Center Pull Ball
For over forty years, ever since I struggled to get the yarn out of the center of the skein of yarn, I considered a center pull ball to be the best option.
Center Pull Ball – Yes or No?
My current project is using yarn that comes already caked for me.
As is my habit, when I first started making the Tipsy Tile Scarflet, I deftly fingered the center of the cake and extracted a bit of a yarn-barf. I used the standard verification that I had the center by noting there was only one strand coming out of the center of the cake. Once I found the end, I started my knitting.
When I started working on the second scarflet, the cake was ready to collapse onto itself. Then I took the outside end of the yarn and loaded it on to my ballwinder. I created a smaller, tighter cake of yarn. But since I had already started the second scarflet, I was now pulling yarn off the outside of the cake. I thought it might get annoying with the cake rolling around a bit more than one where the yarn was coming out of the center. But I was wrong. It has been much easier to pull from the outside!
During this slowly evolving revelation, I was chatting with knitter-friend Doug. He happened to mention how much better pulling from the outside of a ball of yarn is. His Palm Springs friend Andy had convinced him of all the myriad of reasons it’s better to pull from the outside of a ball/cake of yarn. The two reasons I remember talking about are the structure of the yarn-ball and the over-plying/unplying effect of pulling from the center.
Regardless, I have to admit, I’m a convert. This old dog has learned a new trick.
Current Knitting
I’ve gotten up to almost the halfway point in the extended version of the Tipsy Tiles Scarflet.
The second photo shows the long color progression a little better (from blue to blue-green).
I’m glad I decided to test the extended chart. I’ve found two mistakes already. I have to tell you, I get a newfound appreciation for all the work that went into this design by simply inserting 160 rows into an already established chart. Nevets had to create this beauty from scratch while designing. I’m truly impressed.
Oh, Joe, I love you and you can pull your yarn however you want, but please remove the “of” after myriad. Myriad is a wonderful word all by itself. Love the idea of a scarflet!
So it turns out my original knitting teacher’s (I was in 4th grade) instructions for making a ball of yarn were right, huh? She had me start by making a butterfly by winding the yarn in an 8 between my index and pinkie finger. When that got too large I folded that in half and used it as the center of the ball, keeping my thumb on that while winding. As I went, I turned the ball around to keep it round while holding my thumb under the part being wound on. She said this way I kept the yarn from being pulled too tight and didn’t wear out the yarn by having it rub off itself. I tried using a nostepinne but didn’t care for it so have continued using my original method over all these years. After dealing with collapsing center pull balls when using the ball winder I started pulling those from the outside Sometimes, the old ways can be best.
I’ve always been a pull from the outside of the ball guy. Until recently, I didn’t know that pulling from the inside was an option. (I don’t use a ball winder.)
I avoid yarn barf pulling from the outside and I can pretty much tell how much yarn I have remaining.
It would be interesting to hear Doug and Andy’s reasons. Best wishes for more October.
Both “myriad reasons” and “a myriad of reasons” are correct today — a myriad of now appears in Merriam-Webster, Oxford, and American Heritage, and is accepted by The Chicago Manual of Style as well. Just like a ball of yarn, language unwinds in its own direction — and whether you pull from the side or say a myriad of, it all comes together in the end.
The from within the skein cake vs. without is the lovely sort of controversy I prefer, far more productive and fun than the state of our nation.
Look at the Alden Amos Big Book of Handspinning, and read pages 233-235.
He did a test of pulling 404 yards of the end of the bobbin, and found it only added .175 TPI.
Sure, there are reasons to pull from the outside, but the overlying/underplying effect is not going to be enough to notice in your knitting.