Unruly Freshly Frogged Yarn

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There was a slight delay in my knitting progress due to the fact that the upper back of my sweater looked like this. That should be a sea of smooth stockinette, but what you see is the weird result of knitting with frogged yarn. I’ve knit many projects with frogged yarn before, and this has never happened to me, but I can think of no other explanation. The crazy curly yarn created a rippled texture, because no matter what I did, the further the stitches got from my needles, the more they’d readjust themselves to be too big or too small. It’s completely bizarre.

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I ended up reskeining all of the balls of frogged yarn and giving them a good soak. I let them hang to dry, and they’re finally ready to be knit up again. There’s still a bit of kink left, but the yarn is closer to back to normal. I usually skip this step when I’m working with frogged yarn, but now I can see why some people always take the time to do it! Has this ever happened to you before?


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16 responses to “Unruly Freshly Frogged Yarn”

  1. That hasn’t happened to me but I know it’s a risk I run. TechKnitter suggested that you have a steam blast from your iron while you frog to avoid having to soak it.

  2. I’ve had that happen with unraveled machine-knit sweaters, and I suspect it’s the length of time the yarn spent in the first incarnation (plus all the washing and drying it underwent) which causes the unevenness. Not that I’ve ever bothered to steam or wash the yarn to remove the kink before re-knitting — no matter how it looks on the needles, it’s always relaxed after the first wash anyway. But it does make it hard to keep an eye on the gauge, so it’s probably better to do the extra prep work.

    1. Usually I’m a big believer in the magic that is blocking, but I was too afraid that this wouldn’t block out nicely. I might have been paranoid, but I decided it was better to do the extra work now than to spend all of that knitting time worrying.

      1. Oh, for sure! I’ve only made scarves or shawls with recycled yarn and I’m never too concerned with gauge in those cases. (Even a little wonkiness in a scarf doesn’t bother me — which is good, because it just might catch up to me one day!) But if you’re making a sweater or something where it matters, I think doing the extra work makes a lot more sense than finding out in the end that ‘oops, blocking didn’t fix it after all.’ And maybe the yarn you’re using has a lot of energy in it, which could also make a difference? In any case, it’s a beautiful color and I can’t wait to see your FO!

  3. This has TOTALLY happened to me!
    I usually soak now. I hang the skeined yarn up with a weight to combat the kinkiness further.

  4. The one time I knit with frogged yarn it left kinks in the knitted fabric that have never come out. It was in the toe of a pair of socks that I wear all the time in the winter even. So I’ve kind of learned my lesson from this and always wash, dry and reskein frogged yarn. Sucks, but I always feel like it’s probably worth it.

  5. wouldn’t it be ok once you blocked the piece? I’ve never done this so I’m just speculating 😀

    What a hassle!

    1. It might be okay, but I’d spend way too much time worrying about it!

  6. Elisabet

    I always soak, for a lot of projects it might not be needed for the finished result, but the knitting experience is much better. No noodles that make a big mess, just waves of yarn that feels eco-friendly.

  7. This hasn’t happened to me yet, but I know it’s a possibility! The one sweater I frogged completely was knit with a nubbly curly-ish yarn, so when I reknit it, it just looked the same. I think you’re right to do the prep work, though. Saves a lot of worry.

  8. It’s definitely happened to me a few times, especially because I’m so quick to frog and reknit things. 🙂 As long as it is a natural animal fiber, it washes or blocks out.

  9. This problem we have come buy at work on slight odd occasions and they tell use to soak the yarn and then hang it in a skein to dry. If not then to scrap and use new yarn. However I’ve washed my skein before and it’s worked fine. it’s because it’s been sat along time knit up which makes the yarn curl. I mean some yarns come know in knitted rolls to unravel as you knit it up.

  10. I used to be too lazy to fix my frogged yarn but a few months ago I took the time to do so and now I do it all the time. Knitting with frogged yarn just isn’t as pleasant as knitting with nice smooth yarn.

  11. I usually soak and hang before re-using the yarn, but recently frogged a ribbed section of a jumper and re-knit and now it is all wobbly-weird, even after a full soak and block!

    Having to frog again (though am going to try a machine wash before doing this, as it is about the 5th time with this damn ribbing!!!).

    Think it just depends on the yarn?

  12. I wanted to let you know that I featured your blog awhile back. It’s on the post Wednesday Weekly Review #22 if you want to check it out.

    Helen
    Blue Eyed Beauty Blog
    Exercise Encouragement GROUP Blog

  13. Ingrid

    I can’t remember where I saw this, but it was recently…something about running the yarn thru an on the stove tea kettle? Might try googling it…the yarn came out the spout perfectly unkinked and ready to reknit!

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