer is not as straightforward as you might think.
What is superwash wool?
A single merino wool fiber under an electron microscope. (via CSIRO, CC BY 3.0)
Every wool fiber is covered in tiny overlapping scales, a bit like the shingles on a roof.
In warm, soapy, sloshing water those scales lift up and lock onto each other. Especially when agitated.
That's how felting happens and once it happens, there's no going back.
Superwash treatments stop that process the same way Batman thwarts the Joker's evil plans. Not that felting is evil...
Back in the 1960s, scientists at CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, came up with a way to "smooth" things out.
The process involves a mild chlorine bath that changes the surface of the scales, then a very thin layer of resin on each fiber.
This fills in the gaps so they can't grab onto each other anymore, allowing it to be machine washed.
The superwash process has advantages above and beyond being machine washable.
The colors are brighter
Superwash soaks up dye more easily, which is why so many hand-dyed yarns are so bright.
It's soft and drapey
With the scales smoothed over, you get a soft, slinky fabric with beautiful drape.
It's less itchy
Those raised scales are part of what makes wool feel prickly. Smooth them down and many knitters who can't stand wool against their skin find superwash much easier to wear.
What happens to superwash yarn when blocking - via Reddit
Drawbacks of superwash
It grows
Without scales to hold on to each other, the fibers slide and stretch. So wash your swatch the way you'll wash the finished piece before you measure it.
It's slippery
Colorwork floats and blocked lace can shift around more than you'd expect.
You can't spit splice it
A spit splice only holds on yarn that can felt, so use a Russian join instead.
It's not the greenest option
The chlorine step can pollute wastewater, though some mills now use chlorine-free methods like ozone treatments.
If you've never tried superwash, these are a great place to start.
The machine washable sister of the classic Cascade 220, in a huge range of solids and heathers. Today's Good Goods is a whole book of projects written for it.
Still have more questions about superwash yarn? No worries! I found a great video that dives even deeper with a bona fide expert on the topic. Tracie and Jodi, the Grocery Girls,
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Good Goods
60 Quick Knits for Beginners
Every project in this book is knit in Cascade 220 Superwash, one of today's picks. You'll find scarves, cowls, mittens, socks and easy baby knits, with step-by-step instructions along the way. And right now it's 39% off.
Iris Hardege Falling Leaves Scarf. A little lace neck scarf with leaf motifs that flow in soft curves. It was the most clicked pattern in our Sophie Scarf alternatives issue. Knit from the narrow end up in DK weight, and the pattern includes a shawl version too. Get the pattern on Etsy
TheSheepyshire Hand-dyed tonal sock yarn in superwash merino and nylon, so it can handle a gentle machine wash. An Etsy shop dyeing since 2012, with over 15,000 sales. This colorway is Deep Space. Shop the yarn on Etsy
Alabama Fiber Festival This weekend, November 13 to 14, at Cahaba Brewing in Birmingham, Alabama. Vendor market, workshops, sit-and-stitch areas, and a whole lot of makers. See the details
Unravel This
Today's puzzle: I have lots of needles but I never sew. What am I?
We'll share the answer in the next issue.
Yarnist Society
Word of the Week
sonder
noun
The moment you realize every stranger walking by has a life as full and complicated as your own.
Tap one and tell us why. Your note might show up here.
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![FO] If you ever doubted how much blocking changes superwash yarn... : r/knitting](https://i.redd.it/u592wzp0zu371.jpg)
