Yarn barf

TestKnit

Imagine this: You've bought this wonderful fingering weight, 150 grams of your favourite cotton yarn. It has to be around 550 meters. Excited, you go to unwind the skein, already thinking of casting it on to make a swatch, and then... you accidentally pull too hard... and get the worst yarn barf ever. I'm not kidding, it's all in a tangled mess XD How do you unwind skeins? I swear I made a huge mess in a second!

I now have to slowly get it into a neat ball. Send a troop for help, and some show recommendations! :)

Crochetguy99

I never fix the yarn barf right away unless I have a lot of colour changes. If its just one colour I crochet and then slowly untangle it as I go. Definitely the harder method :lol dont be like me LOL

bugcanyon222

I slowly untangle as I go :)

DMCrafter

Crochetguy99 replied at 2025-7-10 19:45
I never fix the yarn barf right away unless I have a lot of colour changes. If its just one colour I ...

Exactly I do the same.

lxfemjl

Classic yarn barf struggle...

TestKnit

Love to know everyone else struggles with this! I thought I was a bit dumb for unravelling it in such a messy way... It's comforting to know then that it's a normal struggle!

tooty

I like to untangle it before I start making anything with it or I will be annoyed the whole time! It is frustrating but worth it to get it out of the way.

sillinesscom

It's actually not that long to wind up a ball from anew! but definitely don't carry the barf on public transport

toomuchreading

The yarn barf just takes time and patience.  To avoid it in the future, a skein winder helps.  Without manipulating the skein too much, put the skein over the skein winder making sure the tension isn't too tight, and then wind your ball.  All my skeins get this treatment.  If I didn't have a skein winder, the back of a chair would do too.  A lot of yarn stores will wind your skeins into centre pull balls for you, but you will not be able to return the yarn if you bought too much.