meet my new buddy

In my effort to get ready for the Sock Summit, I was taking advantage of the beautiful weather today and did figure 8 ties around some skeins. I will be bringing this particular wool in the undyed stage, but wanted it nice and pre-washed.

Usually I sort of wring the skeins out by hand, hang them on the drying rack, and hope for the best and a really nice sunny afternoon. Still, it would take days sometimes for the yarn to dry, or require a fan. It was starting to drive me a little nuts in the face of about 1000 hanks I still have to do.

Then my friend Kay had the absolute best idea the other day and told me about this little fellow.

Hehe can you guess?

A spin dryer. Believe it or not, when I was a little kid we still had one of those in the laundry room in the basement, and I was "allowed" to transfer the laundry from the washer (which did not spin) over to the "spinner". You have to load it just right so as to have a balanced load, close the lid, and turn it on. All it does is spin with its amazing centrifugal force.

I can put about 20 4 oz skeins in it, spin them out for about 3 minutes, and have damp hanks.

See them on the rack? Look Ma, no drips! I LOVE my new gadget.
Oh and in case you're wondering why on earth I don't use my washer: we have a high efficiency front loader, and I can't spin my yarn out in it.

This rack full took exactly one of my daughter's soccer games to dry.