I had planned to post this for awhile but you know how life gets in the way. Suzanne really prompted me to finally share this, so here it is.
This is the way I unwind skeins of hand dyed thread.
I start with a pillow that will comfortably sit in my lap. The more texture the pillow has the better to hold the thread.
I then undo the skein until it looks like this.
There will be two ends that have thread ties holding the skeins together. You can go ahead and cut these or untie them. On my skeins one of these thread ties will always be close to the start/end thread.
Untie the start/end thread and wind onto your choice of spool. I use these floss winder cards. These cards work well, and it is an easy way to keep all my personal HDT on a ring for future use.
Finally, I take one of the ends, (The closest one to the top of the pile of threads) and I unwind by hand all the thread onto the card holder. This method keeps everyting tidy and tangle free. If you have a different method I would love to hear it. It's facinating to see how people approach things differently.
This is what a 50 yrd skein of size 20 HDT looks like on a card holder. I do the same thing with other sizes of tatting thread.
11 comments:
I never thought of using a pillow! I use my feet, like Clyde.
I bet I have the most unique way of unwinding thread you could imagine! Just let me know if you are intrigued!
Aww Laura, you are being a tease....of course I am intrigued...please share!
Yes, Laura! Please share!
Yes please share Laura. Thank you Sherry for posting your way as the more ways we have the more chances there are that people will try HDT and come to know the joys of using it.
Okay. Sorry I didn't follow through. I sent the secret to Sherry last night. Give me a minute and I'll post it on my blog.
Sherry - I hope that you are seeing this. I have posted a journal on my way of unwinding thread - using my study chair.
Heehee! I had to laugh at this a wee bit. My method of unwinding is to open the skein as you, Sherry. That's about where the similarity ends.
I'm usually propped up on my bed in the evenings when I tat. I take the thread and loop it around my knees and unwind from there. I can sort of work in some crunches that way, too. Oh, and it's good on the upper arms as well.
A swift? Who needs a swift when you have knees? ;-)
Erin in Tenn.
I discovered the "knee method" the other night on my own. It worked quite well. Not sure what I'll do when I get too old to "sit in a crunch!"
Thank you so much! I was using my foot, also but I still ended up with several yards of knots! I became very frustrated with the whole thing! I will try this method from now on. I look forward to learning this new craft!
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