When I purchase a hank of yarn at my local yarn shop I sometimes ask them to go ahead and wind the hank of yarn into a ball if I plan on using the yarn soon. If I don't have the yarn shop to wind the yarn for me I end up winding it myself by hand since I do not have a yarn swift or a yarn winder. But the other day I was at Hobby Lobby and saw this handy little gadget called a nostepinne.
The cost of the ball winder or nostepinne was $6.99 but with my 40% off coupon it only cost $4.19 plus tax. So I bought it..... Love those 40% off coupons!
To use the nostepinne to wind a center pull yarn ball or yarn cake this is what I did:
First, lay the hank of yarn out in a circle on a flat surface and find the ties on the yarn hank. There will most likely be several of them. With scissors snip the ties off being careful not to cut into your yarn hank.... only cut the ties that hold the yarn together.
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Tie a slip knot.
Undo a length of yarn from the hank and begin to wind the yarn around the nostepinne an inch or so from where you tied the yarn onto the nostepinne rotating the nostepinne as you go along. It helps keep your yarn ball or yarn cake looking neat by keeping your thumb at the bottom of the yarn ball and your pointer or first finger at the top of the yarn ball. As you wind the yarn lay the yarn as close as you can to the prior string of yarn and rotating your nostepinne as needed. I hold the nostepinne and the yarn ball in my left hand and I wind the yarn using my right hand.
Continue to wind and wind and wind and wind! When you finish winding the entire hank of yarn into a yarn ball untie the slip knot and slide the center pull yarn ball off of the end of the nostepinne. Tuck your yarn ends under a few strands of yarn on the ball.
So there you have it!! A pretty little yarn cake or yarn ball!! If you aren't going to use your yarn immediately you can tie your yarn tag onto the yarn ball for future use or fold it up and insert it into whole created by winding it onto the nostepinne.
Why hand wind your yarn into a center pull yarn ball? Well, for one thing if there are any knots or breaks in the yarn you can take care of that at this time before you start knitting and happen upon it while knitting. Also a center pull ball allows you the opportunity to knit from either end of the yarn ball. This comes in handy particularly when you are working with several balls of hand dyed or kettle dyed yarns. And they stack so pretty in your storage container!
While I was outside clipping some of my hydrangeas to bring inside I noticed that my pretty yarn cake is about the same beautiful color of some of my hydrangeas.
Have a wonderful day!
Partying over at: Nifty Thrifty Tuesday, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways #82
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