Having spent most of this week winding thread, I thought a behind-the-scenes glimpse might be interesting.
I dye thread in hanks, then wash and rinse it, letting it dry outside on a sunny day. When it’s all dry it comes in to be sorted into groups.
I then wind each hank into smaller skeins. Hanks will yield anything from four to ten skeins, depending on the thread type. Pictured below is a new fine cotton boucle yarn that I’m trying. I can no longer get the chunkier cotton boucle that I’ve had previously.
When each hank has been turned into skeins, each skein is twisted. This helps to prevent tangling and keeps them neat and easy to pack for shipping. I use a miniaturist’s drill with half a large paperclip glued where the drill bit should be.
Then I label each skein with the thread type and yardage. I print, cut and hand write each label. Shown below is the new batch of silk perle 8.
Once each batch has been labelled, the skeins are sorted by colour ready to be counted, numbered, named, photographed, described and listed in the shop.
This entire process has to be repeated nine times, since I currently stock nine different types of thread (four silk and five cotton). I can only wind for half a day at a time, to avoid repetitive strain injury, so it does take a few weeks to get all of it into the shop.
The best bit about the whole process is that there is no waste. Any part-skeins go into Randoms, to be gathered into mini-collections, and anything shorter than a yard goes into the ends pot to be used as ties for tags or in daily stitching.
Did I say that was the best bit? I meant it’s the second-best bit. This is the best bit:
I only take a few yards for myself, and only in the colours that really appeal to me. These threads are wrapped round paper tubes, made very simply by rolling a 3″ square piece of copy paper and cutting a little notch in one end.
So there it is – the process from start to end. Threads should be available from around mid-September, if all goes to plan. In the meantime there are still some very pretty threads in the shop here.
For me, back to the daily grind. I mean daily wind.
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Such a long process! Beautiful threads and very much worth all your hard work. xx
thanks so much 🙂 Yes, long, but thankfully not difficult – and totally worth the effort.
This is a wonderful post on your process. A labor of love. Thank you for showing.
thanks so much 😊
Love your process ❤️
so glad you enjoyed seeing it 🙂
KarenThank you for sharing your process th
This was fun to read. Thank you for sharing your process. I am in awe of your PATIENCE for this task. I recently spent some time untangling a mess of cotton yarn into a ball and could only do it for 10-15 minutes at a time. But felt great when the mess was transformed into a neat skein that I could now knit.
Must say that your colors are yummy! That must bring you great joy as the colors are revealed.
thanks so much Trish. Ha, I hear you – untangling yarn is very satisfying when it’s done but pretty tedious and frustrating at the time. It’s always a lovely surprise to see the colours emerge from the hanks.
I have been drooling over your beautiful yarns. I’m one of those weird people who likes untangling yarn!! 😳 Pity I don’t live nearby, I could pop in and give you some help 😂 Thanks for the ‘eye candy’ today.
thanks so much, Mary. Luckily the hanks don’t tend to get tangled (I’ve learned to tie them really carefully before dyeing – the voice of experience!)
they’re all just beautiful. so much gentle and demanding hard work. there’s something to be said for having materials where the person creating them cares about what they are doing!
love the little bowl of dyer’s perks.
I loved hearing about your steps as well.
thanks so much 😊 long work rather than hard work but I enjoy it. I love seeing what people stitch with these threads too ❤️
❤️🧡💛💙💚💜
I love your variety of threads and I’m impressed at the process. Sadly the conversion rate is ridiculous for us in Australia. I do feel sorry for those in the US too. Anyway, I appeased myself by ordering a PDF and look forward to preparing a project for 2026. Hoping to use up my stash of threads! Thanks Karen
thanks so much, Sharon. Sorry the currency conversion is an issue for you, but I’m totally in favour of using what you already have. Enjoy your daily stitching 🙂
Such beautiful threads, such a lot of work
thanks so much, I enjoy doing it. It’s time rather than work, really, and well worth the effort
I love reading about you and seeing what you are working on. I especially like seeing all of your lovely threads and today seeing a bit of the entire process of winding and getting ready for selling. You are a true artist. Thank you for sharing with your interested readers.
thanks so much for this, Karen – I often wonder whether my random ramblings are engaging enough so it’s lovely to know that you found it interesting.
The drill-and-paperclip assembly is really ingenious – what a neat trick!
I confess I was quite pleased with that 😄