A friend recently asked me how and why I rewound commercial balls of wool with a nostepinne.
HOW: First, I wrap a bit of the yarn around a stone or something else that gives a bit of weight to the end of the outer strand. The photo above shows my weight, a small wooden block used for surface design. Next, I wind a few yards of yarn from the inside of the commercial ball onto the nostepinne. The wooden block wound with yarn is then placed into the bottom of a canvas bag with the commercial ball placed on top. After cinching the bag I begin to wind the yarn onto the nostepinne. The nostepinne helps to create an organized centre pull ball that unwinds with minimal tangling.
WHY:
- The strands from a nostepinne centre pull ball unwind in a more seemly manner and they don’t tangle up nearly as much while knitting as they do from a commercially wound ball.
- I get to see what I will be dealing with; if there are knots or thin or thick spots? Depending upon the length of yarn between knots I may spit join the yarn if the section is short or if I am dealing with longer lengths, I will wind the yarn into two or three balls. Often if the thick or thin spots are too noticeable, I elect to remove the section of undesirable yarn altogether and spit join the remaining strands.