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susansocker
Warming Up
51 Posts |
 Posted - 02/23/2006 : 09:39:04 AM
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I enjoy untangling yarn as much as knitting. I untangle yarn for my knitting friends. I always tell my friends that when I get really old and they need to put me in the nursing home be sure to give me a ball of tangled yarn to keep me occupied!
Susan |
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MissPooh
Angel
USA
640 Posts |
Posted - 02/23/2006 : 10:29:12 AM
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I like the feeling of accomplishment I get when I finally have solved the puzzle and there is now a neat ball of usable yarn. I don't go out of my way to create tangled messes, but when they happen I can deal with them calmly.
Mary Lou
"The reward of a thing well done is to have done it." Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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bogrady
Warming Up
Canada
68 Posts |
Posted - 02/23/2006 : 10:51:29 AM
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I HATE untangling yarn. Hate it, hate it, hate it. When it's time to wind a skein and if I don't have a willing victim to assist, I end up in knots - not easy to handle knots, but hard-core, swear-word inspiring knots. I've only cut out a knot once, but I have wasted too many hours untangling yarn when I really wanted to be knitting. Whew ... now I feel better getting that off my chest.
Bev |
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Yorkie Mom
New Pal
USA
16 Posts |
Posted - 02/23/2006 : 1:25:25 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by queenmaxine
We have three dogs. A terrier mix who has no interest in yarn whatsoever(the grumpy old man of the bunch), a MinPin, and a Yorkie puppy. No matter how carefully I put yarn away, the Yorkie and the MinPin have a yarn party at every chance. When the yarn party is over, or discovered, they have complete innocent looks on their cute little faces.
My Yorkie tried that when she was just a baby and got her little butt swatted, so now she just wants to LAY on the yarn while I am knitting! Once she stood up and put her little front paws on the needles and looked like she was trying to knit. I was giggling so hard that I didn't care that she almost pulled all of the stitches off the needle. They have a way of making you not care as much. Hey knots are fun for them to make and for us to untangle. |
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web3cats
New Pal
USA
8 Posts |
Posted - 02/23/2006 : 2:27:36 PM
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| Enjoy untangling yarn? Gawd, I'm just not that evolved, I guess. And I never knit in the same room as my 15 cats-who would get anything done??? |
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andielib
New Pal
17 Posts |
Posted - 02/23/2006 : 3:33:15 PM
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Y'all are weird, indeed. I will untangle yarn when necessary, but I do not enjoy it. I will say that I've never taken a scissors to a tangle, so I guess I'm more patient than I thought, but I certainly don't think of it as fun.
I have gotten rather decent at winding center-pull balls around a pill bottle, which tends to cut down on the number of tangles I encounter (less loose yarn rolling around the floor). |
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blueknitter999
Warming Up
USA
89 Posts |
Posted - 02/23/2006 : 4:33:54 PM
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Love you guys, but you're nuts. Untangling -- fun? I always try to stay calm and Zen whenever there's a tangle, but after only a little bit of time, I'm ready to put my fist through a wall. Maybe I need to work on my anger management...
Check out my blog: http://berrieh.blogspot.com/ |
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phlame
Permanent Resident
USA
1547 Posts |
Posted - 02/23/2006 : 7:41:17 PM
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I love this topic....I thought it was just me! I never told anyone, 'cause I thought they would think I was nuts. I will get to the point where I think....I'll just stop here and use what I have untangled, then I keep going until it's all finished. We must all be nuts! [crazy]
Shirley Ryan, living in Dana Point, CA
...and dance like no one is watching! |
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eclair
Chatty Knitter
New Zealand
320 Posts |
Posted - 02/23/2006 : 9:37:14 PM
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Ahhh, but for true Untangling Nirvana you have to spend time with kite-flyers. My best tangle was two stunt kites (two strings each) which had come down together into a thicket.
Four strings, two tails and a pohutukawa branch. Now THAT was fun!
Eclair
who is, admittedly, more than a little bit odd. |
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PatriciaG
Chatty Knitter
USA
290 Posts |
Posted - 02/24/2006 : 12:19:32 PM
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I like untangling yarn, but I dislike weaving in ends. I just learned the mattress stitch and I really enjoy that. Guess I'm weird too!
Patricia in West Sac., CA.
"How did I get over the hill without getting up to the top" |
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KrazyKim
Chatty Knitter
USA
240 Posts |
Posted - 02/24/2006 : 12:41:16 PM
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I can't say I love to untangle, but it is satisfing to untangle without having to cut. I do freeform and stash knitting, and I can use any length of yarn, so I have no problem with cutting yarn!
I save every bit. If it's a few inches, I use it to tie on price tags, or hang my hand-made ornaments. Even the littlest snippets can be sandwiched between chiffon and freeform embroidered for art quilts. Every bit of color counts! I have baggies of yarn scraps labeled just for making fringe flowers for embroidery (Judith Montano suggested this in one of her books).
And I do the dame thing with fabrics. At a scrap quilt class, a friend got so tired of me saying, "You're throwing THAT away?", that after the class, she just handed me over her trash bag. I saved most of it!
One thing I do love is making yarn balls! I like to drape the skein over my arms, and I even walk around while winding. I even love REwinding balls of variegated or transitional yarns like Noro. I have to see every bit of the colors available, so I wind from the outside to the inside and sometimes back again, just to get a look inside!
Kim, Playa del Rey, CA |
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R. Grant
New Pal
2 Posts |
Posted - 02/24/2006 : 3:02:40 PM
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When my husband's fishing line gets tangled, my experience from untangling Maanny yards of yarn gets the job done. I enjoy the success of a nasty gnarl unfurled
Knit-4-Life |
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BLN3320
Permanent Resident
USA
3808 Posts |
Posted - 02/24/2006 : 3:15:42 PM
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Untangling I don't mind. What drives me up the walls is when they tie the yarn. You know what I mean that little knot with little ends sticking our. Grrr!!!! Take care. Beverley 
Bev |
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jamesedwinsneed
Chatty Knitter
USA
191 Posts |
Posted - 02/24/2006 : 3:57:18 PM
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my hubby and youngest son enjoy the challenge. Though recently I got a major (!!!)tangle in a skein of Filatura Di Crosa 'Luxury' silk (a good purchase during a big sale at my LYS) that took 3 hours for my son (13) to undo. We will wind further skeins V E R Y carefully....
Gayle |
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addicted
Chatty Knitter
132 Posts |
Posted - 02/24/2006 : 4:04:14 PM
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IT'S NOT JUST ME????
It's like eating popcorn - has been since I was a kid. Yarn, necklaces, THREAD (when I used to embroider constantly)... now the 200 yards of slippery rayon that fell straight off the ball into a solid knot took a while, and several sittings (ok, I admit, in a fit of optimism I had just tried to keep knitting, figuring 'if it's that slick it will just keep moving.....' [crazy]). Will take scissers to garage sale acrylic... but then pass it on to my quilting friend.
I also have a strong preference for hand-winding over using a swift. I find just handling the yarn that much helps me settle into a consistant tension more quickly. Go figure.
- Nancy in Berkeley
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mcmircle
New Pal
USA
46 Posts |
Posted - 02/24/2006 : 4:41:38 PM
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I hate untangling yarn, but I become obsessed with it. For some reason, I have created tangles while winding the yarn into a ball. I have spent way too many hours untangling and have, rarely, given up and bought another skein.[whatever]
Michelle in Evanston
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ananda@anamimusic.com
New Pal
1 Posts |
Posted - 02/24/2006 : 5:08:53 PM
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Hi. New to the forum. I must admit I really enjoy untangling yarn. I also apply the same patience to necklaces, cables or anything that needs untangling, including puzzles. And when it comes to yarn, using scissors is unthinkable. It's a cop-out. It becomes somehow competitive, like "I can't let this beat me", and I can go at it all night. Alright, I know this is starting to sound a little OCD. But truthfully, I never thought it was weird, nor that I was crazy. I just thought I had a talent and infinite patience. Well, I am happy to know that there are others who share my passion and patience.
Ananda[meow]
The blissful Knitter
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jamesedwinsneed
Chatty Knitter
USA
191 Posts |
Posted - 02/24/2006 : 8:24:26 PM
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and another thing (probably another topic) I LIKE winding my own balls from the skeins. I've tried to figure out (!!!)why some skeins that I've wound knit out into blobs that need to be dangled and allowed to twirl to get the kinks out (does anyone else dangle these from ceiling fans [not turning at the time] to accomplish this?). I try to wind the skeins alternating my right hand and my left. I guess I must throw the yarn in enough of a different direction in this technique to correct some of the 'curl'.
Gayle |
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gottaquilt@webtv.net
New Pal
2 Posts |
Posted - 02/25/2006 : 03:43:39 AM
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| My mom was my knitting partner for decades. When I was small, yarn came in hanks so there was ample opportunity for tangles. Since she hated untangling, it became my job and I grew to really enjoy it, sitting on the floor at her feet, doing something for her that she hated doing. To this day, I enjoy the memories it brings back to me to sit on the floor and untangle a mound of yarn. |
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knitpicker
Warming Up
99 Posts |
Posted - 02/25/2006 : 08:06:45 AM
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| A childhood memory...I have taught myself to knit from a book. I have a big mess of tangled yarn. My mother's best friend, a neighbor, spent several hours untangling the yarn for me. Then she said, at least I got something done this afternoon. As an adult, I now realize she was having personal problems at the time. They used to keep each other company while one of them ironed. |
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