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Contemporary yarn crafts by Heidi Gustad. Knitting, crochet, latch hook and macrame.

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5 Types of Yarn Ball & How to Work with Them

January 31, 2021 Leave a Comment

Sponsored by Knit Picks. Post contains affiliate links.

Learn about 5 common yarn ball types, what they're called, and how to work with them!

In your knitting, crochet, latch hook, or macramé life, you come across yarn in many forms. The most common and iconic of which is of course the classic yarn ball. As a maker, though, you notice things. At the craft store, in grandma’s attic, a friend’s boozy craft night – you might have noticed a few common types of yarn ball that aren’t exactly… well balls.

In this beginner-friendly (and family friendly save for the inevitable puns 😆) post, we’re going to run down the 5 most common types of yarn balls you’ll find and how to work with them. Because guess what? Some of them require another step or two of processing before you can comfortably start working from them.

What’s a “put up” in yarn?

In real life practice, many people are going to call a unit of yarn a ball of yarn. Whether it’s a spherical ball or twisted hank is irrelevant to most. Technically speaking, the average maker is actually talking about put up when they’re talking about types of yarn balls.

Put up: In basic terms, put up refers to the way yarn is contained for storage and/or sale, often involving being wound in to a ball, hank or skein. For teaching purposes, I find it useful to let folks know what put up is, but I personally use “yarn ball” almost all of the time to keep it simple.

5 Common Yarn Ball Types

0. Yarn Balls

First thing’s first, a good old vanilla yarn ball is not one of the five types we’re covering. I feel confident you know what this is. :)

Learn about 5 common yarn ball types, what they're called, and how to work with them!
Pictured: Kelbourne Woolens Germantown Yarn from Knit Picks

1. Classic Pull Skein

Colloquially, these are often what your average crafter would call a “skein,” pronounced SKAYn. You can work from either the center or outside of this type of yarn ball, though many makers prefer to use a center pull approach whenever it’s available. Sometimes makers don’t like to use machine wound skeins because of the risk of something called yarn barf.

Learn about 5 common yarn ball types, what they're called, and how to work with them!
Pictured: Lion Brand Wool Ease Worsted

2. Bullet Skein

For years, bullet skeins are something I thought of simply as rounder versions of classic, log-shaped pull skeins. Turns out, that’s kinda true. You can work from either the center or outside these just like a classic pull skein, but the shape is a little more like a football. The big advantage of bullet skeins is that they tend to collapse less messily than their classic counterpart when you near the end.

Learn about 5 common yarn ball types, what they're called, and how to work with them!
Pictured: Paragon Sport from Knit Picks

3. Donut Ball

Donut balls (a term I first encountered in this article) are a type of yarn ball you’re more likely to find at a local yarn shop than a big box store. They’re often used for smaller balls of yarn with finer fibers like silk or cashmere blends. (Often luxury fibers like these come in smaller amounts because their price point can be high and makers often use them judiciously.)

Learn about 5 common yarn ball types, what they're called, and how to work with them!
Pictured: Berroco Indigo Yarn

4. Twisted Hank

The first time I got to use a twisted hank, I shopped the clearance section at a local yarn shop, and I almost didn’t buy it because I thought I’d have to enlist the help of a pair additional hands to hand wind it into a ball.

Yarn hanks are common at local yarn shops, and can come in thickly tied bundles or noodle-looking twisted varieties. Before knitting or crocheting with these, you’ll need to wind them into a more useable ball. Yes, you can untie a hank, drape it over a chair back, and work your shoulders tired winding into a spherical ball. More commonly, makers use two special tools called a swift and a yarn ball ball winder to… make a cake! Which brings us to number 5.

Learn about 5 common yarn ball types, what they're called, and how to work with them!
Pictured: Wool of the Andes Bulky from Knit Picks

5. Yarn Cake

In short, yarn cakes are the name for the hay bale-looking yarn balls you often see fancy knitters who exclusively shop at local yarn shops and self-identify as yarn snobs use. (The phrase yarn snob is used lovingly here. 😉 ) Joking aside, if you have a yarn winder, your making life gets very efficient.

Cakes are created using a yarn ball winder and a swift helps keep your yarn from tangling as you wind it. You can cake everything from thrift store yarn to your old project leftovers to keep them organized. For instance, I’ll often use my yarn winder to cake my yarn skeins as I near the end to avoid the dreaded collapse-induced tangle.

Learn about 5 common yarn ball types, what they're called, and how to work with them!

Shout out Interweave and Vickie Howell for both also having great blog posts worth checking out on this subject!

Sponsored by Knit Picks. Post contains affiliate links.

Filed Under: Crochet, Knitting, Latch Hook, Macramé Tagged With: hank, put up, skein, yarn ball, yarn ball types, yarn cake

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad is a craft book author & content creator in love with primary colors & vintage vibes. She specializes in knitting, crochet, latch hook and macramé, and her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now!

Previous Post: « 2021: A Year for Self-Care
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Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi, an author, yarn craft designer and content creator specializing in knitting, crochet, latch hook & macrame. My work unapologetically features primary colors and vintage-meets-modern style. My first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is now available!

Professionally I’m most known for: advanced intarsia knitting design & modern latch hook design.

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Craft book author & content creator in love with primary colors & vintage vibes. / #latchhookbook out now!
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knitting, crochet, latch hook & macramé

Heidi Gustad 🧶✂️
Happy Wrestlemania weekend, folks!!! 🎊 It’s c Happy Wrestlemania weekend, folks!!! 🎊 It’s coincidentally International Punch Needle Rug Hooking Day today, so I’d be remiss not to share a first look at this project finished JUST in time to wear while I watch some rasslin’ on a pirate ship in a football stadium in Tampa! 💪🏻 I’m excited to watch tonight’s women’s matches the most. Eee!
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Pictured: A blond woman in a denim dress and glasses wearing a giant belt made with punch needle. The belt is made with wool in primary colors and was inspired by the WWE Universal Championship title belt. 
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This is just a preview - after jab 2.0 tomorrow (feeling grateful 🙏🏼), I’ll be editing together a vlog about the design process for this wooly waist cover. Sometimes it’s hard to know how to make some of your wilder craft ideas come to life. Stuff you’ll never find a pattern for, you know? I’ll finish editing that ASAP, but I might take a few days to edit if I feel like trash from 💉 and only want to watch wrestling and wrestling YouTube for a day or two. 😂
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#ipnrhd #punchneedle #wwe #wrestling #championshipbelt #wool #yarn #handmade #universalchampionship #universalchampion #rugmaking #wrestlingfan #wrestlemania37 #wrestlemania
A look at the halo on the back of my wrestling-ins A look at the halo on the back of my wrestling-inspired punch needle project! It’s interesting to see how fuzzy the handspun beige yarn is compared with the primary color sections of @knit_picks Wool of the Andes Bulky. ❤️💛💙🤎 
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Pictured: The back of an in-progress punch needle project. A wooden punch needle tool sits on the work.
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#punchneedle #woolrug #rugmaking  #kpambassadorsapr21 #sponsored #griefproject #handsoccupied #wrestlingfan #universalchampion #yarn #yarncraft #wool #needlepunch
Happy Easter / One week til Wrestlemania! Finishin Happy Easter / One week til Wrestlemania! Finishing up the punch needling part of this crazy @wwe inspired project by tonight. 💪🏻🧶 Anybody else have crafty plans for this fine spring day? 
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Pictured: A blond woman sits, smiling and holding an in-progress punch needle project inspired by the Universal Championship belt. Houseplants are in the background and there’s lots of sun. 
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#punchneedle #griefproject #handsoccupied #heidigustad #wrestlingcrafts #wwe #universalchampion #universalchampionship #wool #wooloftheandes #primarycolors #oxfordpunchneedle
I'm finally starting to get some of my energy back I'm finally starting to get some of my energy back from the past few weeks, and as I dip my toe back into production mode, the long-promised seamed sweater knitting YouTube series is at the top of my list. I've got FOUR versions of a simple sweater I've been playing with since last JULY to feature as a free pattern for folks who want to knit along during the series. Pictured is the first prototype for the series, knit in 2 colors of @knit_picks Mighty Stitch yarn. I imagine this soon-to-be short sleeved number will come in handy as an emergency Waldo costume or Christmas sweater. 🌲 
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I've got my own list of topics I think folks would like to see in a series like this: things like tips for construction, working with vintage patterns, how to seam as invisibly as possible, and more, but as always, I'd love to hear from you: What scares you about knitting seamed sweaters? What would be helpful to cover, especially since we'll be doing more long form video content. I get so much positive feedback on my series of 20 minute+ intarsia tutorials, so I'm using those as a starting point as I produce this series. Seamed sweaters using vintage or self-improvised patterns are one of my favorite things on the planet, so I'm eager to share some seamed sweater skills with y'all super sweet folks. 😉 
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Pictured: A red and white striped, short sleeved sweater knit in pieces that have yet to be seamed. They are laid out on a yellow and orange colorblock background and one sleeve is yet to be bound off. 
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#handsoccupied #seamedsweater #kpambassadorsmar21 #sponsored #knitpicks #waldo #waldosweater #wip #yarncraft #yarn #knitting #knittersofinstagram #heidigustad #vintageknitting #sweaterknitting
Work continues this evening on my absurd punch nee Work continues this evening on my absurd punch needle pro wrestling inspired championship belt project. I’ve finished most of the front pretty quickly thanks to the @knit_picks Wool of the Andes Bulky yarn I’m using. For now, I’ve got a couple more weeks until Wrestlemania, & I’m on track to finish this in time! 
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The biggest question I have is what to do with the “plates” - the open circles in the picture. Should I try to closely replicate the Universal Championship belt or go rogue and make it wool themed? Please advise in the comments. ☺️🧶🙏🏻🐑 
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Pictured: The front of an in-progress punch needle project. A wooden punch needle tool with navy yarn running through it rests on top of the work. 
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#kpambassadorsmar21 #sponsored #knitpicks #punchneedle #rugmaking #primarycolors #punchneedlerughooking #punchneedlelove #wool #wip #yarncraft #yarn #yarnaddict
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