skein of yarn

Has anyone had a skein come apart so you have to untangle it? I have a skein of variegated yarn that I had started to crochet with a long time ago. I just picked it up again to crochet and had to untangle it a few times in order to crochet. I tried to find the other end and I found the end. Yay! I started to untangle the other end and have a small ball of the yarn but some of the yarn was through the 4ply yarn. I got that untangled but when I run my fingers over the yarn strand it feels like there might be a knot or maybe it just needs to be straightened. I'm going to have to use a needle to see if it's knotted or not. I'm going to have to untangle the yarn when I want to crochet on it.

Jean Marie

Yes, I have had to untangle yarn a lot. I dig through it and unwind until I find an end and that is used to pull through all the tangles. It takes time but if you want to use the yarn that is what you have to do.

My tangled yarn is some yarn that I have not used all of it and throw it in my yarn bin so it is my fault that it is a mess.

isn't this fun?

Spoula

Ha Ha. When I crochet I use the end of yarn that comes from the outside of the skein. The yarn from the inside of the skein is wrinkled. I probably not only pulled this variegated yarn from the outside of the skein but also from the inside of the skein and that's probably how it got tangled. Sometimes I'm o.k. with untangling yarn and then it gets frustrating and I lose the end and then find it again a few times. Sometimes I roll the end of the yarn into a ball as I untangle it and then I have to unroll the ball of yarn so I can pull the yarn through to untangle it. I like to just pull the yarn without rolling it into a ball to untangle it but sometimes I roll the end of the yarn into a ball to untangle it.

Hello Jean Marie,
I saw this post again and wanted to let you know something I found out about yarn pulling from the inside or the outside.

I just finished a little vest for my grandson and pulled the yarn from the inside of the skein that was worsted weight #4 it came out perfect and it helped me keep my tension the same.

I am also making a scarf for a friend and that yarn is also a medium weight #4 but looks like fingerling or #2-3 very small and soft but different. I cannot pull it from the inside on either end it just won't budge. So I had to use it from pulling the yarn from outside. This turned out to be not so good as you crochet big piles of yarn fall off and as you work they get tangled. I had to stop multiple times to make sure none of the yarn got into knots. The way the yarn was wrapped was the cause of it falling away like that. I am on my second ball of that same yarn and it is doing the same thing. I have always crocheted from the yarn on the out side but I must admit the one that I started with from the inside was much better to work with .

Has this ever happened to you?
Spoula

Tangled yarn....I hate it! LOL
When I was little and just learning how to crochet from my dad's "Madrina" (Godmother) at 8 years old, I was told you had to roll your yarn into a ball before using it. When she would make me do this, I thought it was a way to stall from her teaching me. But every project, she would make me roll the yarn into a ball. Ya know I never got tangles. But now I skip that part and just go right for the inside start. But it does tangle every time, whether the yarn is old or new. I suppose the old timers knew what they were talking about......Let's see my dad would be 102 if he was still here with us, So I imagine she would most likely be around 120-130 if she was about 20 or 30 when she Christened my dad . But will I wind the yarn in a ball before using it ...nah.... but I certainly will complain about tangles.

Hi Teri, I know that is the correct thing to do my mother told me to role in a ball also before I begin to crochet. I did not like doing it either. My reason is that in a ball I can't tell how much yarn I will have left while making a project. If I keep it the way it is I can determine how many rows I can finish before I change to a new ball as I do not like to add new yarn in the middle of a row. I know this sounds crazy but that is what I do. I just finished a vest where I used two skeins at the same time. One was from the center it came out perfect and helped me keep the same tension. The other the same yarn brand would not come out of the center so I used it from the top. What ever works is good for me.

I look forward to seeing some more of your lovely things you make.

Spoula

Hi Spoula,
I have crocheted with 2 yarns before but I don't like to crochet w/ 2 yarns as one because the yarn will twist and I would have to untwist the yarn before crocheting the stitch. And then after untwisting the yarn I can only crochet 2 or 3 stitches and then I have to untwist the yarn again.

Hi Jean Marie, I don't like twisted yarn either but I like to crochet and knit and I don't mind untwisting the yarn if it gets tangled.

Now if it is tangled and I cannot get the yarn untangled in crochet it doesn't bother me to start over but if I am knitting I don't like it. I don't know why but my hands get so tired knitting and starting over is not fun.

What were you making and were you knitting or crocheting? I like to see what you make.

The last things I made is Barbie clothes all 3 came out differen sizes as I don't have a Barbie doll and there are many different sizes out there who knew? Now my little one wants some clothes for Ken as he came from Santa only with a swimming trunk.

Spoula

Hi Spoula,
I mean if I'm crocheting with 2 different yarn held together as one yarn and I crochet 2 or 3 stitches then I can't crochet anymore stitches until i untwist the yarn. That's why I don't like to crochet with 2 yarns held together as one.

If you have a worsted weight yarn which is #4 and you want to make something with bulky yarn, would you put 2 strands together and have a #8? Just my thoughts, never seen it done before. You know like a super bulky?