[COLOR=“Blue”]
Last Red Heart label I looked at still had arrows pointing out which end of the skein was witch. And you could find the center end near the end of the skein if it was still (or tucked) inside.
They believe it reads something like …
<= (left) was the outside end, first pull and wrap around skein, then => (right side) had inside end.
I’ve been a bit of a snob toward Red Heart lately; I’ve just passed by with out a look or touch. :oops: [/COLOR]
While we’re on the topic of declines in quality, my last three skeins of Caron had weird tangled areas. One even had a knot in it that looked like two ends tied together so there was fluff sticking out of the knot. I’m so disappointed cause I really loved that yarn.I’ve had so much of it too 
I suppose I should write them to tell them about it?
If it was just one knot, that’s rather normal these days. Some of them have 3 or 4. I was on the second sleeve of a top down sweater for my GD and found a knot in the Simply Soft. I don’t recall there being any in the other skeins I’ve used, but that was a few years ago. Contact them and see what they say.
It wasn’t just one knot per skein.A couple had up to 4 areas of about 3 inches of yarn that looked completely mangled.It looked like it had been jammed in a machine or something. sigh I was on such a roll today too writing positive letters to online shops I recently bought from.
It’s a manufacturing problem that can’t be seen till you actually use the yarn so it’s not the stores fault. :shrug:
Oh well in that case, it’s a manufacturing problem, do contact Caron, the stores don’t have anything to do with this issue, they just sell what the company sends them in an order. Companies like to know about quality control issues because they want a good product out there.
Hi! :waving:
Just wanted to congratulate you on acknowledging the shops you bought from in a positive way. That’s every bit as important as letting them know if you have a complaint - maybe even more important!
About Caron Simply Soft - I LOVE that yarn, especially for afghans. In fact, I’m about to embark on my 6th or 7th afghan using it. My project has been to do afghans for each close family member. Only two left to go! Yay! And yes, I’ve found those little knots and some areas of mangled yarn, sadly enough, but I dealt with it because I like the yarn so much.
Caron, though, will hear from me about it. As well as how much I love the yarn. Thanks for the reminder.
Ruthie
Some yarns are much, much worse at finding the center pull than others but unless my yarn comes in a hank I won’t re-wind it. I’ll pull out the yarn barf and rewind the extra back around the skein. The last time this happened I was starting a pair of socks for my son and the yarn barf took me through 1/2 of one ankle length sock (1/2 way through the foot).
The knots coming up is really annoying and has been happening more often to many different yarns. Can’t say one brand is any worse than another. I just pray when I get to the knot I can keep it on the wrong side.
Mary
Ruthie, I don’t know how much this will help because I, too, get so frustrated with half of the skein pulling out when trying to find the start of the center pull yarn. What I do is, I stick my thumb and first finger into the center of the skein as close to the middle as I can and pull out the least amount of the inside as possible. Most of the time, the end of the yarn is in this small amount. Most of the time, but not always. I used to just go in and grab the blob and pull it out, then wind it around the outside, but it seems if you go in and feel around a little, it’s possible to find the end with only a few of the innards coming out also.
I agree that companies nowadays don’t seem to care about the quality of their product as much as the quantity. And customer service is a thing of the past in most companies. My pet peeve is talking to a computer. UGGHH!! Sometimes I’ll just talk jibberish until I get a human on the line. Computers don’t understand jibberish:) Doesn’t work all the time, but it makes me feel better.
Hi, Mary! :waving:
About the knots - I used to just knit them in figuring they were so tiny they’d just sort of magically meld into the project! This was so annoying when it happened on socks since a knot anywhere had the potential for creating a pressure spot that would rub.
Then I read about how it’s not good to just knit those little guys into the project since they could come unknotted so easily. Think about it - they’re really only very tiny with not much in the way of ends. I could really see how they could come undone with washing and wear. The solution was to cut out the knot and then work the yarns into the project just as you would if you were adding another ball of yarn. Then you’ve got ends to weave in and have some assurance that your hard work won’t evaporate on you if one of those little knots decides to unravel.
The Russian join is a good one (there’s a video here on that and it’s a hoot to do, but so worth the effort) or whatever join you normally use rather than just knitting it in where you’ve got a little time bomb on your hands (or feet! :roflhard: )
Anyway, thanks for responding and I hope this helps!
Happy knotless knitting!
Ruthie 
This is SO funny! I’d love to hear a tape of you jerking the computer answering system around! It would probably make a great You Tube clip! 
Keep it up! Anything we can do to annoy the computers, and the people who inflict them on us, is OK in my book! 
Ruthie
The ‘no knots’ rule is rather flexible, not something to be avoided in all cases. My knots stay better than just weaving in the ends, and knitting with both ends for a few stitches makes them too bulky. And a couple times when I tried ‘spit splicing’ they didn’t stay at all - would rather use knots. When I find one in the yarn, I pull it a bit to see if it’s going to stay better that the ones I make. I’ve been meaning to try the russian join one of these days.
Usually the automated systems will send you to a real person if you just say clearly “I want to talk to a person”. 
And some of them have the “0” button send you to an operator. On occasion, I would actually prefer the automated system: such as scheduling doctor’s appointments for something embarrassing!
Thanks so much for talking about what to do when you have knots in the ball… I was just searching for pulling from the center or outside :knitting: and I love the way this thread changed course.
I prefer to center pull when I can because it stays in one place and doesn’t roll or bounce around. As for a tangled mess in the middle… usually, I don’t have to pull out too much- about a quarter-sized globe at worst and that’s knitted up pretty quick. After getting that first little mess out, there’s no other problems that I find. Maybe it’s the yarns but I don’t know… I use anything from the nice, expensive stuff, to lionbrand and even red heart. It all depends on what I’m doing and what the person wants, really.
A couple years back, I bought some of Caron’s Simply Soft Eco. I had gotten several skeins of this pretty blue color. Well, the pretty blue color had ALOT of knots in it. And when I would go to buy another skein of it, I would usually run into the same problem. Finally I got fed up with it, and sent Caron an e-mail about the problem that I was having. They ended up sending me a box of I want to say 5 or 6 skeins of the yarn. Later on I went to crochet my gf a blanket with the yarn, and there were still problems with the yarn that they had sent me.
I guess it was just a problem with the machinery or whatever they use to wind the yarn up. But my point is, I know how frustrating it is.
Normally, I unravel the yarn and just wrap it into regular yarn balls. My Dad taught me to do that when I was younger, in order to avoid the problems of it getting tangled when you’re knitting or crocheting. This is what I had done with the Caron yarn and when I went to unravel it from the skein, ran into the problems.
I’ve also had numerous problems with getting knots in Red Heart yarns. Maybe it’s just me??
At Walmart the other day, a lady asked me if I knew the secret to getting the yarn to come from the middle of the ball. I told her that I never worry about it. I just place a bowl on the floor and it unwinds very well… no tangles, no rolling around… and best of all no ceaseless searching or tearing your yarn balls apart!
I do love big bowls! 
TEMA
I would love to do that but all my big bowls get used in the kitchen… just about every day lol Today, it was carrot cake and probably in a few days, it’ll be pumpkin bread…
I bot a lovely big bowl just for my knitting at ValuVillage but any secondhand store could offer you big bowls for next to nothing.
TEMA:thumbsup:
:yay: i feel your pain! there is almost nothing better that getting a clean center pull ball of yarn. but as this almost never happens i just end up making my own center pull ball, just makes life easier if i do:knitting:
[COLOR=“Navy”]
I bet it only happens when a machine has been spinning a very long time and has gotten too dizzy. Then it makes skeins with yarn barf in the middle just waiting for the unsuspecting knitter like you or me. :roflhard: :roflhard:
I often wind my own center pull ball (or cake) but I don’t own an official nostepinne. I make my own from cardboard tubes, plastic center from a register tape mounted on a carpenter’s pencil, two fingers of my left hand, or just what ever I find handy.[/COLOR]