Why would you need to consider scouring yarn for tapestry weaving? And what does scouring mean anyway?
Scouring is simply the textile word for washing. Some (very few) yarns come with machine oil in them from the carding process and that needs to be removed before using the yarn for tapestry weaving. This usually only happens with coned yarns because the yarn goes right from the carder to the spinning and onto cones without any other processing. The oil is added in the picking process so that the fibers go smoothly through the big carding machines.
You can see a video of the Harrisville mill HERE.
Can I scour all fibers this way?
No. You’ll need a different process for cellulose fibers. See the footnote at the end of the page.**
Cones of Harrisville Highland.
What yarns do I need to scour?
I use Harrisville Koehler singles for my large format tapestries. This yarn comes on cones and it is undyed. It has to be scoured before I can use it. Because I’m dyeing this yarn myself, scouring is a simple first step when getting the yarn ready for going in the dye pot. It has to be wetted out anyway, so I scour it, then leave it in a bucket of water until it goes in the dye pot.
I also use Harrisville Highland and sometimes Shetland for teaching. I purchase these yarns on the cone (it is cheaper that way) and then I scour it for use in my workshops. Some people sell small amounts of these yarns and most likely you’ll need to scour it if you purchase it from someone who does not state that they scour it. They undoubtedly are buying cones of it at wholesale prices to be able to resell it to you.
The only tapestry yarn I use right now that needs to be scoured is made by Harrisville. Only yarn purchased on cones needs this treatment. Skeined Harrisville yarns have been washed. Most yarns that are marketed for tapestry are already scoured. If you’re buying undyed yarn on cones from any company and you want your colors to be even, you should scour that yarn before dyeing.
Why does the yarn need to be scoured?
Harrisville uses a natural olive oil blend for their oil. The oil isn’t bad for you in anyway, it just mats the fibers down. If you’ve ever purchased Harrisville Highland on the cone and then scoured it, you’ve noticed how much the yarn blooms after washing. The yarn is mostly made for weavers (it makes great blankets). Weavers wash their textiles after they finish weaving them. But we don’t generally wash tapestries—at least not in a way that would get rid of that oil. Harrisville does wash their yarns that are sold in skeins.***
Steps to scour Harrisville Highland yarn purchased on the cone.
Wind the yarn into skeins. Most people do this with a simple tool called a niddy noddy. If you have a skein winder, great! If you only have the back of a tall kitchen chair, a warping board, or two pegs secured to a table, that works too.
Tie the skeins with figure 8 ties in at least 3 places. This keeps the yarn from getting hopelessly tangled. For larger skeins, use four ties. (See images below.)
Fill a bucket or basin with hot water. I turn it all the way up but I don’t turn my hot water heater up for this. (When scouring raw fleece I often do turn my hot water heater up.)
Put in a good squirt of Dawn dish soap (the regular blue version, not anything with weird formulas. I have also used 7th Generation unscented dish soap for this.) This is the soap you use to wash dishes with, not detergent for clothes. It doesn’t take a huge amount. Just a healthy squirt—more for bigger buckets. I do also sometimes use Orvus paste which is a nice pH neutral soap that is used for washing fleece on or off the sheep. I live in the mountain west and you can buy Orvus paste off the shelf at ranch supply stores. If you don’t live near farms, just use dish soap.
Add the yarn and gently push it into the hot water (a rubber glove is helpful as the water should be uncomfortably hot). I push the yarn down under the water but don’t agitate it.
Wait 20 minutes. Don’t agitate the yarn.
Dump out the bucket or empty the basin. (Sometimes I forget the yarn and it is in there for a couple hours. It doesn’t matter.) Run some non-soapy water into the bucket and rinse the yarn. The water temperature should not be vastly different from the water the yarn just came out of. If the yarn is still very hot, let it cool a little and then use warm water for rinsing. I grasp each skein and dunk it in the water, swish it around for a few seconds, then pull it out. I “squeeze” the skein by pulling it through my other hand (see photo below). This does take some strength if you’re doing a lot of yarn so you could use your washer to do this for you.
I put the skeins in my washer and run the spin cycle (for goodness sake do not wash it though!). Do NOT do this if you have a front loader. It has to be a top loader. Front loaders drop the load and switch directions and this agitation can felt the yarn. Top loaders just spin one way. This gets the yarn nice and squeezed out and then I hang it to dry.
Put it back into balls with a ball winder and it is ready to use.
Harrisville yarns are remarkably hardy. You’d have to work pretty hard to felt it, but you want to be careful. Remember that heat + agitation = felt. The heat takes the oil out of the fibers, but you don’t want to “wash” it by agitating. A felted yarn is pretty hard to use.
The tool in front is a niddy noddy. It is used for making skeins of yarn. There are other kinds of skein winders on the market.
Making a figure-8 tie to secure a skein. The demonstration yarn is violet so that you can see it. Ties for scouring can be made of any yarn that is colorfast.
Tie the two ends together with an overhand knot.
Dawn dish soap used for scouring. Orvus paste or other pH neutral dish soaps are fine.
Fill the bucket with hot water, a squirt of soap, and then drop the skeins in.
Squeezing the water out of a skein. I’m pulling up with my right hand and squeezing the water out with my left (lower) hand.
**If you need to scour cellulose fibers, you’ll need a different formula. THIS one is a good possibility. Also note that this article talks about a more precise way to scour protein fibers like wool that might appeal to some of you who want to be more precise than I am with this process.
***Harrisville Highland is sold under two tabs on their website, Knit and Weave. It is the very same yarn. The yarn in skeins under the Knit tab has been scoured and the Weave yarn in cones has not.
Harrisville Highland in skeins. If your yarn came like this, it is already scoured.