Knitting help-how to straighten unpicked wool

nwc389

JackieO wrote: »

Indeed it was how wool was sold in 'hanks' back in the 1940s-50s.Balls of wool hand to be hand-wound by any spare child you could dragoon into doing it golly it mad you arms ache

Yes I remember helping to do this , would have been late 50s early 60s. I can still remember the wool shop near us with all the wool on the shelves covering the back wall !

jackyann

We always used to steam unpicked wool - I think that washing it would have been more time consuming and awkward.
We simply hung it over the back of a chair, or on a clothes horse / airer if one was spare and put a bowl of boiling water underneath. Quicker then to dry than if soaked through.

And how well I remember winding hanks into balls of wool - as I recall there was a little twist of the hand / wrist that just made it easier and quicker.

RicardaRacoon

Eenymeeny wrote: »

I seem to remember being 'enlisted' to help, by sitting still while my mother wrapped the wool from hand to hand creating skeins, sometimes she used two dining chairs back to back. Maybe it was just a way of keeping us occupied but I suppose that was our 'family time'

According to my Dad having your child hold the yarn means that it is not doing anything worse in the meantime... Apparently my grandmother put that to good use to prevent at least one of six childrens to do some mischief... :rotfl:I'm sure as soon the yarn was winded and they were released from their duties they were back to doing all the things they were not supposed to do...

Eenymeeny

Thanks JackieO and others, yes you're right, I'd forgotten that it was sold in skeins. I also seem to remember cardigan sleeves being unravelled and 'knitted longer' ... now that's magic! Maybe another size needle was used.(Sometimes different coloured cuffs and ribbing was added to allow for growth!)
My sisters and I also had striped cardi's, obviously the product of a mix of leftovers! Wasn't the wool wrapped around milk bottles to straighten it? or maybe that was just my family
Sorry to turn this into a nostalgia post OP but maybe it's useful to someone!

[Deleted User]

My late mum once made me the most revolting yellow and brown striped jumper I looked like a flipping bumble bee I hated it ,but it used up some of her left over wool :):)

Eenymeeny

Haha yes Jackie I remember being made to wear revolting 'hand me downs' from older sister and cousins. Didn't occur to me to refuse to wear them but no one would have listened anyway! (Can you remember hoping that they wouldn't last long or that you might 'accidentally' tear them?, never dared to do it though...)
Rainbow striped cardis given to us for Christmas one year were received with muted enthusiasm! ('They'll match with anything' )

[Deleted User]

Yes and those awful navy nap coats with tartan binding around the hood that were bought a size or two bigger so you can grow into them !!! I was a skinny bag of bones who looked like a smurf in my coat ,you could have got two of me in there and the sleeves always seemed to be three inches too long as well :):)

ancientofdays

Another small but possibly not very mse tip is when you have made your hanks and given them a wash, let them soak in tepid water with a little fabric conditioner, really only a little, for about 15 or 20 minutes, makes a real difference.

That little winding flip is something my OH just can't get the hang of, very strange, it is automatic for me.

Dustyblinds

JackieO wrote: »

Yes and those awful navy nap coats with tartan binding around the hood that were bought a size or two bigger so you can grow into them !!! I was a skinny bag of bones who looked like a smurf in my coat ,you could have got two of me in there and the sleeves always seemed to be three inches too long as well :):)

I remember just about every new item of clothing bought had to be a size bigger than needed, so it would last that bit longer before being handed down.
Kids these days really don't know the half of it and certainly wouldn't put up with what we did :rotfl: