Coming Unwound This Christmas
Hand-winding hanks and skeins of yarn
Knitters everywhere are furiously knitting their way through the last minute Christmas gifts – while I’m still unpacking my yarn and knitting tools/notions and figuring out where or how to store it all in my new home office. In one of the knitting groups that I belong to on Facebook, there is an ongoing questions about hand winding hanks and skeins of yarn versus using a tool to wind your yarn.
Most hanks of yarn need wound or you are in for a world of frustration later on. Just last year my dad helped hold a hank for me while I hand wound it and told me of how he used to sit and hold yarn for my grandmother who hand wound her yarn before working on her crochet projects. As a kid she tried to teach me, but I didn’t have the patience to sit still long enough to learn how to crochet. Knowing that she hand wound her yarn, makes me feel a bit closer to her when I do the same. We lost her when I was young, so remembering her is becoming harder and harder through the years. I’m so glad to have something like fiber arts to share as a passion and feel a closeness.
I think the “debate” on this topic is silly and superfluous. This comes down to a personal preference and is totally up to you. Aside from the familial connection, I prefer hand winding my yarn because it creates a tighter, more spherical yarn ball verses some of the tools cylindrical “cake” shape. I also have a beautiful hand made yarn bowl to help unravel my yarn as a knit that was a Christmas gift – and I like to use it as much as possible, so I wind my hanks smaller.
If you like to quickly wind up your yarn, and without too much thought, then a winder is for you. If you prefer not to spend the money on another tool that takes up a chunk of space, then hand winding might be your preferred option.
How to Wind by Hand:
- Find the end you want to work with.
- Wrap it around your fingers a good number of times
- Pull the wound yarn off of your fingers and turn it perpendicular, and wrap until you feel it’s time to change direction
- Just keep turning and wrapping until you have a ball.
