Annoying ~ Working yarn constantly gets twisted

knitqueen · 08-26-2005, 01:12 AM

I don't know if I'm the only one that has this problem. My working yarn ALWAYS gets twisted around itself...hope you know what I mean. So every now and then, I stand on the coffee table, hold my ball of yarn up and dangle my work so it can unwind itself

:rollseyes: . That sounds really dumb, and it is!! It's driving me crazy. This is how bad it is. I'm making Marnie's pismo hat right now. It has a CO of 150 sts and I seriously could 'unwind' my yarn (as I described above) after EVERY round. I don't know if it's how I hold my yarn, how my yarn is wound.....I've tried re-winding the yarn into a ball, I've tried leaving it and working from the skein as it is, nothing seems to help. Strange thing is I don't remember having this problem when I first started knitting, at least not this bad.

Can anyone help???

misstialouise · 08-26-2005, 06:26 AM

I found that knitting 'english' style caused this a lot.

Since I switched to Continental style, I don't get it, pretty much ever.

I think it's the motion of 'throwing' the yarn that helps the twisting proces..

knitqueen · 08-26-2005, 06:33 AM

Well I just looked at the videos for English and Continental, and I don't think I really do either! :thinking: I don't really 'wrap' the yarn around my fingers at all. When I'm knitting, the yarn just stays in the back of the work and I've gotten this rhythm down whereby I can just lift the yarn with my middle finger and bring it up and around to complete the stitch. Maybe if I practised actually wrapping the yarn, I wouldn't have such a problem. Probably each time I lift the yarn to knit a stitch, I twist it a little bit, and by the time a row or a few rows are done, then yarn is so messed up.

KellyK · 08-26-2005, 12:32 PM

Where do you keep your yarn ball? Im just wondering if its getting twisted in the unwinding process? Maybe if you let your ball roll around freely in your knitting bag & just pull it out by the strand, it will untwist on its own?

I knit english and dont have this problem.

Silver · 08-26-2005, 12:55 PM

It will also make a difference if you're pulling from the center of the ball or the outside.

Ingrid · 08-26-2005, 02:01 PM

I don't think knitting style will do it. I knit with my right hand and flick the yarn over, kind of like you describe. I've read about people having the same problem, but I don't recall there being any particular reason or solution.

That said, I would suggest that you do try to wrap your yarn around your hand just to see if it makes a difference.

JLC · 08-26-2005, 02:45 PM

My yarn does the same thing. I was thinking it was probably because I'm left handed and even though I knit right handed, I figured I was twisting the yarn or something. It doesn't usually bother me. I've gotten used to it and it just became second nature to untwist every few rows.

brendajos · 08-26-2005, 02:52 PM

yah i use to do a strange continental/english combo sorta knitting and my yarn twisted all the time. I have since changed that and don't have the problem quite as much. however when i knit with two strands i always have to stop every few rows and untwist. i just think it is a combo of the yarn and the way it is held and movement...etc. change one variable and it will be completely different i would guess.

feministmama · 08-26-2005, 02:53 PM

This only happens on some yarns for me. I can't remember which ones though

Rennagayle · 08-26-2005, 02:59 PM

It's funny you brought that up, because I just began having that problem this week. I was doing the same thing, standing on something so I could let the yarn/project dangle and spin until it was untwisted. I've never had it happen before now, though. I assumed it must've been the yarn I was using, but then it also began happening with another yarn, which I have used before.

It is very annoying! :?eyebrow:

I forgot to mention that I was keeping my ball of yarn in a zip loc bag at the time, too.