KNOTS IN THE YARN

The third skein I wound onto the cone, well, it was not perfect............ I put the skein on the Goko. I arranged the groups so that they were in the right order. And there it was--a loose end.

My first thought was that the tie I had used to join the two ends of the skein had broken and so left the ends floating free. But when I followed that loose end partly around the skein, this turned out not to be the case.

Apparently the yarn got cut somehow. When I skeined it for dyeing, there was no problem. How could it have gotten cut? Perhaps this is one of those mysteries that will never be solved.

WHAT TO DO?

More to the point: what to do? There didn't seem much I could do except bravely to sally forth and wind the cone.

Quite frankly, I was anticipating something of a mess with lots and lots of knots having to be made. In actuality the winding actually went quite well. I simply had to stop three or four times when the yarn ended prematurely. Then I had to find the end on the skein to tie it to.

One time I actually had to cut the yarn myself as it had somehow gotten caught in the skein to the point that I could not release it. So I ended up with three or four knots. This is not really horrible. I have purchased cones of yarns with knots. No cone or skein of yarn is immune to the problem.

KNOTS IN WARP YARN

This skein with the knots is one of the skeins I am using for the warp. Knots are not generally a problem, only a nuisance. When I get to a knot, all I have to do is unwind back to the start, cut and tie so that the knot is at one of the warp ends and continue winding the warp.

However, I am going to be winding four ends at once. It is not so easy to stop and start with four ends in order to fix one end. An easy solution I have used in the past is to let it be and when I get to it in the weaving, just treat it as I would a broken end.

This time I think I shall try to figure out an easier way to fix it when I am winding the bouts.

Meanwhile, I have marked this cone as containing knots and to use last. Who knows, maybe I won't even need it for the warp!