No one told me about yarn knots!

[Cattrah]

Okay so I've been browsing around for some time now. I guess I kinda figured this would be a normal problem butI hadn't read this anywhere. I'm working on my first sweater vest and as such had to buy more than one or two balls of yarn to complete it. Joanns was having a super clearance on some bulky yarn, called Life I think. It looked nice, felt nice and I figured .75 a ball was worth it for a first time "real" project so I stocked up, 10 balls, didn't care about dye lot though since the whole project was a bit experiemental. Anyhoo, I'm knitting knitting knitting and I come to a knot! Not like a tangle but the yarn is two stranded and one of the strands was knotted together and then twisted with the other non knotted strand. It's like they ran out of length and then just tied a knot to get more length. I dunno that seemed really peculiar. Later on I ran into a couple other bigger knots where the whole peice of yarn was tied together. I had no idea that would happen, I figured like quality control or something would prevent a single skein from not being a single continuous string of yarn, apparently not in this brand. Is this common? I've only knit 6 balls and found knots in three of them. Regardless except for one spot the knots all ended up on the wrong side of the work so I didn't really care, but what do you do, break the yarn and make a regular join as if you were starting a new ball? So peculiar.

[CarmenIbanez]

Yeah, it happens. I have had it happen in cheap yarn, expensive yarn, whatever! I just cut and pick up again like I'm joining a new ball. It sucks, but it doesn happen!

[aylaanne]

I've had that happen before too, with cheap and expensive yarns alike. Sometimes I cut and add, sometimes I just knit the knot in like it wasn't there. it depends on the project for me.

[miccisue]

I've had it happen, and I just keep on going. With that said, most of my projects have been "practical" ones and very simple. For example, scarves and lapghans. I figure that even though I was giving them as gifts they were going to get a lot of use but not to the point where the knot was going to make them an embarrasment to use (how much do you care if there's one of those knots when you're cuddled under the blanket on the couch? ) Also, sometimes it kinda ends up more on the wrong side of the work so it's not so noticeable on the front (if that makes sense).

Now, if I was making a sweater or something like that I'd do the cut and knit. I think it all depends on how much the knot is going to bother you.

I've also run into places in the skein where it looks like there's a giant hairball (for lack of a better term)....that bugs me more than the knots do.

[aylaanne]

I've also run into places in the skein where it looks like there's a giant hairball (for lack of a better term)....that bugs me more than the knots do.

Do you mean yarn barf?

[Nikki]

A tip I learned here: If you have a winder, rewind every ball, skein or hank. At least you know that you have then.

[miccisue]

Originally Posted by miccisue

I've also run into places in the skein where it looks like there's a giant hairball (for lack of a better term)....that bugs me more than the knots do.

Do you mean yarn barf?

Yeah, I guess so....I thought a "yarn barf" was when you pulled on the yarn you were using to knit and a huge glob came out of the center of the skein, and you had to unwind that hideous mess.

[Stiney]

I've had it happen, and I just keep on going. With that said, most of my projects have been "practical" ones and very simple. For example, scarves and lapghans. I figure that even though I was giving them as gifts they were going to get a lot of use but not to the point where the knot was going to make them an embarrasment to use (how much do you care if there's one of those knots when you're cuddled under the blanket on the couch? ) Also, sometimes it kinda ends up more on the wrong side of the work so it's not so noticeable on the front (if that makes sense).

Now, if I was making a sweater or something like that I'd do the cut and knit. I think it all depends on how much the knot is going to bother you.

I've also run into places in the skein where it looks like there's a giant hairball (for lack of a better term)....that bugs me more than the knots do.

I'm different, I guess...I always cut and rejoin, but I would especially do it on something like a scarf or blanket that has no wrong-side!

[aylaanne]

Originally Posted by aylaanne

Originally Posted by miccisue I've also run into places in the skein where it looks like there's a giant hairball (for lack of a better term)....that bugs me more than the knots do. Do you mean yarn barf?

Yeah, I guess so....I thought a "yarn barf" was when you pulled on the yarn you were using to knit and a huge glob came out of the center of the skein, and you had to unwind that hideous mess.

That is what yarn barf is, I guess I was just trying to figure out what you meant by "hairball".

[stagebear]

for me, it depends on what i'm doing and how big the knot is. for instance, i was able to hide small knots in a garter stitch blanket and a sinful ribbed scarf, but would never attempt it in st stitch.