Tangled yarn - Grrr! *sigh*

[goldi316]

This past couple of weeks has just NOT been a fun time, crochet-wise. I'll save the sorry sob story for my blog, but I am yet again in a dilemma and I'm hoping somebody has some suggestions before I turn postal over this situation! :bang:bang:bang:thair:thair

 

This has to do with working with very fine thread/lace-weight yarns that have been handwound (via t-paper roll method). Exactly two weeks ago, I learned (the hard way) that I should find a way to work with the threads that come wound on the cardboard rolls as is instead of trying to wind them into a center-pulling ball. I have one sorry mess waiting for me to tackle someday, with a short amount of an abandoned project attached to it.

 

Yesterday, I decided to start on a laceweight shawl I'd been eagerly looking forward to working on, using the fine yarn I had received from KnitPicks as a hank and had neatly wound onto my t-paper roll. I've gotten 11 rows into the project - and have run into the SAME problem I had with the thread: as I gently tugged on the line, a big messy clump came out of the center of the ball, and no amount of efforts to detangle it are working! :eek:eek:bang:thair:bang

 

I was SO looking forward to spending some nice, relaxing time tonight, getting some crocheting done, and now the project has come to a screeching halt without my having been able to work a single stitch!

 

HOW do you keep this from happening??? I had tried to leave the yarn on the roll but it was wound too tight and wouldn't pull out without a lot of hard tugging, and no doubt at some point I would have run into an inability to pull any out at all.

 

I've really not been having much luck with my yarns at all, like I said. I ran into the SAME problem with a ball of cotton tots that I tried to work with yesterday as well. And while the problem was different, the frustration was the same with the ball of Lion cotton I managed to screw up while trying to find that stupid center pull. In both of those cases I finally managed to straighten the mess out - but only after a huge chunk of time patiently working at it. I'm not making any progress with this one, and my patience has run out. And worse yet - I'm not getting anywhere with my crocheting! :angry:angry

 

Anyone got any ideas, help, suggestions??? Please?

[sunshine1977]

:thairDon't you just hate that??? I think if it I were you, I would cut off that big messy knot and get down to some nice relaxing crochet, starting anew...After destressing for a while, maybe try to tackle that knot again, and it might be easier having two free ends as opposed to one still connected to the roll...and being less frustrated can only help! Save that knotted piece for the end of the project, and who knows, you might not even need it! Good luck!

[mythunderbird]

one answer could be a yarn ball winder. i am bidding on one right now, i know that there are several people here who have them and i think they would work for you better than the tp roll, tried that myself:lol same thing as you.good luck vicki

[goldi316]

Well, once I managed to get my blood pressure back down to a normal range, I went back and tackled the recalcitrant knotty mess again - and finally prevailed! :clap Managed to go about two more rows before the next clump emerged, but I'm starting to figure this baby out. But it's slow going, and I'm impatient (and I think I've once again entered the dreaded - GASP! - PMS stage. Sure doesn't take much to send me over the edge during this phase!

 

On the good news front: a yarn ball winder is, uh, winding it's way to me (sorry, the PMS also makes me goofy!) even as I type! FINALLY! My daughter had gifted me with a gift card from JoAnn's (thank you sweetie!) and I combined that with the 40% off online coupon to finally order the dang thing. No doubt I could have gotten it for less than the $40 it cost via this source (along with shipping and taxes that ended up working out to 25% of the total, but whatcha gonna do?), but the option of getting one on ebay is currently not available to me. I'll take it any way I can get it! I've got a lot of sweaters to frog and wind! And now, obviously, several hanks of yarn to be rewound (or wound, as I hadn't gotten around to it yet) so this new toy will be getting put through it's paces fresh out of the box! I sure hope that's all it will take to solve this particular problem...

 

Now, if I can get down to some serious crocheting without all these constant annoying delays and obstacles! I'm slow to begin with and have a wip/wim list that's several miles long! And did I mention I'm impatient?

 

Hopefully I'll be seeing some progress this weekend...

 

Thanks for the input, folks! And if anyone else has any neat tricks, tips or suggestions, I'm still soliciting advice!

[Aggie May]

If you have a cardboard tube inside your yarn, can you crush it and pull it out carefully then work from the middle? When you wind your yarn too tight is usually when it comes out in a big clump.

When you use a skein or hank of yarn, you need to wind it loosely even when using a ball winder. You also need a skein holder which is a gizmo, which clamps on the table, with 4 extending arms that hold the skein and because it rotates as you wind, it lets the yarn wind evenly and not too tight. The middle will then slide out easily.

Very fine yarn which is on a cardboard, can be used direct from the ball if you make yourself a thing to hold it. Sort of like the cellotape dispensers you see in the shops only wider so a rod can go through the tube and it can then roll over and not tangle. A handy man should be able to make something suitable with some wood and a piece of thin dowel or strong wire.

Once you are in a tangle, it is very important to resist the urge to pull too hard as this just tightens the knots. The scissors work wonders especially when you have work attached. By cutting the thread, you give yourself an end which make unravelling a tangle, much easier.

Sometimes it is worth giving it to a friend to untangle.

Hugs to you and I hope you are back to your crochet soon.

Colleen.

[sjkmaurice]

I have never used a ball winder - didn't know they existed until a few months ago! For about a year now, I've just been pulling the yarn out of the skein and depositing it into a large coffee can. I have yet to encounter a knot that doesn't work out very easily after I do that. The only problem I've had is when I tried to cut a hole in the cover to work the yarn through. It made a sharp edge that kept catching, so I just pull it directly out of the can. It works for me!

[Catana]

...

Very fine yarn which is on a cardboard, can be used direct from the ball if you make yourself a thing to hold it. Sort of like the cellotape dispensers you see in the shops only wider so a rod can go through the tube and it can then roll over and not tangle. A handy man should be able to make something suitable with some wood and a piece of thin dowel or strong wire.

...

Colleen.

 

I've seen ball holders on a few store sites, and they're way too expensive, but you made me think about it again. The first thing that popped into my head is a paper towel holder--the freestanding kind with an upright wooden dowel. Guess what I'm going to be looking for at the thrift stores!

[beachlady]

I bought a hank (guess that is the right word) of thread, from a special store, well I had no idea what I was getting into, thank goodness I got in cheap, cause I was so mad I screamed. It was so fine, that the second I undid the tape holding it, it all tangeled up, I mean a real real mess. It was horrible, I tried everything to wind it up, my hubby even tackled it, 3 hours later, he said, I quit! I left it on the coffee table for days, several friends worked on it, finally I said, thats it, picked it all up and tossed it out. Talk about mad!!!!! Never again will I buy anything like that. I guess there is a special way of handling that stuff, but there were no direction, an apparenlty I needed that.

[Tiggzie]

I have messed up silk like that and now I am so careful, my family laughs at me. I always unwind the yank carefully and put it on my "swift", which is just two ends of my four post bed hahaha...hey at least I can wind yarn in bed *grins*

 

Anyway, I do the tp method and have been doing it for years. I just wind the center very very loosely and be careful to keep the yarn aligned as I am winding. That helps minimize tangles.

[goldi316]

Thanks for the ideas and commiseration, ladies! Today I received my long-awaited yarn ball winder - woo hoo! and I'm now itching to test it out... The instruction sheet that came with it was a real hoot too, I got a good giggle out of it:

 

1 FOR SETTING YARN GUIDE UP

 

1) Hold the yarn guide by hand

2) Turn it clockwise

3) Thrust it in over a boss positioned at the reverse side of the base until clicking

 

2) Keeping bobbin holder by hand, turn bobbin to left by another hand as far as it goes.

 

:rofl:rofl I'm not sure I WANNA know what they mean by "a boss" in this context! And I couldn't help imagining disembodied hands floating around (aided by the drawn diagrams no doubt!)!!!

 

Although this won't help with my current messy little ball of laceweight yarn, I have come up with a plan for the other ones that was inspired by an item offered at KnitPicks, called a yarn bracelet. After looking at the picture of it, I think I can reproduce it fairly easily, and it will give me a method to work with the yarn unwinding it from the outside inward and thus I won't have to remove the center tube from them. Interestingly, the instructions I was just chuckling over also recommend using the lightweight yarns from outside inward, which this idea will make possible - and, most importantly, my project will be portable! Imagine hauling a paper towel rack around with your project everywhere you go, lol! It might also help with future hanks wound on the winder too. This mind is working overtime to come up with solutions now!

 

I know my problem wasn't so much a matter of winding too tightly (if anything, it's almost too loose, actually), but of the uneven winding. Winding by hand, I found it almost impossible to neatly line the wraps up in a graduated manner, and I was all over the place in spots. This nifty little contraption should easily solve that one!

 

Okay, enough chattering, back to my crocheting!

[kayveryn]

gotta love engrish...lol!

 

 

love it!

 

kayveryn