When you are shopping for hand dyed or hand painted yarn, do you prefer browsing through skeins that are re-skeined? What is re-skeining you ask? Well here’s a simple explanation.
In the last post, I showed you one method of hand dyeing yarn, where colors are painted onto the bare yarn at distinct intervals. After dyeing a skein this way you are left with something that might look like this.
See the big chunks of bright color? Some people absolutely love seeing a skein in this way. It allows you to see EXACTLY what colors you are buying.
On the other hand, some people prefer yarn that is re-skeined, meaning the finished hank is wound up again, at a different circumference so that the color blocks are dispersed throughout the skein.
See what I mean? The second photo is the same skein as the first, only re-skeined. Some people think this method of display gives you a better idea of what the yarn will look like when it is actually knitted.
For a peek behind the scenes, this is how we do it.
First the original skein goes onto the swift.
Then one end of the skein is attached to a skein winder. I am VERY fortunate to have such a wonderful tool. If you don’t have a skein winder you can use the backs of two chairs, or wind the original skein into a ball and then wind it up again on your swift at a wider or narrower circumference, or find a friend with really long arms. Trust me, if you want to do this you will find a way. 
In this case, once the yarn is attached to the skein winder, you just wind and wind and wind, thinking about all the calories you must be burning while doing this work and how toned your arm will be when you are through.
And when you are finished you tie off the ends of your skein, twist it upand you have a very pretty little piece of yarny goodness.
So tell me, which do you prefer? Skeined or re-skeined? That is the question. Leave a comment and let us know!
