"What is the best way to hand wind a ball of yarn?" Well I have no idea, but I just happen to have hanging about the perfect excuse to experiment and find out!
Way back in my very early crochet days I decided to crochet a garment in absolutely the wrong type of yarn. There is no photo of this appalling garment anywhere. You won't find it on Ravelry or in the deepest darkest depths of my computer history - no it was that bad! I learn by making mistakes and since then I have learnt about creating drape and the importance of gauge swatches. I have learnt that you can't just swap out chunky wool for chunky 100% cotton!
Fortunately for me, my partner was brought up by a crafting Mother. He loves nothing better than de-tangling yarn and unknotting knots, so I gave the offending garment to him. This is what I got back!
These balls of yarn would be perfect for playing cricket, but not so much for crochet. The yarn has lost it's lustre and is no longer plump and luscious. So the first thing I need to do is transform it into skeins of yarn ready for washing. The ideal tool to use is a Niddy-Noddy. Sadly I don't have one and as I can't imagine I would use it very much, I can't justify purchasing one. But please check out these sold by the Provenance Craft Co, and also this meditative video of one in action.
My far less functional version of a Niddy-Noddy was two chair backs placed side by side. I couldn't help but post this photo, which one of my dogs decided to photo-bomb!
I started by loosely tying the yarn to one side of the chair. When I had finished I
tied each end of the yarn around the skein. Using scraps of yarn I
secured the skein in two more places. I have now learnt that you should tie the skeins loosely!
As I was dealing with cotton and there is no chance of shrinking or felting, I put my yarn as it was in the washing machine on a 'wool wash'. I didn't bother to place it in a lingerie bag or a pillow case. It held together very well and there were no tangles or knots. Had I been using something more delicate or costly I would probably have hand-washed it. I have also been told that it is possible to steam the yarn once it has been skeined to remove wrinkles.
Now here is the difference between reading about something or watching a video. I had somehow expected the wrinkles to have magically disappeared after being washed, even though I know that cotton blocks beautifully and keeps it's shape! Sadly no! Let's take a moment to talk about how yarn is made and what happens when we crochet. Most yarn is spun clockwise producing what looks like an S shape twist. When we crochet we actually turn the yarn in the opposite direction which is why our yarn has a tendency to split. Previously, when this has been explained to me, this is the point when my head starts exploding!
However I would like to share this video with you, which finally explained the problem (minus the exploding head!) The point I'm trying to get to, is that no matter what I do, I am never going to get this recycled yarn back to it's factory settings! (If you'd like to know more about how yarn is produced you might enjoy watching one of the John Arbon Mill tour videos.)
Having taken my skeins from the washer, I wrapped them in an old towel to remove as much water as possible. At this point I am supposed to hang them from butcher's hooks. I was wondering how much this marks the yarn. But having no hooks, I hung mine around the neck of some coat hangers instead. The skein then needs weighting to remove the wrinkles, so you can use a can or a bottle filled with water. It needs to be dried away from direct heat and probably not in bright sunlight! I chose to hang mine from the shower-curtain rail. I hung them at the point nearest the wall (where I hoped the rail would be strongest!)
Did it work and was it worth all the effort? I think it was, but I'll let you decide.
So having recycled the yarn, we eventually get to the problem I was set in the first place; how to hand wind a centre-pull ball of yarn.
To start with, the skein needs to be placed onto a Yarn Swift. I am lucky enough to have one. Alternatively place it onto the chair backs, or find a willing volunteer who is prepared to stick their arms out for sometime!
Perhaps you already have a yarn ball winder. I am on my second and I have found neither to be 100% satisfactory. Besides any other considerations I have to clamp it to a table and am limited to the size of ball I can produce. I was able to make it a 'centre-pull' but it is rather untidy. It also tends to be cake shaped. I have discovered that holding the incoming yarn in the position as shown above, produces a neater cake which doesn't run off the end of the winder.
When it is removed from the winder the centre collapses in on itself. I have seen people putting a card core in to stop this happening, but they are missing the point. We don't want to crush the life out of our beautiful fibre, rather we want to release the pressure! This is why those cricket yarn-balls aren't the right way to store yarn as we are removing all the stretch in the fibre and flattening the strands.
How do we reproduce this effect by hand? Well with a Nostepinne of course! This simple tool will give you all the pleasure you cannot hope to find in a plastic table-top ball-winder. Mine has a little notch at one end, for securing the start of the yarn for a centre-pull ball. Your ball will grow outwards in all directions, so take the yarn to the middle of the pin and start winding over a small area.
Begin laying down the yarn evenly, working first in one direction, then diagonally, slowly rotating the pin as you wind.
Once you have a stable core, take the yarn to the edge of the core and wind diagonally over the top, from one edge to the other, slowly rotating with your left hand.
When your ball is complete, tuck the end under a few strands of yarn to secure it and slid off the pin.
Tah Dah! One beautifully hand wound centre-pull yarn ball!
Should you not wish to rush out and buy yourself this satisfying tool you could, in a yarn winding emergency, replace it with the core from a roll of kitchen foil or similar. Cut a notch at one end to secure the yarn and proceed as described!
I'm showing you this picture again as an apology for how blue this post is!
Fastening Off...
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