skeins of yarn

[cam90066]

the thing that really gets to me is that I didn't even know I had to wind the damned thing

Okay. Altho I've been a knitter for 40+ yrs it's been my experience that most beginner knitting books (I use the lending service at my lib and look at them all....never know when I'll see something that piques my interest regardless of skill level) have info re: the difference between hanks, skeins, balls, which need winding, etc.

Oh, well. Perhaps you can spend an eve, or two, in front of the TV untangling the 'ball.' Takes a lot of patience (I've done it but not for the same reason). If you really want to salvage it hopefully you can.

cam

[brittyknits]

Jack-- thanks so much for adding the photos to the explanation!

Heidi, I'm totally with you on this. The person who gave me the $$$ yarn wasn't a knitter, and so didn't know to tell me, the shop where she bought it didn't say a thing and never offered to wind it for her (which many LYSs do), and there was as usual, nothing on the label. And I've been knitting for decades! Had never seen it before (also, wasn't buying expensive yarn before). This manner of selling un-wound hanks is newer, and there are so many small companies and fibre artists now dying their own, that this stuff is all over the place, in a way it never was 10 years ago. I called the manufacturer who told me that I "should have known". Unbelievable. It would be so easy for them to add to those labels, "must be wound" with a picture of a swift, or something. I mean, for goodness sakes, these days, a $1 cup of coffee at McDonalds has a this-is-hot warning label!

[suzeeq]

You can hang the loop over the back of a kitchen chair to wind, don't need a swift or anything that turns. I usually open mine up and put them over the sofa arm.

[heidikraut]

thanks everyone - I am going to unpick the thing and it's been a good lesson. It's so wonderful having this forum in the English language because I live in Germany but am not a german native speaker and although I speak the language reasonably well it's not good enough for these sorts of details. Thanks.

[OffJumpsJack]

heidikraut

Although I speak the language reasonably well it's not good enough for these sorts of details.

..nor for the subtle tones of frustration , perhaps?

BTW

Might be good to add "hanks, skeins, spools, cakes, and balls" to the initialism thread or to a similar jargon thread. Or just a ...

"How do you get your fiber?" thread.

Somewhere about, brittyknits posted a link to a UK & US chart of knitting & crochet terms.

"We say double crochet they say single crochet, Let's frog the whole thing off"

-- Jack

[heidikraut]

Rising like a phoenix from the tangled ashes of despair are 3 balls of silk yarn - it's much better than I expected and I've lost very little. However, my fingertips are flayed through all the working with the yarn and my eyesight will never be the same again. I'm sure there's some money to be made in turning this into a Nintendo game because the feeling of satisfaction for every tangle unworked was quite fantastic.

many many thanks for the advice and support.

[cam90066]

feeling of satisfaction for every tangle unworked was quite fantastic.

Congrats!

During the Olympics I spent an entire eve removing topstitched thread (ARGH!) on a sweater I was recycling so as to salvage several inches of fabric. Thought my eyeballs would literally fall out of my head. (Didn't help that the color was aubergine making it that much harder to see.) But, as with you, in the end, it was worth the effort.

Glad your yarn didn't go to waste.

cam

[Simply_Renee]

I'm so glad you got it to work out.

So you don't feel bad- I didn't know the difference between a skein and a hank (a hank is what you had- now you know!) and it was not in any of my beginning knitting books. At first I thought you had to wind a storebought skein (think Wal-mart) into a ball before you knitted it. In fact I think that was my very first question here.

Yarn Harlot (author of books & famous knitting blog) had a post where she saw a lady that just put the big loop around her knees and knitted off the hank. I even think she just piled it into a chair when she got up and picked it back up to knit. I would have a totally tangled mess if I tried it.

[LetsMakeCupcakes]

Just had exactly the same thing happen to me - on a plane!

I live in the UK and the only twisted hanks / skeins I've ever seen are tapestry wool where you cut bits off anyway.

My husband took me to New York as a surprise for my birthday so I went to Purl Soho - I bought a lot of four skeins which they wound for me but the group I was with we're getting impatient. I then bought one of another kind and stupidly said I didn't need it to be wound.

Took it out on the plane to start knitting and it was already falling apart - I found a knot, unfastened it and stupidly started knitting. Doh. After two rows, the entire thing was a screwed up bundle of loops and I guess I now have to unravel what I've done and try to untangle it - i tried feeding my wirk through the loops and unravelled about a metre in 2 hours. There are 135m left!

It's the most pricey yarn I've ever bought by a big margin and I don't understand why they're sold like this - what's so wrong with balls?!

[LetsMakeCupcakes]

I'm a bit surprised that some people are implying you're being stupid by not knowing this - I've read many knitting books and have never seen anything about this, but this is probably because in Eurooe / the UK, yarn is not sold this way. Maybe if I read a US book, it would mention it.

The only reason I said 'yes' to having the first lot wound was because I needed to pull from the inside and outside at the same time for a project requiring doubled yarn. I had no idea it was essential to wind it or manage it in some way in order to knit with it - again, if this is the case, why do they sell it like this?! It's beyond stupid.

Glad you sorted it - it gives me some hope!