Starting balls of yarn from the middle??

[PoppyPopcorn]

Bought some yarn recently on holiday in the States. Nothing fancy, just DK acrylic for knitting into blankets. Ball band gives clear instructions that the ball should be started from the middle which I did and it's been a nightmare, so many tangles and knots!

What is the logic behind this as it seems pretty pointless.

Eh? Do they mean that you pull out the start of the yarn, which is usually tucked into the middle of the ball IME? If not, then I'm as baffled as you!

When I used to do crafts, I used one of these:

www.woolwarehouse.co.uk/accessories/yarn-winder-with-oscillating-spool-centre

That meant that I could pull up the end of the yarn that was in the inside, i.e. the end that was the start of the winding, and the ball of yarn would stay put, rather than pulling from the outside where the ball would bounce around all over the place. That's especially useful if doing Fair Isle, for instance.

I think that either your yarn has been wound too tightly, or you need to find the centre of the ball and stretch the yarn outwards all round so the yarn doesn't get snarled up.

See the value of not having your balls bouncing around. As it were. I will disregard the instructions when using next ball though!!

I always work from the centre of a ball of yarn. Sometimes I do end up disembowelling the ball and I have been known to get a bit tangled - but I actually enjoy unraveling the knots in yarn so it's no great hardship.

I've never come across it actually suggested in a pattern though. Has it had an effect on the variegation? I would check to see if the colours are repeated in a certain order as working from the outside in may change the order.

Hah! have just noticed that underneath the picture it says you can start from the outside too. As you were....

I always to this - stops the ball rolling around until it gets sucked under the sofa aka a black hole from which nothing ever emerges

But I also don't mind untangling knots though

It is annoying when you accidentally pull out half the ball though

I always do this, it's much easier than having a ball of yarn rolling around!
Sometimes I do have a wedge pull out but it's usually easy enough to sort out.

I generally pull from the middle if I can. I've got pretty good at reaching inside and finding the right but, but I do occasionally get a yarn barf. Some yarns can only be use one way or the other, I used one recently that had to be used from the outside as it was a very soft twist and pulling from the centre would have gone against the twist and made it hard to work with.

I did it for the first time with my current WIP as it's a Caron Cake and I wanted to start with the centre colour not the outside colour. I didn't realise it was done to stop the yarn rolling around it's been a revelation sooooo much easier. Took me ages to find the end mind

I've seen this so many times in crochet/knitting groups I'm in, always Americans. I even bought some Caron Simply Soft to try it myself and it was working great until I got a massive knot and a chunk that came out in one gross clump. Never again. I just stick my balls in a bag to stop them jumping around.

Yep. Pulling the yarn out form the middle usually makes things easier as you use the ball up.

I'm another who likes to start from the inside, but sometimes end up pulling loads out before I can find the end. The picture you posted seems to suggest squishing the ball before starting, so I'll give that a try next time - thanks Poppy !