The Answer Lady Innovative Ideas for Machine Knitters To contact the answer lady, use this new anti-spam e-mail address. Rewrite this address in the standard e-mail format with no spaces anywhere and the usual symbols for and and dot: kathryn d answerlady at hotmail dot com Return to Home Page MAKING CENTER PULL BALLS WITHOUT A BALL-WINDER COPYRIGHT 2004 Kathryn Doubrley, The Answer Lady. You may copy and share this if you leave the website info and copyright attached. Center-pull balls are wonderful for machine knitters, hand knitters and crocheters. They allow us to work up the yarn without tangles and interruption. Even machine knitters will find that well wrapped center-pull balls will knit smoothly if placed in large jars and set where you would ordinarily place your cones. This will stop the balls, which are lighter and less stable than cones, from rolling around as the yarn is rapidly pulled out. You can make your own center-pull balls from skeins, hand-spun or out of odds and ends and you don't have to have any equipment. Hold your left hand so that the thumb and index finger form the widest V you can hold comfortably. Make a loop in the yarn end and knot it. Slip the loop over your thumb. Wrap the yarn in a figure-8 around the thumb, then around the finger. Make about 20 figure-8's. Now slip your hand out. Fold the 2 halves of the 8 so that they are on top of one another. Slip your thumb into the new stack of loops. Now begin wrapping the remaining yarn loosely around your thumb. Angle the wraps up on one side for several turns, then angle the loops up on the other side. Do this by moving the hand with thumb that is in the center of the ball, tipping the hand from side to side. With a little practice you can get a very large, even ball. When finished, slip your thumb out and pull out the knotted loop and figure 8's that formed the very beginning of the ball. This will give you enough room in the center for the remainder of the yarn to pull out smoothly. If you are not ready to knit, leave the 8's inside the ball. Just pull out the knotted end and tape it to the outside so it won't get lost. Store the balls in baggies to protect their integrity. A variation that permits the construction of larger balls, not limited by the length of your thumb is to use a piece of 1" dowelling or broomstick for the winding part of the process. This can be done almost as fast as a ball winder can wind balls and places less stress on the yarn.