How I Make Cut Skeins Look Almost New Again

Uncut skeins hang beautifully. That's the whole appeal of a good thread storage system — everything lined up, twisted, untouched.

Then you cut into one. Now it's two limp sections you don't want anywhere near the display, so it goes into the floss-bag witness protection program, never to be seen again. Which rather defeats the point of buying thread you actually love.

Here's what I've been doing about it. It is a little unhinged. You're welcome to be just as unhinged with me.

Prefer to watch? See the whole thing on Instagram.

What you need

• Small clips, or the fine clear elastic hair ties (thin-hair girlies know the ones)
• Optional: spool savers, sometimes called thread huggers — the little bands that keep sewing-machine thread from unspooling
• The main event: a Lacis cord maker — fair warning, it's sold out almost everywhere right now

The method

1. Unknot and separate. Cut the usual way, a skein falls into two loops. Untie it and let them hang.

2. Bundle each loop. Wrap a clear elastic near the cut edge — close, but not tight. Crimping is the enemy. You should end up with two tidy little bundles.

3. Load the Lacis. Pick two prongs right next to each other and loop one bundle onto each, as close to the center as you can get. (Yes, I know. I'm not making cord. I'm just precious about how my storage looks.)

4. Crank it — setting one. A light twist, nothing aggressive. Watch it clean itself up.

5. Want the straight-from-the-shop look? Setting two. Again, gently. That's the one that makes it look brand new.

6. Slide the elastics off. Here's the part that surprised me — it holds.

7. Finish it. Add one loose elastic back on, or a thread hugger. Foolproof against crimping, and now it looks like you never touched it. (You did.)

8. Hang it back up. Tuck the tail back a little — call it the Mohawk — and set it on your at-home LNS with the others.

That's it. It looks just as beautiful as the day it came home. No one will know. I will.

The tools

The Lacis cord maker is sold out almost everywhere at the moment — but a couple of shops still have it: KCN and Abigail Cécile. For the skeins in active rotation, my Shells and Lobster scissors pouch sets keep yours together on the go. The odds and ends I use — clear elastics, spool savers — live in my Amazon storefront.

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