Rolling balls

Have you ever had your yarn ball rolling over to the other side of the room while you're happily sat on your favourite chair knitting away? Oh! and the mess you find after you've got up and picked it up. All covered in dust and lint picked on its travel through the floor (unless you vacuum-clean often, of course).

Many knitters have thought of solutions to travelling balls. Here are a few I know of:
  • The cheapest, easiest and most versatile method: use one of those plastic bags that have a seal. Close the seal half-way leaving a hole that allows the thread to go through easily but keeps the ball inside. No rolling and no dirt either. Very nice if you take your knitting with you. Also, if you're doing colour work, you don't need one bag for each ball. Keep balls in one bag, and seal the middle area, leaving two holes on each side (you can also make it work with more holes). This will keep the yarn disentangled. You can also poke some holes in the plastic bag if it's sturdy enough.
  • You can buy a yarn holder. There are lots and lots of models, search for yarn holder on google images to get an idea. Ceramic yarn bowls are really decorative, but you can also choose to improvise instead of buying.
  • If you've got nothing at hand but yarn and needles: try to start knitting with the end of the yarn that comes out of the centre of the skein instead of the outside one. This is not always possible, but some brands wind their yarns in such a way that makes it real easy. Rowan is the one I've tried this trick with, and it works well. You can wind your yarn in order to obtain what is called a centre-pull ball, which allows the use of this technique.

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