Has this ever happened to you?

[Nashville Crocheter]

I've had balls of yarn run away from me too

 

I've used baggies to keep them close to me. But when I have a large amount of yarn that needs to be wound into a ball, I either use a ball winder which makes a yarn "cake" with a center pull or I hold a length of yarn out while I make a ball. So when I am finished rolling it into a ball there is some yarn sticking out of the middle...making it a center pull ball. When you pull from the center it is less likely to run away

 

I only roll yarn when I can not find the center pull or when the skein gets too floppy after I have used it and the skein looses its shape and gets tangled.

[laralou]

I did instantly put my yarn in a ziploc and that stopped the runaway yarn. Now I got one of these (http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=sb0329&channelid=). It is actually for scrapbooking but it holds multiple balls of yarn and the rest of my junk and seems to work for me. I work on so many projects at once (alternating back and forth between) I am not willing to do one of those with the holes for the yarn to come through. Too hard to change projects midstream.

[Melibean223]

i would love to find a tote that will hold a one pound skein since each project seems to use one of these for me.

[LostCove]

Sorry.

I've been lusting after one of the Port-a-Pocket bags:

http://www.knitpicks.com/tools/itemid_80029/tools_display

Might help in the future.

[theworm]

I did instantly put my yarn in a ziploc and that stopped the runaway yarn. Now I got one of these (http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=sb0329&channelid=). It is actually for scrapbooking but it holds multiple balls of yarn and the rest of my junk and seems to work for me. I work on so many projects at once (alternating back and forth between) I am not willing to do one of those with the holes for the yarn to come through. Too hard to change projects midstream.

 

 

I saw that at Michaels the other day and fell in love with it! It was a really good price too! I almost bought it but I have the big Eagle bag and I have another tote for crochet and I just couldn't justify buying a third. It looked like it could be great for crochet and it's really cute!

[ChainOFools]

You poor thing! I have had that happen to me too, but only in the house, it must have been really unpleasant to chase the ball and then pick out all the dirt and whatnot from it! I don't have that problem of the ball rolling all over when I make a center pull ball though, it usually just stays in one place like a skein until it's mostly used up. They aren't hard to make, but sometimes with some yarns it doesn't always work.

 

There is a video tutorial on how to make a center pull ball here--you have to scroll down to almost the bottom of the page to see it...

 

I do mine a bit differently at the beginning, have the beginning strand laying flat against my palm, then hold my thumb and forefinger up (like you're going to pinch something) and wind the yarn like a figure 8 around my forefinger and thumb about 20 times, then you just pull that wound bit off your fingers, fold it in half and keep the strand that was flat on your palm at the end of this folded bit...and then start winding the ball, making sure the loose strand is kept under your thumb that is holding the ball and you don't wind the yarn over it, keep moving your thumb as you wind so that there is a little hole for the yarn to come through and you aren't winding over it...I hope I explained that okay, it's kind of hard without a picture...

[Rosemary]

Oh my goodness, you made me laugh! Thank you.

[Stitchinpick]

:lol No sympathy here. Sounds funny to me! I also use the center pull method when I ball my yarn up. It works great. That ball doesn't want to roll off that way.

[Starr]

I just learned how to wind my yarn in a center-pull ball and I love it

[sem464]

First of all, I am feel so sorry for you, I can relate. I have such a problem when I have a ball or a skein that I can't find the pull thread for (wanting to take them with me to work on while out)

 

You poor thing! I have had that happen to me too, but only in the house, it must have been really unpleasant to chase the ball and then pick out all the dirt and whatnot from it! I don't have that problem of the ball rolling all over when I make a center pull ball though, it usually just stays in one place like a skein until it's mostly used up. They aren't hard to make, but sometimes with some yarns it doesn't always work.

 

There is a video tutorial on how to make a center pull ball here--you have to scroll down to almost the bottom of the page to see it...

 

I do mine a bit differently at the beginning, have the beginning strand laying flat against my palm, then hold my thumb and forefinger up (like you're going to pinch something) and wind the yarn like a figure 8 around my forefinger and thumb about 20 times, then you just pull that wound bit off your fingers, fold it in half and keep the strand that was flat on your palm at the end of this folded bit...and then start winding the ball, making sure the loose strand is kept under your thumb that is holding the ball and you don't wind the yarn over it, keep moving your thumb as you wind so that there is a little hole for the yarn to come through and you aren't winding over it...I hope I explained that okay, it's kind of hard without a picture...

 

Thank you so much for this info. I didn't know it was possible to make such a creature:lol . I have been running into soooo many skeins lately that I can't find the pull string for. I was just unwinding it from the outside as I crocheted, making it very difficult to take the project with me.

[darski]

Does anyone know where to find the video that shows how to wind around a tube to make the centre pull skeins? I can do it but I would like to be able to post the link for others in my Yahoo groups and such.

 

I don't know what to call it for a google search - nothing I have tried works.

[ChainOFools]

Shari, you are most welcome! I know when I first learned how to make a centre pull ball I was so excited I wanted to wind all my little stash balls that way.

 

Darski I can't find any tutorial for a skein...all I get is variations of the centre pull ball...is it similar?