What a tangled web . . .

[Twinsmom]

After using "cheap" yarn for years I have splurged recently on some more expensive ones. Love the yarns but they are in a series of loops instead of a skein like I'm used to. When I try to wind them into a ball, they tangled into an incredible mess. Am I missing some special yarn secret everyone knows but me?

 

On a funny note, one yarn was called "seduction". I told my husband I was tangled in a web of seduction . . . and that really got his attention.

[lizzy]

If you purchased the expensive yard at your LYS then you can ask them to wind it for you. Or they will show you how to it and you can wind it yourself in the store. I do it all the time.

[Granny Square]

By loops do you mean hanks? If so you can usually, hard to describe, unfold/untwist the loops into 1 long loop and put DH to work holding the loop between his outstretched hands while you wind the yarn into balls. Or, you can improvise by draping the loop over the back of a chair.

[smokeyp81]

I "unwind" my hanks by laying them out on the floor in a nice large circle. Then I find one end and stand over it and start to roll it in a ball. You do have to be very careful or you will end up with a tangled mess.

 

This site shows how you use a yarn swift and a ball winder to make the perfect "cakes" of yarn.

 

Good luck!

[losingmymind2]

If you don't have a swift, you can use the back of a chair or the arms of your husband. Some clever folks can do it over a knee, but I've never tried that one.

[LeahB]

What I have done with these is - as someone else has mentioned - unwind them into one large loop. Then, since I can't seem to convince anyone that it would be fun to help me, I prop my feet up on the coffee table, and use my feet to keep the yarn in order, much like others have suggested using a chair or a dh, as I wind the yarn in to a ball

[Ellie 13]

I did the "over the feet" thing once, but just as I got comfortable, rang! I let the answering machine get it, but it was my mom . So I got untangled and picked up. I tried to explain about the yarn and foot thing . Grandmother would have understood, I've helped her roll yarn a few times. I use skeins that pull from the center now. Once in a while I get RAOK'd with hanks, so I use a chair.

Ellie 13

[LeahB]

See, and here I thought I was the only one crazy enough to do the "over the feet" thing. It does work for me though.

[angieInCA]

I'm an around the feet kind of person too

[Krakovianka]

I have a VERY handy 11yo daughter who holds the yarn, and cleverly drops one loop at the time from side to side. Maybe I could rent her out?