In May, we covered why washing your wool was important and how to do so if you hadn't before. This month, we're taking a look at the yarns themselves and what happens when they're washed and given the time to bloom and dry. To do that, I've been allowed to the time to pull some of our own Mill House yarns, as well as a few select yarns from competitors of similar quality and accessibility. From opening fibers, to increasing softness, and changing texture, washing wool yarn can do so many different things and you never really know which yours might do for you. I think that's why this was such an exciting experiment for us to take on.

Let's jump right in! We've grouped each set of yarn with a colored tie to make them easily identifiable throughout the photos and the wash video content that will be accessible by the end of this week (7.10.26).  If you look at the groups below, you'll see that we have both dyed and undyed hanks, 3 different weights to observe, and some pretty visually different starting points. 

The Mill House Yarns- pre wash state. All three of these yarns are 100% non-superwash merino wool in fine count textures.  The fingering weight hank is likely the most representative of what you see coming from our Mill House brand to your mailbox- a little thinner than you might normally expect from a traditional yarn store, maybe looks a little stiff and ropey or even "crunchy." There's not much finishing done here, but don't count her out just yet. Next are the two worsted hanks. The Mint hank, which has been through the treatments for dying and then steaming before ending up on our Closeout page, is definitely already visually fluffier and more open. It may not open much more and is probably a little closer to what you think of as a soft wool from the yarn store in town. The cream hank has been steamed but hasn't been opened up through the dying process. It's closer to its worsted companion but probably has a little more room to soften and fluff. At least in the opinion of this writer and yarn washer, it's sort of in the middle and leans toward the softer end of ready-to-go yarns.  

Competitor A, a duo that offers us a dyed yarn and an undyed yarn in 100% non-superwash Peruvian wool. I am under the impression that the undyed fiber is bleached rather than left natural after scouring, but it was a little unclear on the purchase page. It is very, very white. Either way, this beautiful fiber showed up pre-softened as many do! The yarn is open and soft but does feel a little like there may be some kind of protectant left behind giving a bit of drag/catch to the touch of the fiber.  Washing may not open much of the fibers but could change the softness or texture. 

Competitor B is the only superwash yarn to weigh in in this comparison, if you can't tell by it's almost silky sheen despite being 100% merino wool. It arrived beautifully soft and smooth without any stray haloing but still feeling the right amount of "fluffed" for a DK weight. Now, superwash yarns can still bloom a little, but they do tend to show minimal change and don't really open up that little halo of fibers you see with non-superwash yarns after blooming. It's the nature of removing that outer scale of the individual wool fibers. It could get a little softer and thicker, but it's already at a pretty great point for DK yarn. 

Competitor C, our other fingering weight yarn and the yarn brought in to give some perspective on wool blends! This particular fiber is a non-superwash 70% wool, 30% nylon blend. Out of all the competitors, this yarn actually showed up in the state closest to our own Mill House yarns. It had very little extra finishing and had a similar texture to our own fingering yarn- a little thin, a little stiff. It definitely feels like it needs to be opened up when you take the hanks out of the packaging. The nylon will probably reduce the amount of bloom a little, but it would probably be pretty safe to expect a respectable change in texture and appearance of this particular yarn. 

The Washing and the Drying.

Yes! Just like we talked about in our May blog, it really was just that easy. I had a pot, two bowls, dish soap, and a handful of microfiber towels for this adventure. To dry, they lived on a little wooden swift at the end of the dining table. The most extensive resource it took up was time, primarily for drying- so much drying! Each of the yarns used in this experiment went through the exact same process- room temperature distilled water with wool-safe dish soap, submerged fully, then soaked for 10 minutes before being squeezed (not wrung) out and then pressed between microfiber towels to remove excess water. Finally. they were all hung to air dry.

Extra tip: Check your hanks every 8-12 hours or so and flip them or rotate them. Also make sure they're in the least humid spot in your house. 

The footage from yarn washing is on the editing floor, so to speak, so we'll have it for you soon.

What really matters is:

The Results

First up, our fingering weight yarn. This yarn started out fairly stiff and ropey with a bit of a catch to the feel, despite being a quite soft merino. This is one of the yarns I expected the most change from, even if it might not be dramatic visually due to fingering weight being so fine. I was not disappointed. This yarn opened up significantly, revealing a slight halo and an amazing, fluffy twist for something so light weight. It also lost all trace of the stiffness and excess grabbiness it held before. While not as smooth as a superwash, it definitely feels like a totally different fiber. 

The Worsteds were interesting. The mint hank basically behaved as expected. Washing caused very little change except to maybe remove some of the 'wrinkling' caused by sitting in a skein for however long. It remained soft and fluffy, but that was how it began. Now, the cream hank. We thought we would not see any real change there either. It was a conversation we actually had while preparing for this article. Apparently, we were wrong.  I think it may be a little hard to see in photography, but there was actually some fairly noticable change in the cream hank of worsted yarn. There is a definite change in the texture, becoming more spongey and a bit softer, and a slight halo of fiber has opened a little more. What pictures really don't capture is that the yarn itself is more open. It increased in size slightly. Not dramatically, but enough to leave me quite surprised. 

Our Peruvian duo from competitor A also offered me a little surprise! Both fibers did seem to open slightly, despite my thoughts that they might not change in that respect at all when washing. Rather than the twist expanding, we saw the release of some fibers in the soft halo effect seen in many wool yarns after blooming. They also lost much of the grabbiness that made me think of a protective coating as well and became extremely soft and plush feeling. These yarns felt almost springy when they dried! After washing, it made me think it might have been pre-softened but treated to protect it for shipping. 

Competitor B was a bit of a surprise as well! This DK weight actually did bloom a little bit with the wash. As expected, we didn't see any haloing of the fibers, but it did thicken slightly and become a little more plush, if not necessarily "softer." I know I did mention it before, but seeing a superwash yarn actually bloom slightly despite what is commonly expected was certainly interesting. I know I'll be taking that into account for future projects now. Now, because this went through the same process as all the non superwash fibers, it didn't really have its superwash qualities tested. It wasn't agitated in any way during the wash or drying process. So, I do leave you with that in mind as well, when I note that the changes to this yarn were through the washing process.

Our final results coming in with Competitor C and the Wool/Nylon blend. Just like with the Mill House fingering weight yarn, this fiber started out quite stiff and almost thready in its thinness. The texture was not necessarily rough, but it wasn't what you'd expect from a fine merino blend. The washing/blooming process here was exactly what I expected- the texture change was drastic. It became much more malleable and softer to the touch. It felt like a good yarn rather than rough thread. What surprised me though, was how little the yarn actually opened up itself. The fiber haloed a little bit, but the yarn itself remained at about a light fingering or almost lace weight despite the dramatic change in texture. I had expected it to fluff out less in the bloom, however not fluffing up at all wasn't on the bingo card, if you will. This is interesting to me because I have bloomed other wool blends before so I'm not sure why this one didn't! Even so, the post-wash texture is stunning, and the washing definitely made a difference. 

Final Thoughts

This was a really neat experiment and it's one that may be worth repeating in the future, perhaps with other bases of our yarns or fibers and maybe with swatches of project stitches to see the difference. In the end though, it all boils down to the same few things. 

1. Yarn can show up in various stages of finishing depending on who or where you buy it from.
2. The texture out of the package may not tell the full story- there may be protectants involved or the yarn may need to be washed.
3. Your yarn may bloom a lot or it may bloom a little, it all depends.
4. Bloom isn't good and it isn't bad. It just is. It's up to you to decide how you handle your yarns and projects in the way that's best for you and your needs.