Rachel, I cannot possibly thank you enough - you are a hero!!! 💐💕 🎉 I often carry two yarns while knitting, which is really fun...unless it doesn't work out, and I need to rip it out and separate the two yarns - they naturally end up plyed around each other. Not a huge deal on a small sample, but anything over about 25 yards is a nightmare. Well, today I was able to separate over 200 yards of doubled yarn with a minimum of fuss! 🤩 I have arthritis in my hands which makes it too painful to twist a dowel or cardboard tube, so I took a closed umbrella swift and mounted it horizontally, using silicone bands keeping the arms tightly closed. I improvised a sort of spreader bar I could hold with one hand to keep the two strands of yarn apart so they would wrap around the top and bottom ends of the swift. That allowed me to use my other hand to crank the swift. I could even sit down while I did it! Once I had enough yarn wrapped onto the swift, I remounted the swift vertically and used my ball winder to wind off the top wrap of yarn off the swift. Then I slid the bottom yarn wrap up the swift, attached the end to the ball in progress, and continued winding off. It works out well because you can just slide the wrapped yarn up or down on the swift to align with the ball winder so it unwraps smoothly. Definitely kind of a Rube Goldberg setup, but it worked great! As you pointed out, the tricky part is getting the tension of the plyed yarn coming out of the bag right, but even having to stop and pull the bag down by hand was still quite efficient. The only additional issue I found with The Swift Method is that the diameters of my closed swift are not the same at the top and bottom, which means that one end wraps a little faster than the other, causing one hanging strand to eventually get much shorter than the other. I discovered I could just unwrap the shorter strand one round to even out the length and continue. This is a complete game-changer for anyone who works yarn: knitters, crocheters, spinners, and weavers. It opens up all kinds of creative possibilities. Thank you for sharing your brilliant technique!
I've watched several videos on how to do this and your method is by far the best of them all. Thank you so much! You've revolutionized my yarn experience!
Omg, the way I Gasped and said "That's actually genius " when seeing this. Made the splitting process 1000 times faster, thank you so much for sharing!
Brilliant! This is fantastic. Prior to this I thought I needed some kind of a machine to get it done. LOL 😂 Splitting yarn is also great if you want to use two different colors together to create a nice effect or Segway from one color to another.
I needed this trick so badly today, your solution is very effective and everything I had tried earlier was impossible and a hot mess. You saved a sweater project for me. THANK YOU !!
Thank you so much for this video. The husband has expanded on this, as I needed to split my yarn 🧶 into three. Just put an extra round in the middle. Thank you for helping me save a tonne of time. Cheers Kavita
Oh how you have saved me from hours of agony. I have tons of worsted yarn but love the DK and fingerling weight yarns for some of my projects BUT can only find the colors in worsted weight yarn. I have been cutting my yarn then split it to keep it from knotting up. Your method it PERFECT! Full length strains and no knotting. YEAH! Thank you for this video!
This is genius!!! I can’t afford one of the nice hand crank machines and need to unply three balls of yarn and i’ve been doing it by hand! 😂 this saves me a crazy amount of time! thanks for the tip!
I'm so glad I found your vid!! I've done the splitting before, and it was A MESS! This bag trick is SOOO simple and easy! Thank you! I purchased 1 skein of yarn during some travelling, and chose a pattern that called for thinner yarn. I didn't realize it right away, so now I have to go back and frog it. But at least I can still work the pattern with this yarn! Thanks to your handy tricks! 💕
omg you little genius!!! the tutorial i watched prior to this involved making a spindle spinner thing with a hook and some contraption with a handle. I don't want to buy stuff just to split yarn your way is so much faster and accessible!
My goodness looks so easy!! I've split a sweater worth of yarn before and i clipped the yarn to the ball to hang it for it to spin, putting it in a bag is such a great idea! It took me ages before having to stop every meter or so to move the clip! Thank you!
Thanks so much for the video! I am unplying I Love This Yarn worsted weight. The bag and twist tie wasn't working as well as yours. I think it was because ILTY slides too easily. I took a chopstick and wound the yarn around it once and stuck the stick through both sides of the bag. It puts the perfect amount of tension on it because I want to push the bag down as I go. I also use a music stand to hold the dowel soy arms don't get as tired. I also put duck tape on the dowel where the yarn will wind and it helps it slide off more easily. Thanks again!
Genius method to do this and i'm so glad I found your video. I was really hoping I wouldn't need to spend hours in a multiple step process to un-ply some yarn and now I totally can!
What a legend! Thank you! I have been using ricorumi wool and to unravel the strands I have been holding up my crochet and spinning it around in the air until it hits me in the face and gets in a tangled mess!!!!! 😂
Thank you soooo much!! A while back, I thrifted some cotton yarn which I love, but the colors that were spun together weren't really my taste and now I can split them easily!!!!!
I used a binder clip to hold the end of the yarn to the skein as it spun, but a twisty tied bag is sooooo much better! Definitely changing to this method, thanks!
Thank you! I hate all the color options for my pattern and can't seem to find it in the right gauge! I can't wait to try this on the color of yarn I've been eyeing.
Ply to separate tubes on the dowel to avoid 4:15 fiber twist damage. Restore fiber to mfr twist at 3:55 during rewind: skein-wind, reversing or untwisting lead each ~20 winds. Overtight rewinding changes fiber guage, finished project fit/blocking.
This method does work but it still takes quite a long time 😅 my yarn is still spinning and it’s been around 2 hrs. Granted my ball was around 3x the size as the one in the video. I also found a way to use a music stand like another commenter suggested and it works but you have to come back to it every 3-4 mins to keep it spinning onto the dowel. Gave me time to fold my laundry though which is a plus.
So I tried to use this one smaller yarn- DK. And it didn’t work BECAUSE the weight of the yarn isn’t heavy enough! BUT I put the ball of yarn on a drill and that did the trick😉
Works very well, thank you. Just not not possible to split a whole skein of wool like this, it strains hands and arms a lot. I will try splitting as I knit.
This doesn't seem to be working for me as I'm trying to split one ply from a 4-ply skein of yarn. My skein is mostly used up so I don't seem to have enough weight to hold the skein down. Suggestions?
![ประสบการณ์ จ้าง Developer ที่ผมจะไม่มีวันลืม [ภาค1]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bzivN4KDg-k/mqdefault.jpg)
Thank you for this. Thin yarn is impossible to find in a variety of colours, or it's ridiculously expensive when you do. This helps so much
Well ... That was simple smart! I used to encooperate my feet in untwisting 😅 then I thought I should build my self a mini untwisting NXT robot.
Haha, doing the whole hanging skein in a bag thing makes it so much easier. Although, a little yarn untwisting robot sounds pretty cool too!
Me too! And sometimes my teeth!
I used to encooperate my chairs lol
Hahahah..😂me too..and im doing it right now and reply to your comment..now im trying this trick video to seperate a yarn..it works .
Oh my goodness! This is brilliant. It still took me a while to get the weighting right but it was definitely easier than doing it by hand. Thank you!
Rachel, I cannot possibly thank you enough - you are a hero!!! 💐💕 🎉
I often carry two yarns while knitting, which is really fun...unless it doesn't work out, and I need to rip it out and separate the two yarns - they naturally end up plyed around each other. Not a huge deal on a small sample, but anything over about 25 yards is a nightmare. Well, today I was able to separate over 200 yards of doubled yarn with a minimum of fuss! 🤩
I have arthritis in my hands which makes it too painful to twist a dowel or cardboard tube, so I took a closed umbrella swift and mounted it horizontally, using silicone bands keeping the arms tightly closed. I improvised a sort of spreader bar I could hold with one hand to keep the two strands of yarn apart so they would wrap around the top and bottom ends of the swift. That allowed me to use my other hand to crank the swift. I could even sit down while I did it! Once I had enough yarn wrapped onto the swift, I remounted the swift vertically and used my ball winder to wind off the top wrap of yarn off the swift. Then I slid the bottom yarn wrap up the swift, attached the end to the ball in progress, and continued winding off. It works out well because you can just slide the wrapped yarn up or down on the swift to align with the ball winder so it unwraps smoothly.
Definitely kind of a Rube Goldberg setup, but it worked great! As you pointed out, the tricky part is getting the tension of the plyed yarn coming out of the bag right, but even having to stop and pull the bag down by hand was still quite efficient. The only additional issue I found with The Swift Method is that the diameters of my closed swift are not the same at the top and bottom, which means that one end wraps a little faster than the other, causing one hanging strand to eventually get much shorter than the other. I discovered I could just unwrap the shorter strand one round to even out the length and continue.
This is a complete game-changer for anyone who works yarn: knitters, crocheters, spinners, and weavers. It opens up all kinds of creative possibilities. Thank you for sharing your brilliant technique!
I've watched several videos on how to do this and your method is by far the best of them all. Thank you so much! You've revolutionized my yarn experience!
Omg, the way I Gasped and said "That's actually genius " when seeing this.
Made the splitting process 1000 times faster, thank you so much for sharing!
You are an absolute genius omg this is amazing
Absolute genius! Best method I’ve seen. Thank you!
Easiest method I have seen. Very smart
Brilliant! This is fantastic. Prior to this I thought I needed some kind of a machine to get it done. LOL 😂 Splitting yarn is also great if you want to use two different colors together to create a nice effect or Segway from one color to another.
You just saved me SO MUCH TIME I really cannot thank you enough for this idea!! I’ve been doing it a very much harder and more time consuming way!
I've tried so many ways of unplying yarn, I must say, this one will work far better than my feeble attempts, thank you
I needed this trick so badly today, your solution is very effective and everything I had tried earlier was impossible and a hot mess. You saved a sweater project for me. THANK YOU !!
Thank you so much for this video. The husband has expanded on this, as I needed to split my yarn 🧶 into three. Just put an extra round in the middle.
Thank you for helping me save a tonne of time.
Cheers
Kavita
I cannot thank you enough for this!!!! I have a tonne of 8ply and only need 4ply. Thanks again. 😍😍
hi did it work? hee
Oh how you have saved me from hours of agony.
I have tons of worsted yarn but love the DK and fingerling weight yarns for some of my projects BUT can only find the colors in worsted weight yarn. I have been cutting my yarn then split it to keep it from knotting up.
Your method it PERFECT! Full length strains and no knotting. YEAH! Thank you for this video!
This is genius!!! I can’t afford one of the nice hand crank machines and need to unply three balls of yarn and i’ve been doing it by hand! 😂 this saves me a crazy amount of time! thanks for the tip!
I'm so glad I found your vid!! I've done the splitting before, and it was A MESS! This bag trick is SOOO simple and easy! Thank you! I purchased 1 skein of yarn during some travelling, and chose a pattern that called for thinner yarn. I didn't realize it right away, so now I have to go back and frog it. But at least I can still work the pattern with this yarn! Thanks to your handy tricks! 💕
Thank you, this tip came in the right moment
Genius! Ran out of yarn for sweater/had same color in 2 ply. Saved me buying another 300 yd. Skein when only needed 50. Thanks!
omg you little genius!!! the tutorial i watched prior to this involved making a spindle spinner thing with a hook and some contraption with a handle. I don't want to buy stuff just to split yarn your way is so much faster and accessible!
My goodness looks so easy!! I've split a sweater worth of yarn before and i clipped the yarn to the ball to hang it for it to spin, putting it in a bag is such a great idea! It took me ages before having to stop every meter or so to move the clip! Thank you!
Thanks so much for the video! I am unplying I Love This Yarn worsted weight. The bag and twist tie wasn't working as well as yours. I think it was because ILTY slides too easily. I took a chopstick and wound the yarn around it once and stuck the stick through both sides of the bag. It puts the perfect amount of tension on it because I want to push the bag down as I go. I also use a music stand to hold the dowel soy arms don't get as tired. I also put duck tape on the dowel where the yarn will wind and it helps it slide off more easily. Thanks again!
THANK YOU SO MUCH LIFE SAVER FR CUZ i was rn trying to split them but itll take me forever cuz its so much yarn and SUPER thick
Now just how did you come up with that? Pure genius 🤔😉
Thoroughly enjoyed your presentation style and background music. Informative and relaxing at the same time! 😄
Genius method to do this and i'm so glad I found your video.
I was really hoping I wouldn't need to spend hours in a multiple step process to un-ply some yarn and now I totally can!
I love this! now if only there was a way to slighty automate it so its even faster cause having to do an entire skein can still take a long time
Finally a method that doesn’t take 5 hands to do it!
Thank goodness I found this! Was about to stay up until the wee hours (lol its already 0135) separating a ball of yarn. Thank you very much!
What a legend! Thank you! I have been using ricorumi wool and to unravel the strands I have been holding up my crochet and spinning it around in the air until it hits me in the face and gets in a tangled mess!!!!! 😂
This is so helpful! No more tangling yarn around my toes!
This is brilliant! I don't have a dowel, but I do have cardboard toilet rolls I can use. Thank you for this!
This is absolute genius! saved me a ton of tangle, thanks
Just trying to do this. Excellent video. Now I know how to not struggle with trying to make 2 ply from 4 ply. Thank you.❤
Thank you soooo much!! A while back, I thrifted some cotton yarn which I love, but the colors that were spun together weren't really my taste and now I can split them easily!!!!!
YOU SAVED MY PROJECT. Thank you so much!
You're genius! Laughed and loved it! Thank you.
this looks so much easier then the way i did it! it'll be so helpful in the future!
I used a binder clip to hold the end of the yarn to the skein as it spun, but a twisty tied bag is sooooo much better! Definitely changing to this method, thanks!
This video needs more views!!!
Thank you! I hate all the color options for my pattern and can't seem to find it in the right gauge! I can't wait to try this on the color of yarn I've been eyeing.
I want to say THANK YOU. Bag idea Fabulous.Yes
I love your teaching style. Please give a simple tutorial on the magic ring. Some people make it look so hard and over complicated.
Now I can use my bulky yarn 😊 Thank you for this helpul tip 👍👌👏
You’re so smart. Uhgg im gonna have to give this a try. Thank you!
Ply to separate tubes on the dowel to avoid 4:15 fiber twist damage. Restore fiber to mfr twist at 3:55 during rewind: skein-wind, reversing or untwisting lead each ~20 winds. Overtight rewinding changes fiber guage, finished project fit/blocking.
This method does work but it still takes quite a long time 😅 my yarn is still spinning and it’s been around 2 hrs. Granted my ball was around 3x the size as the one in the video. I also found a way to use a music stand like another commenter suggested and it works but you have to come back to it every 3-4 mins to keep it spinning onto the dowel. Gave me time to fold my laundry though which is a plus.
genius!!!! i'm so excited to try this
This looks so simple....let's hope I can be as clever!! Thank you from Cape Town!
Dios mio! Tu idea es maravillosa! A mi jamas se me hubiera ocurrido! Muchas muchas gracias!❤❤❤
Like all the others here: EXACTLY what I needed to see! Genius! Love from MN❤️
So I tried to use this one smaller yarn- DK. And it didn’t work BECAUSE the weight of the yarn isn’t heavy enough! BUT I put the ball of yarn on a drill and that did the trick😉
This is definitely easier than what I've been doing; thanks!
Thanks for such a great and brilliant idea
Thanks, a great tip, saved a lot of frustration! Sydney, Australia.
SO brilliant!!!
I did this with worsted weight. It worked well but took sooo long. It was definitely a workout!
Thank you so much for the trick ! Thanks to you I’ll spare time and efforts
Smart! I should try tonight. Thanks!
Well, I came here to find out how to do this, and I found it :-) Brilliant, thank you! 🙂
Brillant idea! Thanks i needed it.
THANK YOUUUUU
Fire those needing to use this hack, a Temu or Shein ziplock bag works well. Thanks for this video
It took a reaaally long time but it works!
Many tks :)
Freaking brilliant. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Perfect. Exactly what i needed
Thank you! This is super helpful.
Genius. Thank you. Was doing a blanket stitch on a pillow and my yarn was too thick.
Awesome! You should add a donation link to this video. 🥰
Just what I needed!!
omg thank you so much for making this vid.... really helpful for me
Super, this is just what I needed to see
Thank you very much for this super helpful tip. Now I can continue my work easily! 🍀🙏🏼🍀
Oh my god this changes everything
This was so helpful! Thank you so much 😊
Yay, I'm glad you found it helpful, you're welcome!
Wow, this is genius.
Brilliant. Thank you.
This is brilliant! Thank you!
I was looking for this! Thank you! ❤️
Works very well, thank you. Just not not possible to split a whole skein of wool like this, it strains hands and arms a lot. I will try splitting as I knit.
I was going to do this but I thought I needed a tutorial before i Messed up completely😂
You are amazingggg thank you for sharing this!
Looking to do this with my super bulky (6) yarn! Question: is the yarn weight when separated a 3 then?
Thank you for this!
Omg!!!!! Thank you very much that was so easy and quick and helpfull !!!❤❤❤❤❤
Genius! Thank you!!
good technique, thanks
Brilliant! Thank you!
Thank you!
Thanks for a great tip!
Gosh, thanks sis
Thankgoodness i asked n seached this topic. I have bulky yarn i like but no other bulky. Just not sure how many plies it has.
Thank you, clever idea
THANK YOU!
SO SMART.
Great video. Thank you.
Wow thank you so much for this video!!!!!💕
This doesn't seem to be working for me as I'm trying to split one ply from a 4-ply skein of yarn. My skein is mostly used up so I don't seem to have enough weight to hold the skein down. Suggestions?
That was so useful!!!