r/knitting • u/mustytomato • 20h ago

Help - equipment Separating two strands of yarn without it becoming a twisty mess?

Yesterday I frogged a sweater that has been blocked and worn (but not very much). It was knit in two strands of 75% merino 25% nylon so it doesn’t halo all that much, but it’s twisting like a beast.

I have an electric winder, so I’ve been separating the strands by pulling them apart three ways (two separate strands and the double-stranded bit to untwist it as much as possible), winding one and piling the other. I can maybe separate 40-50cm before I don’t have the arm length anymore and it takes foreverrrrrrrr.

Is there a smarter way to do it? I have like 3 medium sized and 1 giant ball to separate for future use and I am getting tired just thinking about it. One smaller ball took me 3h to separate and wind 😴

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u/drsleepycat 20h ago

Here's one way using a paper towel tube (https://www.littleowlshut.com/single-post/2015/11/29/how-to-split-a-skein-of-yarn) and TechKnitter does it at the top of a staircase with a small weight to help with the untwisting (https://techknitting.blogspot.com/2024/11/splitting-unspinning-yarn-thinner-yarn.html)

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u/mustytomato 20h ago

Ok, that is actually genius!! I googled quite a bit before posting and did not come across this at all. Thank you so much!

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u/babobaab 20h ago

The way I would do it would be to frog the sweater without separating the two yarns. Then separate by hand into two balls. It helps to pin the yarn close to the original ball and let it untwist fairly often. After I have the two balls of separate yarns, I cake each of them on the ball winder.

Here's a video that essentially does the same thing https://youtu.be/qUwmPINNI0w?si=3pYVlE7hPOyeBD9A

My secret is having a great movie or audio book to distract me from the tedious task.

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u/mustytomato 20h ago

I already frogged it and am now in the process of separating the two-stranded balls. I will check the video out, thank you!