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! :)

toomuchreading

One other thing to avoid the yarn barf is to not handle the skein a lot like untwisting it then twisting it back up, separating the ends, etc.  I watched a friend try to check out the colours on the inside of the skein, passing the end threads back and forth.  Guess what? Instant yarn barf.  Laughing all the way, it took us over 4 hours to get it untangled and wound up working from each end.  A good tip is to handle a skein as little as possible, and as soon as you do, wind it into a ball.  The less handling and disturbing of the skeins structure, the less yarn barf you have.

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.

TestKnit

toomuchreading replied at 2025-7-14 20:23
The yarn barf just takes time and patience.  To avoid it in the future, a skein winder helps.  Witho ...

I'll try it with the back of a chair next time, as I do not own a skein winder. Also, my grandma laughed a lot when I told her what happened; told me she used to wind up skeins with the help of her best friend. Perhaps my partner will have to sit with me for a bit and help me out next time! XD

TestKnit

sillinesscom replied at 2025-7-14 20:11
It's actually not that long to wind up a ball from anew! but definitely don't carry the barf on publ ...

I finally managed! For all the stress it took to unwind it, it felt like a full day at a spa to finally have it neatly in a ball XD

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

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!

chibipopsicle

Honestly once this happens I just take a deep breath. I take my time winding it back. Sometimes this means just taking a break from the yarn until it works. Good luck!

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.

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

bugcanyon222

I slowly untangle as I go :)

lxfemjl

Classic yarn barf struggle...