Hey, I can do that myself!

When I buy hanks of yarn I have to convert them from a measured amount of yarn wrapped together, bound with string and twisted into a small rectangular shape into a ball from which to knit.

A typical hank of yarn you purchase at the LYS

A hank of unwrapped and unwound yarn

As you can see from the photo just above, I would not be able to knit with this yarn because it will get incredibly tangled. So this hank needs to be converted into a ball. This can be done by simply slipping the unwrapped hank over your knees or the back of a chair and winding the yarn into a spherical shape rocking back and forth so the yarn doesn't twirl around and tangle itself. There are two problems with this technique. First, if you are doing a large project you can spend a good deal of time winding the yarn before you start knitting. (Delayed gratification is generally not a strong suit for most knitters) Second in winding yarn this way it comes from the outside of the ball instead of the inside. Thus, as you knit, the ball has a tendency to dance around because you are removing yarn from the outside of the ball. If you have pets (cats, dogs, birds of prey) or young children or persons who like to act like young children in your house, you can spend time retrieving the ball from them rather than actually knitting.

So, hank power users, like LYS owners, will often buy a swift and yarn winder to address both problems. The swift serves the purpose of your knees or back of the chair, only it twirls keeping the tension perfect for making a nice ball, so you don't need to rock back and forth.

The classic yarn swift

The yarn winder is a mechanised way to wrap the yarn, always with a centre pull, which means no more dancing balls of yarn.

See how the yarn is threaded at the centre - allowing for that centre pull

Being a relative novice with hanks and someone who is buying more and more hanks, I thought I'd have to make an investment in this equipment. (Now you might be asking if my LYS has this stuff why not wind your yarn there. Well, if you purchase your yarn at your LYS they are more than willing to let you use it, if not, they are less interested or not interested at all which is totally understandable since the equipment is meant to be used by customers.) I took a long pause when I found a good winder would cost about $25 and the swift about $75. This motivated me to find another solution because I could use that $100 to buy more yarn! And I found several ways to get what I wanted. Look here to find different techniques:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx8kfwPCnJM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LglqfKZIuZ4

http://salihan.com/2010/wind-a-centre-pull-ball/

http://birdsnestknits.typepad.com/birds_nest_knits/2006/02/how_to_wind_a_c.html

I picked my favourite method and practiced making these two balls of yarn

My centre pull, hand wound balls

Although I haven't completely solved the first problem, I will have to spend more time winding my hanks I saved myself about $100. Isn't the Internet wonderful!

Anatomy of a Sock

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