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Some knitters and crocheters prefer to work from a center-pull ball of yarn, but if you don’t have a yarn winder and swift you might not know how to make a center pull ball by hand.
It’s actually pretty easy to do and a great way to store yarn if you’re not ready to knit with it, too.
What is a Center Pull Ball?
A center pull yarn ball is just what it sounds like: a ball (or other shape) of yarn that you can pull the yarn from the inside rather than from the outside.
Some skeins of yarn you buy can be pulled from the center — some even have a little tab or have the inner tail end sticking out to make it easy to find. (Others might produce a giant mess of yarn when you go hunting for the center yarn; I call this yarn barf.)
Yarn sold as a cake, which is the technical term for the sort of flattened ball shape, can also be pulled from the center or the outside.
When you wind yarn from a hank (the big loop of yarn sold twisted on itself), you can wind it into a ball where only the outside yarn is accessible, or you can make a cake if you have a ball winder and swift.
If you don’t have those tools you can also make a center pull ball by hand.
Why Use a Center Pull Ball?
If you’ve never worked from the center of a yarn skein or cake before, you might wonder what all the fuss is about. I like to work from the center because then the ball isn’t rolling around or needing to be manipulated a lot to get the yarn to flow.
Another advantage of having a center pull yarn ball is that you can work from both ends of the ball at once. This might be helpful if you’re knitting two sleeves or a pair of socks at the same time but you only have one ball of yarn.
It’s not at all essential to make center-pull balls or to work from a skein or a cake using the inside thread instead of the outside. But if you try it you may find you like it better than using the outside.
How to Make a Center Pull Ball
If you don’t have a swift, which holds the hank of yarn as you wind it, two chairs placed back to back can be used instead. You can also use your knees or have someone else hold the yarn in their outstretched hands.
The idea is to keep the yarn from tangling on itself while you wind it.
Open your hank and arrange it on your chairs or other device. Cut the thread that hold the hank together (one of these will also be the ends of the yarn.) Find one of the yarn ends. You’ll also need the ball band or another small piece of paper.
Fold the ball band so that it’s like a tube, with the bottom and top open but folded over on itself vertically.
Slide the end of the yarn into the ball band and through the other side. This will be your center pull tail.
Begin by wrapping the yarn around the ball band. You don’t want it to be too tight but it should stay in place as you wind.
As you keep going you can make more of a ball shape by winding around the bottom of the ball band, too. Just make sure you don’t cover up the end of the ball and where the yarn end is coming out, and don’t wind over that yarn, either.
When you’re done, you should have something that doesn’t quite look like a ball and doesn’t quite look like a cake. It’s a ball with an open end (and, right now, a ball band sticking out). This is why making a center pull yarn ball is a great method for yarn storage, because the ball band is right there.
Using Your Center Pull Ball
When you’re ready to knit or crochet with your yarn, just pull on the center yarn thread. The ball band will probably pop out as you pull.
If it doesn’t you can pull it out by hand and then you’re ready to knit or crochet with your yarn.
You may want to use a yarn holder to keep the ball secure while working with it. If you have a 22-pin knitting machine you can make a yarn holder in just a few minutes.
