Balls of wool

[daffodiltulip]

Why is it easier with some balls than with others to find the inside end of the yarn?

[ina]

Good question!

[Green Aura]

Another of life's great mysteries.

[doofaloofa]

I'm not sure I'm comfortable discussing my balls on a public forum

(PM me)

[ina]

Trust doofa...

[daffodiltulip]

What is the best way to get it out without bringing the equivalent of a small ball of wool with it?

[ina]

I've not found a sure way of doing it. At the moment, I'm using it from the outside (Jamieson's Aran wool) - the balls are not quite your standard ones and I couldn't find a way in at all...

[Odsox]

Maybe invest in a wool winder, pull it all out and rewind it to your own specification ?

[Green Aura]

I just rewind it starting a the ball end and shove it back in. No problem.

[The Mad Old Crone]

I read somewhere recently that it's all to do with whether the yarn is natural or man-made. Natural yarn is always centre pull but acrylic is meant to be used from the outside in. I can't remember where I read it and I'm not sure how true it is, but I've just been and looked at my embarrassingly large yarn collection (mostly donated by people who were going to throw it away ) and sure enough, all the natural ones pulled out of the centre correctly and all the acrylic ones pulled out a good portion of the ball. The majority of my stash is very old though (I've got some from the 1920s and 30s), so maybe cheaper production methods make them all hard to use as centre pull.

[ina]

Interesting.

Now, I usually use 100% wool - but for socks I use "proper" sock yarn, i.e. 75% wool, 25% acrylic. I am currently knitting with two different balls of that type; one of them pulled out fine, the other one didn't. Now - would a wool mix come out sometimes this way, sometimes not?

Life's too short to waste time worrying about that!