Aging Out

Object lesson - yarn doesn't last forever.

The very dark navy that makes up the majority of this warp is 'old'.  Purchased in the late 1990s for a couple of projects, it has languished since then on my shelves, patiently waiting - and apparently deteriorating - ever since.

Now very dark colours, especially those with a lot of black in them, tend to deteriorate more quickly than other colours (in my experience).  So it seems for some of this yarn.  In the very first section, one end broke three times.  I finally replaced it.  Before finishing the section, another one broke.

After that, every time an end broke, I would replace it until I ran out of replacement tubes.  The last three sections didn't have any broken ends, so I'm hoping that I've got all of the weak yarns changed out.

I did manage to find a few very small tubes of dark blue so that if any more break I can replace those, but still, it was a frustrating end to the day.

Thing is, I remember those two long ago projects and this was not an issue with either warp.  So all I can do is conclude that this yarn ought to have been used up a long time ago.  A reminder that yarn does, indeed, have a best before date and obviously those six tubes are beyond theirs.  At least for warp.

The tubes have been set aside and as I worked I thought about what to do with this yarn.  My goal for the past three months has been to use up as much of the 2/16 cotton wound onto pirns as I possibly could.  I'm very close to being done now.  This warp and the one after it will bring the emptied pirns to about 90% cleared.  I told Doug that once this warp and the next are done, he can go ahead and pack up all the empty pirns and we can ship them to the new owner of the pirn winder.

Whatever is left is minimal and I won't feel the pressure to empty those quite so much.

But after that?  I am going to use up the weak dark yarn.  The plan is to use up some more of those turquoise/teal tubes and the weft will be the dark navy.  I'm thinking it will be quite dramatic.  I even have the draft I am going to use sorted out, just want to tweak it a bit.

So a friendly reminder:  use your stash!  It won't keep forever.

One of the most heart breaking things I had to do was trash 600 pounds (no that's not a typo) of a friends' yarn because it either hadn't aged well or there was critter damage.  Literally, use it or lose it due to age.