Why, oh why, is yarn sold in hanks?

boyforpele13 · 02-13-2006, 02:46 PM

Is there really a good reason for this that I am unaware of or am I correct in my conclusion that it is some cruel and sadistic joke that we as knitters are forced to be the butt of? 880 yards of lace yarn + lack of swift/winder ensemble = 1 cranky knitter boy with a suddenly foul mouth. i hate to admit it, but there is a TINY part of me that enjoys handling the yarn i will soon craft into a fabric, kinda like we're making friends first, but NOT sufficient enjoyment to account for the trouble. please tell me there's a wonderful and intelligent reason that will make me happy.

Yvonne · 02-13-2006, 07:53 PM

I feel for you! I don't have a swift either, but I do have two kids who can sit on the floor holding the hank open while I stand above them winding the yarn into a ball.
I once left an open but unwound hank of KP Alpaca Cloud on the bed, only to come back to find hubby lying on the bed (and yarn) watching TV! I almost lost it..............

sogrammatical · 02-13-2006, 07:58 PM

I don't have a ballwinder/swift either. I tend to recruit a friend to help hold the hank - usually on our feet while we watch tv - and then I wind the ball up around something, which makes it easier to hold onto. I usually wind them around the handle of a hairbrush, but a skinny flashlight - like one that takes AAs - would work as well.

boyforpele13 · 02-13-2006, 08:01 PM

i'm too impatient to wait for a friend. must... try... new... yarn... NOW.

i'm using amy's center pull ball trick, which is working great and all, but 1 hank of lace takes like an hour! it's ridiculous! my kingdom for a skein!

brendajos · 02-13-2006, 08:06 PM

i gotta tell ya, even before i had a swift and ball winder i prefered working with hanks than skeins. i found myself rewinding them into a ball anyway because of yarn vomit from skeins. i would wrap the yarn around my laptop screen while i watched TV and talked to y'all and it worked great. not as fast as the ball winder of course but still worked well!

ChroniclesofYarnia · 02-13-2006, 08:37 PM

When you wind up a ball of yarn, it creates tension in the yarn. You should never wind up a ball that you aren't going to start using very soon, because it will all settle in on each other and when you pull your yarn out it will come out in big, tangly clumps.

One fix to this is to get an industrial ball winder (r large capacity), and wind it from the skein, and then wind it from the ball once more. This will give you a ball with very little tension in it, with no stretch in the yarn.

Ingrid · 02-13-2006, 08:53 PM

It looks prettier in hanks, too.

Ronda · 02-13-2006, 09:18 PM

Originally Posted by brendajos

yarn vomit

MaryB · 02-13-2006, 09:24 PM

Good answer, Ingrid!

boyforpele13 · 02-13-2006, 09:51 PM

it IS pretty in hanks, i will concede that. and it's kinda fun to try to get BACK into a hank when i can't stand the thought of winding.

yarn vomit.... fabulous. perfect terminology too. forevermore, i will make a BLEH sound when my skein spews.