making skein into a ball

[Puddinpop]

Hi everyone. I am just finishing my first set of socks. I bought a skein for the next pair. From what I read, it sounds like I need to form yarn in a ball. Is this correct? The socks I am working on now came from yarn that was already in a ball, but this is a skein. If I am correct, what is the best way to do this? Thanks for any help.

[Simply_Renee]

If it's in a skein, you don't have to ball it. If it's in a hank- like a twist that untwists into a big loopy thing- (I am sure you've see in a movie or show someone holding yarn across their hands while someone else winds it up- that's a hank-) then you need to wind it into a ball or it will tangle.

Here is a link on winding a ball
http://goddess1.typepad.com/i_hide_y...pull_balll.pdf

[Jan in CA]

The only yarn that HAS to be wound is yarn that comes in a hank. A hank is the one that just looks like a big twist. If it's a skein you can just find the end that's inside or outside. It's up to you though.

Amy has a video here in KH for winding a center pull ball, too. That's where I learned. It's toward the bottom of the link.
http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/knitting-tips

[suzeeq]

People call yarn `skeins' for yarn that's already a pull type skein, as well as for a hank that's a skein in a twisted loop. If it's a nice compact `thing' you don't need to rewind it.

[Cirrus]

I just wound a hand into a ball following the directions on Amy's video, and it worked very well.