skein of yarn - how the hell am I supposed to get into the thing?

[jeangenie]

I bought a big skein of yarn at Ally Pally and want to start my tea cosy but I can't find the end and am scared I'll knot it all up if I go madly uunravelling - is there a knack I need to be made aware of?
also, is it best to roll the thing into a ball one (IF) I find the end? (never thought of these complications when I bought FOUR of the damn things!)

[screaminghousewife]

You too, huh? Will be watching this with interest, as I got 3 hanks too. (Waves enthusiastically)

[GreebosWhiskers]

Can you untwist it & do you have someone who's willing to spend a half-hour sitting with their arms held out? If so get them to hold arms about a foot (or whatever will fit your skein) apart, loop either end over a hand & wind it into a ball, slowly & carefully.

btw am very at anyone who managed to go & at anyone who brought home lots of lovely yarn.

[screaminghousewife]

Ah GW, shall we organise a great big mn day there, next year?

[jeangenie]

Thanks GW, DH is out so I did it alone and ended up with a writhing mass of knots taking over the living room floor. had to break it a couple of times and have ended up with three separate balls. But ready to get on with the TC now, finally.
These skein things should come with a health warning!
good idea about next year SHW
what did you get? I got some chunky blue faced leicester from a woman who made me very at her tales of dying the yarn in the converted barn and dreaming up lovely patterns in her spare time
also got some handpainted super chunky from hipknits

[screaminghousewife]

Bought some lovely fine silk hanks from the knit witch, which was one of the only yarn traders I'd never heard of. Think she thought when I forthrightly said 'Why have I never heard of you'. Had a very long chat there with one of the women who was a crochet fanatic. Would love to see that tea cosy jg.
And of course thank you, without you, wouldn't have gone.

[GreebosWhiskers]

I would love to have an MN day there next year

ds is 11 months now & I couldn't bring myself to leave him for any length of time just yet (especially as he's still bf lol) but have already informed dh that he's gonna be babysitting next year so I can go.

[RubberDuck]

Don't do what I did and try and use your legs/feet to hold the skein while winding... it doesn't really work and you end up with really bad cramp

[screaminghousewife]

There you go then, I'm up for it, jg is up for it. And you. You'll love it, we can all be overwhelmed together.

[jeangenie]

oh rubberduck that is exactly what I started off doing (having cast on half my stitches before I realised knitting with the skein over my shoulder wasn't actually going to work) and I really got myself in a bad twist
have just about recovered now (having calming cup of tea helped)
will post a pic of the tea cosy when finished - should be very cute if I manage to do all expected of me (strange loopy stitch at the top that I haven't quite figured out yet)
if evry cute I may even twist my own arm into buying new tea pot for it to grace
think I saw the knitwitch SHW, beautiful stuff - what are you planning to do with it?

[screaminghousewife]

Crochet bag, I think, I could probably get a small top out of it, but am not sure that it's the colour I would wear in a great big block iyswim.

[warthog]

you've got to untwist the skein. basically they just wind it round in a huge loop, then tie the ends round the yarn, twist it tightly and tuck it in. hope that makes sense...

so you need to wind it into a ball cos knitting directly from the skein definitely won't work.

-unhook the twist
-find where they've tied the yarn and cut / untie the knot. there are usually two places they've done this, the beginning and the end of the yarn.

• try and work out which is the beginning (inner) thread and which is the outer and start using the outer thread to wind into a ball.
  
  my method is to hold the skein in one hand and unravel it with the other just allowing the yarn to fall on the floor in a pool. once unravelled, wind up into a ball.
  
  hth, although it sounds like i'm too late...