Knitting from a hank without turning to a ball

#1

I am making my sister this awesome poncho. we foound awesome yarn for a great price from knitpicks.com…

however it took 14 hanks. what i am wondering is …

is it possible or is there practical way… to knit right from the hank without turning into center pull balls?

i don’t MIND spending the time. but if you wise sage knitters have a trick i would love to try it!

i have 4 kids so my yarn usually can’t just lay on the couch and stay there… i would need some way to… put it up or whatever between sitting sessions.

thanks
naomi

#2

i would say generally no there is no way to do it. in order to keep it from turning into a mess of a knot you would have to have something to wrap around every time you are using it. best bet is to wind it from the beginning.

#3

[color=blue] YUP! That pretty much sums it up. How to avoid :wall:.[/color]

#4

so do you make your own center pull balls? or did you break down and buy a ball winder?

if so where? for the best deal?
heather

#5

well i hung out and waited to get the swift and ball winder from Joann.com when i had a coupon code. You can get the coupon codes at www.currentcodes.com You can’t use a code more than once but you can place separate orders and use different codes that have the same value (if that makes sense.) I got my swift from them for 50% off and bought my ball winder locally because with the coupons i had available at the time, the price to get it at my LYS was only a couple dollars more.

#6

I got one from Knitpicks for about 42 bucks. I thought if I bought it, it would magically make my hanks turn into pretty, no knot balls in a quick second. My ball of knots is still attached to my ball winder. I was told it all depends on how neatly the hank was wound. :doh:

#7

wow really? my lys (local yarn store)has her own ball winder… and she winders the hanks that i buy from her.

i have never had any trouble and LOVE them… but find i can make my own also that look almost as good as hers! :slight_smile:

i just found this…

http://www.knittingnotionsonline.com/index.php/action/category/id/1/

yarn swift. could i knit off this? what if i had dh make me one… and then have a stackable one… so i could have two hanks going at once?

thanks
naomi!

#8

well when i said you would need something to wrap it around that is essentially what i meant. i would guess you COULD do that but would that solve the problem of keeping little fingers off of it?

a lot of LYS will wind the yarn for you no matter where you bought it, and definitely if you bought it with them…just depends on your store.

#9

For making easy center-pull balls without a ballwinder, I wrap the yarn around the handle of a hairbrush. Then you can hang onto the bristles part and wind the yarn around and around. When you’re done, just slip it off and you’ve got this bagel-shaped center-pull ball!