Solved: How to Soften Acrylic Yarn

If you just bought your yarn (or just pulled it out of storage), and haven't started crocheting at all, follow the steps below for how to soften yarn that's unused. Follow these instructions to get your hank, ball, or skein of acrylic yarn soft and snuggly in just four steps.

1. Remove all yarn labels but don't unravel the yarn.
    
2. Using your fingers, get the yarn loose - don't take it apart or unravel it, though. Just loosen up the skein a bit.
    
3. Place your loosened up skein of yarn in a lingerie bag (or a pillowcase) and wash it with cold water and fabric softener.
    
4. Place the yarn in the dryer with a dryer sheet and voila! You can now start crocheting with super snuggly yarn. 
    

If you've already finished your crochet project before realizing that it should be a little softer, never fear! You can still soften it up with ease using any shampoo and conditioner you have on hand. With these simple steps below, you can learn how to make yarn softer even after it's been crocheted into something beautiful.

1. Soak your finished crochet project in cold water for twenty minutes.
    
2. Hand wash your project in cold water with shampoo. Rinse it thoroughly (at least twice) to make sure you remove all of the shampoo.
    
3. Saturate the project with conditioner. A lot of it. 
    
4. Allow the project to sit for ten minutes, still soaked with conditioner. 
    
5. Fill up your tub or sink or large bucket with fresh, ice cold water and let your project soak for at least another hour. It should still be full of conditioner when you place it in the ice water.
    
6. Rinse out the conditioner. Rinse it a few more times to make sure it's all out. 
    
7. Move your crochet project to the washing machine. You can place it in a lingerie bag or pillowcase if you're concerned about it coming undone at all.
    
8. Wash your project on the absolute lightest setting allowed. Add detergent, if you want, and a LOT of fabric softener (soaking yarn in fabric softener is going to help a lot).
    
9. Move your project to the dryer with some dryer sheets and dry it until it's slightly damp.
    
10. Block it as needed and let dry fully. 
     

Now that you have learned ways to soften yarn, find out more about yarn with these fantastic resources. Not only are these pages a great read for beginners, but they will come in handy no matter your level of crochet knowledge. So, take a look and learn something new today.

1. Types of Yarn and Yarn Weight - Acrylic is only one of the many types of yarn available. Check out this page to learn all about yarn weights and types. It also includes a free chart with all the yarn types.
    
2. Crochet Abbreviations List - Before you can start crocheting, you need to make sure you know the basics, which includes crochet abbreviations. This helpful page goes over them and offers a free download.
    
3. How to Keep Yarn From Tangling - This page is full of advice on keeping your free from knots and tangles. No need to worry about softening yarn AND getting it untangled.

4. How Much Yarn Do I Need? - These tips for planning crochet projects will help you figure out the averages of yards needed for each type of popular crochet project squares, hats, socks, scarves, sweaters, baby blankets, and more.
    
5. Yarn Storage Ideas - What do you do with your bits of yarn when you're done with a project? Once done crocheting, there's usually lots of yarn leftover. This resource offers suggestions for organizing and storing it.
    
6. 7 Surprising Crochet Health Benefits - The healing benefits of crocheting are numerous and range from simply calming you down and easing your stress to potentially reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
    
7. How to Block Crochet - Since the tutorial for softening finished projects involve blocking your crochet, you will need to know how. This page offers three different ways of blocking your work.