I’d like to take this opportunity to rant about a pet peeve that’s assumed very large proportions lately - center pull balls of yarn that don’t pull until you’ve got half the guts of the skein pulled out!
GRRRRRRRR.:hair:
I was setting up to do a pair of socks and it took me 20 minutes to untangle the two skeins of Patons Kroy Socks. And Patons isn’t the only manufacturer who seems to have a problem giving us a center pull skein of yarn that actually works. Either you can’t find the doggone center string and have to pull out a bunch of yarn and untangle it or you occasionally get lucky and find the string but then pull out a huge chunk of yarn that once again has to be untangled.
I’ve been doing needlework of one kind or another for over half a century (I started young! ) and I don’t recall ever having the problems with center pulls that I’m seeing today. Years ago the end of the yarn was in plain sight and when you pulled it it came out perfectly with rarely a snarl or tangle.
Am I the only one to remember this? Or do others out there recall a time when starting a project with a center pull ball wasn’t an exercise in total frustration?
My plan this new year is to let the offending manufacturers know that they’re shortchanging the needleworkers who use their products since I don’t believe in ranting about something you’re not willing to fix if you can.
But I’d like to hear opinions from others on here as well.
Thanks all, and have a wonderful new year! (Free from tangles and snarls!)
I don’t have a real problem if the middle pull out, I’m going to be knitting the yarn up anyway. Better than having it tangle up on the way out, then I have to pull a wad out and unknot it. But if there’s too much that pulls out, I wind it into a figure 8/butterfly skein and stuff it back in the center.
I use a yarn bowl when I pull from the outside. Keeps it from rolling all over the place. Or I use the ball winder and make a brand new center pull ball from the other one. I HATE the way that they make center pull balls and skeins. I’d much rather wind my own.
That’s called yarn barf. :teehee: Some skeins do it, some don’t. It’s annoying when I want to start knitting right away and have to fix it, but I figure it’s just part of the process. When it happens I do like Sue does…either butterfly it or center pull ball it and shove it in center of the skein. Sometimes I just wind my own center pull ball and have it done with.
So far I’ve had one skein that was hopelessly tangled, but I remember it being horrific about 20 years ago which was why I always grabbed the outer string instead. I only recently started center pulling again when my crocheting neighbor mentioned that it was easier these days. I figured that had been some improvement in the manufacturing process that made it better.
[color="#330099"]Finding the center end when it is buried deep inside the skein is :hair: in deed!
The yarn barf often happens when you have to fish for the center end, but it can happen on any skein. :nails: I find that it often is easiest to grab an end with each hand and gently pull apart. Otherwise pulling only from the end that returns to the skein is easier to untangle the yarn barf.
Another advantage to center pull (vs unwinding from the outside) is the yarn slides out smoother with less (tension) pulling. I read that the yarn has more time to relax from the winding tension, so it is less likely to be stretched when you knit with it.
If I need to work from both ends of a skein, I first free the inside end and start a small center pull ball with it. Once a tunnel is opened in the skein I put a dowel or long straight needle through the center of the skein and then let the skein turn like a roll of paper towel as I pull from the outside of the skein and wind a center pull ball from the outside end. I alternate winding onto each ball to keep them balanced in size.
When I get to the middle of the skein I put the the two balls end to end with the bottoms together. I then have a center pull from each end. Sometimes I wrap them with the original label or something similar.
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I just hate when I’m pulling from the center and it gets stuck because the yarn is like wrapped around the back side of the skein. That drives me freakin nuts.
I’ve taken to winding my own center pull balls no matter what yarn I’m using. It’s because of this yarn barf issue. The 20 minutes or so that it takes to wind a center pull ball is nothing compared to the length of time untangling a messed-up “barf” can be. I feel your pain.
once upon a time, i had a skein of Red Heart yarn, and there was a little red foil heart stuck to the end of the yarn from the center. what a great idea!!!probably why no one does it anymore!!! i like to do what someone else mentioned–wind my own or put the skein in a container–the plastic jars nuts come in are a good size. linknit41
Argh.I hate center pull balls.I cannot for the life of me see the advantage it over taking the strand on the outside with the way they always tangle internally. I always wind my yarn into round balls by hand instead.I avoid the rolling around issue by making a little niche for the ball in whatever blanket I have on me as I always have a blanket when knitting.
I will be trying the “flat ball” next project with a nostepinne to see if I like that center pull any better.
I HATE pulling from the outside. I much prefer from the center so my yarn sits nicely beside and behaves itself rather than rolling all over the place and picking up cat hair or having to sit in a bowl. :teehee:
Jan, “yarn barf” :roflhard: Wow, does that SAY IT! Thanks for that!
I see I’m not the only one who has a problem with screwy center-pull skeins. And I do remember a time when the quality of the packaging was such that it was rare to have a tangle come out instead of a smooth pull of yarn.
I don’t know what the change in wrapping methods has been but it’s so different now, almost as though we, the consumers, have to do some of the work of the companies we buy the yarn from. Something wrong with that picture, right?
It’s like a lot of the knitting books I’ve bought in recent years. The patterns aren’t apparently properly tested and are subject to serious errors, as are portions of the text. It’s not that unusual to find an explanation of a technique written up beside the wrong picture. Difficult when you’re trying to learn the technique!!! Then the consumer has to figure it out and fix it. Even when there are errata pages on the publisher’s website, it’s still up to the consumer to fix THEIR product!!!
So I’m going to put my foot down on these sliding-downhill standards and contact some yarn companies that I’ve had problems with, voice a complaint and find out what their position is. I’ll keep you all posted.
It’s not that the patterns aren’t tested, but in the editing process many typos go uncorrected because someone thought someone else caught them all. Many designers are just as dismayed as you are that their ‘babies’ go out there with so many errors that the publisher/printer should have caught.
You’re absolutely right. Once something leaves the hands of the designer to go to a publisher and then on to a printer anything can happen and a great book can become frustrating for the buyer to use because of carelessness and inattention to detail on the part of the producers.
But there are lots of things like that in today’s society. As a knitter I’ve got that peeve about center pull balls of yarn being so poorly wrapped, unlike those I’ve used back in the day. And knitting books poorly printed also.
It’s as though these producers are letting the public act as their “quality control” function. Put the product out there however you can slam it out the door and let the public contact you with what’s wrong with it. How many vehicle recalls have there been in recent years? Even novels and other printed material are showing up with more and more misspellings and gramatical errors. What gives?
So either I have a valid point or I’ve finally become “old lady Ruth”,
the one in the neighborhood who complains about EVERYTHING! Holey Moley! I hope not!!! :thud:
In any event, I’ll still contact some yarn producers to find out why they’re not “wrapped right”! I’ll let you all know what I find out, and vice versa if anyone else tackles them!
) and I don’t recall ever having the problems with center pulls that I’m seeing today. Years ago the end of the yarn was in plain sight and when you pulled it it came out perfectly with rarely a snarl or tangle.
I’ll let you all know what I find out, and vice versa if anyone else tackles them!