That is, until I discovered the wonders of homespun wool being sold at my local walmart. Holy crap, softer than a baby kitten who likes to nuzzle against your face when you've had a bad day! How have I lived without this amazing yarn my entire life?!
Oh yea... that price.
Talk about depressing. There was no way I could ever afford to make anything bigger than a small scarf. And I don't like making scarves. So I pushed that wonderfully soft yarn to the back of my head and went about my business with my not-so-soft yarn. Sadness :(
| Wool softness with a little sheepie! Come on, who can resist that?! |
It took me about a year to figure out that I could simply make my own yarn softer. It wouldn't be as soft as the natural fiber yarn that costs an arm and your first born but it would be better than what I had. I had always known that washing the completed project more than 10 times makes it softer but who wants to do that? Not me.
Over the next few months I looked up a billion different ways to soften acrylic fiber. I read a lot of things about how it can't be done, why you shouldn't buy it in the firsts place, how only stupid people buy that crap, etc. etc. But I also saw a few tips that might have been accidental discoveries. So I tried them all at once and HOLY CRAP! It worked! Now I'm sharing my discoveries with you! Please don't think that this will magically transform your Red Heart yarn into Alpaca softness. It won't do that. But it's much better and softer than what you start out/end with when you usually deal with Red Heart yarn.
This process also works on completed projects. Follow the pretty multi pink rectangle if that's what you're doing. I strongly suggest washing the yarn before you do your project and after the project is completed if you're using the multi colors by Red Heart. It's scratchier than the solids in my opinion. The one in my example was made about 8 years ago that I forgot about so it's extra scratchy.
SO LET'S DO THIS!
Gather Materials
- Yarn of your choice
- Yarn of a different color to tie with. You'll need 6 6-8 inch pieces per hank.
- Cheap conditioner
- White vinegar
- Liquid laundry softener
- Yarn Swift or 2-3 chairs or someone's arms
- Ball winder. Don't argue with me about this. If you don't have one, go buy one. Now. (You don't have to use a ball winder but they're so amazing that you should use a ball winder.)
Take your skein of yarn and make a hank of yarn. DON'T LEAVE! It's okay if you don't have a yarn swift, I don't either. Let's continue being poor together and make a substitute. If you have a yarn swift, go ahead and put the yarn on that. If not, grab your 2-3 chairs and set them up so you can wrap the yarn around them. You don't want the yarn to dangle off (the picture below is before I started wrapping) and you don't want it so tight that it pulls the chairs together. Just tight enough to not slip down if you wrap it around the middle.
This is to give the yarn enough room to soften equally. I weigh my yarn before hand and cut it into multiple hanks. Since this is the 14 oz option and I had some extra (total of 15.9 oz) I cut it into 4 4oz hanks since that's what my ball winder can handle. Feel free to skip this step if you don't have a ball winder. Or go buy one. Seriously. Tie the hank off when you're done and use the ties in a different color to tie off the hank to keep it from separating and knotting. Split it in the middle and make sure not to tie it too tightly.
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| This isn't tied yet, it's just so you can see the split in the middle. Just wrap around the bottom, pull to the top, and tie it off. |
When you're done with all of your yarn, twist it a few times and put in a lingere bag. Again, to keep it from knotting.
Step 2: Vinegar soak.
Fill your tub with cool water and add 1/4 to 1/3 cup of white vinegar to the water. I eyeball it.
Add your yarn and let it soak in the water for at least an hour. This helps to set the colors and other science stuff.
Step 3: Condition!
Drain your tub and gently roll the yarn to get any extra water out of it. Don't try to get it damp by wringing it, it'll still be soaking wet but don't mind that. It's okay. Put some cheap conditioner on the yarn and gently rub/pat/push it in. You want it between the strands of yarn but you don't want to scrub it in and risk knots. Again, knots are not our friends. Knots are our rivals from the town over. We don't want them messing on our turf. If you're washing a finished project, just rub it all over.
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| At least this much per 4 oz hank. You'll need more depending on how much yours weighs. |
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| Pretty yarn! Full of conditioner. |
Don't bother rinsing the conditioner out of the hank, it won't matter. I start out by sprinkling about a cap full of fabric softener on the hanks.Then wrap them and put them back in the lingerie bag.
Fill the tub with enough warm water to allow your bags to float. While it's running I add another cap full (or 2) to the water as it's filling the tub. Once it's' filled, swirl the water around the bags. You don't want to mess with the yarn so much as you want to get the water into the yarn. Swirl it, push the bags under the water, whatever you want.
Now we're going to let this soak for however long you have. That's right. A minimum of one hour, maximum of 1 day. We've gotta take a shower eventually, right? Well, my boyfriend does since he has to go to work. So I had 4ish hours of soaking.
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| Smells so clean and fresh! Such a good thing. |
Step 5: Washing!
We're almost done, I promise. Just take your lingerie bags and toss them in the washer with a load of laundry. I didn't take any pictures of this step because I washed it with some undergarments and didn't figure anyone wanted to see those. Anyways, wash on the gentle cycle with your favorite laundry detergent. I add another cap of fabric softener to the wash cycle and the softener thingy that releases it during the rinse cycle. I don't know if it's necessary but I do it because why not. I bought the liquid softener on sale for $1 (instead of normal $3.50) specifically to use for yarn washing. And who doesn't like a sale? Don't put the yarn in the dryer.
Note: The yarn isn't going to feel any different at this point. Don't worry, I thought I messed up as well.
Step 6: Dry your yarn.
I take my yarn and hang it on hangers that have the little dents for clothes to sit if need be. I then put the hangers in my bathroom on the shower rod. Since it's in hank form and it went through your spin cycle it doesn't take long to dry. Just leave it alone for a few hours or so and it should be good. For finished products, you can throw them in the dryer until dry (do not over heat your project) or hang outside/in bathroom until dry. It's your choice. I live in an apartment so I don't have an outside option. I just toss things over the pole in my bathroom and call it a day.
Step 7: Make Balls!
Final step is to make yarn balls. If you have a yarn swift, go to town. If not, then put the hank on the chairs so it sits loosely. This will make it easier to get the yarn off. Just snip off the ties, find the beginning, and start winding! If you're making balls by hand, feel free to just wind it as it comes off the chairs. If your ball winder can be held in your hand, feel free to just wind it as it comes off the chairs. If you're like me and have to be strapped to a table, I suggest pulling off part of the yarn into a pile on the floor before winding. It just makes it easier in my opinion.
Step 8: You're done!
That's right, all done. From beginning to end. Now you have soft balls of yarn to play with!
I have noticed that this process takes an extra 24-48 hours for you to truly feel how soft the yarn is. When I first did this I felt a slight difference when it was in ball form. Two days later and it was like a totally different brand. Don't misunderstand me and send me hate messages saying "This isn't softer than Alpaca! Screw you,!" I'll just laugh at you and point out all of the times that I said it won't happen like that. It's just washed Red Heart yarn that's soft now. Simple as that.
Personal Comparison from before and after washing on a scratchy scale of 1-10.
Before:
Yarn- 6
Project-10
After:
yarn-3.5
Project-6
The project was so old that I think the yarn itself was bad. I still have the same yarn skein I was working from and it's really, really bad. I don't know if it's because it was poor to begin with or what. But it did soften up a bit but not as much as I would have like. Again, wash the yarn before and after if you're dealing with multis.
Let me know if you have any secrets or tips to softening up yarn! I would love to hear them and mix them into the mix of what I already do!
