How to Reclaim and Recondition Yarn from a Swatch

Reclaim yarn from a blocked swatch (or any knitted piece) so it is smooth and ready to reknit — no kinks, no gauge surprises. Wrap, tie, soak, and dry the yarn step by step. In this tutorial you will learn: • Why you should recondition swatch yarn before reusing it • What to wrap the yarn around as you rip out the swatch • How much tension to use and how to tie the skein with contrasting strands • How to soak the yarn so it sinks without agitating • How to remove, stretch, blot and hang the yarn to dry without tangles • Tips for larger projects and big skeins Time stamps 00:00 Introduction 01:08 Why recondition swatch yarn before reusing it 01:38 What to wrap the yarn around 02:20 Wrapping curly yarn onto the support 03:08 Tip: tension while wrapping 03:27 Tip: tying with different colored strands 04:38 Tip: figure eight for big skeins 04:48 Curly yarn before soaking 05:20 Tip: helping the yarn sink without agitating 05:53 Smooth yarn after soaking 06:05 Removing the wet yarn without tangles 06:45 Tip: lifting it out of the water 07:05 Tip: stretching out the extra kinks and blotting 07:16 Hanging and rotating as it dries 08:05 Tip: larger projects Related videos • Making an accurate gauge swatch — https://youtu.be/pCl4Edg05gA • Knitting gauge flat vs in the round — https://youtu.be/RtHkvI45myA • How to wet block swatches (different wools) — https://youtu.be/5IKQCsBetpQ • Playlist: Blocking — https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLKJ9GuhEEwlh9-_VMNmQnUAWDBarKYCj • Playli