How to Find the End of the Yarn in a Pull Skein
By Rachel Choi – 19 CommentsLots of skeins of yarn these days are rolled up so that one end of the yarn runs through the middle of the skein. Although it is sometimes easier to find the end of the yarn that is on the outside of the skein, using the end on the inside has its advantages. Using the center end will not cause your skein to roll all over the place when you crochet or knit and you will not have to put down your work to unravel the yarn.
However, the middle end of the yarn maybe be hard to find! Here are 3 easy steps to find the center strand of the pull skein:
- Insert your thumb and index finger of one hand into the center of the skein. Do the same with your other hand, entering it into the opposite side of the skein.
- Squish the skein so that your fingers can touch. Feel around to find the very center of the skein.
- Pull the center of the skein out with one hand. (you will pull out extra yarn with it, but the end of the skein should be there too)
Before you begin crocheting with the center end of your skein, make sure that the outside end of the yarn is visible too. Sometimes the outside end is tucked into the skein, but this can cause it knot up if you don’t pull it out before your start working.
Thank you for that bit of info. I like to use the yarn from the center. Some yarns will show you on the lable where to pull the center and on what side the outter end is. Some, however, will not show you and that’s when I get scared to dig into the center thinking I’m going to really tangle the whole thing and have a mess on my hands. So, with this bit of information, I’ll pull the end from the center with more confidence. Thank you so much.
My friend recommends always rolling a skein into a ball before starting. It takes a little extra time at the beginning, but since I’ve been doing it, I never get knots in the yarn while I’m working on a piece.
Thanks so much for this great tip! I still consider myself a newbie at crocheting even though I’ve made a few things now, but I always have trouble with this! I’ll be anxious to give this a try!
I purchased a ball winder and I love it but I still try to find the center end before I wind to keep from getting knots. So far I have luck with finding the center end on the OPPOSITE end that the outside end was tucked into. Does that make sense? For example, if you see the outside end tucked into the left side (as you are looking at the skein) then pull it out and reach into the right side for the center pulling end. Hope this helps and thanks again for all your tips. Happy crocheting!!
[…] Personally, I love pull skeins. Pull skeins are the skeins that have the yarn coming out of the middle. This is my favorite method because the skein doesn’t roll around and move when I crochet with the strand of yarn that comes out of the middle. Most major yarn companies, such as Red Heart, Lion Brand and Caron, wind their yarns into pull skeins to be sold. But if I do purchase yarn that is not in a pull skein, most of the time I’m too lazy to rewind it, so I just use it as it is. However, if my yarn is a tangled mess, then I’ll definitely rewind it into a nice pull skein. If you need help crocheting with a pull skein and would like to know more about the “yarn coming out of the middle” that I’m talking about, you can learn more about it here: How to Find the End of the Yarn in a Pull Skein […]
I used to always work from the middle of the skein but lately have had a terrible time with the yarn becoming all tangled up as I use it. So to avoid the frustration of having to stop a project to straighten up the mess, I have even had to use scissors to continue, I roll the skein up into a ball.
I hate it when I go to try and find the end of the yarn on the inside and I end up on pulling 75% of the inside out especially when I just need a small amount of yarn to finish up a project. Why do yarn companies have to make it so difficult these days? When I first started buying yarn when I was a small child, they used to labol the ends and even leave about an inch or two hanging out so you wouldn’t have to go digging for it . . .
I completely understand! I just end up with a huge mess of yarn, and I STILL can’t find the end!
Wow…thank you Tami. Your suggestion worked wonderfully! I looked at my new yarn and sure enough they had the outside tail tucked into one side and when I reached into the center of the opposite side I pulled out the other end with hardly any extra yarn. Thank you so much for this tip.
Thanks for the tip!! I’m an intermediate crocheter, but have always wondered if using the outside tail end was the best thing to do, because I have to stop and unwind the yarn from the ball to not have it tugging back at me.
Thank you! This worked and it was so easy!
Thank you, thank you, thank you 🙂
Genius!!!! Thank you for this information!
THANK YOU! I had a huge skein and figured I would try your suggestion.
The first time I didn’t catch the beginning of the yarn but the on the second try whoo hoo, I hit pay dirt.
I was a doubter, but you showed me the way, thanks so much, it really helps.
Would be nice if the yarn would come from stores already in a ball
So you don’t have to roll them up like that. I have trouble finding the end
On the inside of spool.I just deal with it!
Would you have any suggestions for tiny skeins we can’t get our fingers into, like Lion Brand bonbons? I tried using my crochet hook to pull out the center, but since it’s not my finger and I can’t feel in there I keep getting the inner sides instead of the center clump.
Hmm… I can’t think of another way other than the crochet hook like you already tried. Maybe someone else will have a good suggestion. The bonbons are so tiny, might have to settle for using the outside end of the yarn.
I’m using a bulky yarn. Does that make a difference? I can’t find the end. My husband has it now taking a stab at it. He’s not having any luck either. I think power tools will be applied next. LOL
Hi Alexis! The weight of the yarn shouldn’t matter. Sometimes some skeins are just harder to find the end in than others.