Knots
One of the most annoying things that every person experiences when working with yarn is KNOTS. Whether it’s yarn vomit that’s tangled, you’re rewinding yarn that’s in heaps, or even knots manufacturer’s make - knots suck. Here we will go over the best way to tackle both types of knots to save you heartaches and headaches.
A manufacturer’s knot is that small knot made by the manufacturer of the yarn tying 2 strands of yarn together. Sometimes the yarn snaps and breaks, and it’s simply tied back together. If you have dealt with these knots before, it can be a little frustrating to know what to do with them. Do I leave it as is? Do I re-tie it? In the end, it is your discretion whether you re-tie it or not.
With that being said, it is safer to re-tie it yourself just in case the manufacturer’s knot comes apart later. If you don’t want to re-tie it, or are unsure if you want to re-tie it, you can test the strength of the knot by pulling the 2 strands of yarn. If it comes apart or feels loose, you'll obviously want to re-tie it. But if it’s secure, you can leave it as is. At the end of the day, it's always safer to re-tie the knot so you don't risk it coming out and ruining your project.
Manufacturer’s Knots
Sometimes when you're working with your yarn, it can come out as “yarn vomit”. Sometimes frogging a project, and rewinding the yarn can turn into a mess. No matter how it happens, tangled knots are a nightmare for most. I am an insane person and actually enjoy untangling yarn mats. And with countless hours of untangling, I’ve found the best techniques to deal with tangled knots.
First and foremost: DO NOT FORCE A KNOT TO COME OUT or else it will lock the knot tighter
When tackling a knot, you’ll want to find the strands that are directly attached to your project and your skein. You’ll start pulling on these strands until there is some resistance, once you feel any resistance, you have to stop.
Next, you will want to make the knots as open and loose as possible - identify the mass of the knot and easily and slowly pull the strands apart. As you do this, your knot may break into several smaller knots. You’ll want to work those knots looser as well. If opening up one knot makes one close up, that is alright too, and we'll tackle that in the next steps.
Once the knot is falling apart, try pulling the 2 end strands and seeing if you can get any extra yarn out of the mess. If this doesn't give way, that’s alright, it just means you have to start actually detangling.
To detangle the knot, you simply grab a large loop in any knot, and try pulling it back through the knot mess until the knot separates the base of the loop. Do this with a few loops and try to pull the 2 end strands to get the excess yarn out. Sometimes you will have to undo quite a few loops before you get any slack, and sometimes you’ll only have to undo 1 or 2 loops before the entire knot comes undone.
If the knot is bigger, you will have to repeat the “loosen, pull strands, undo loops, pull strands” steps a few times, and in different sections of the knot until it all comes undone.
One thing to remember about knots is that there’s only one way to get a knot undone, and that's detangling how it got tangled. Basically, you’ll only work the knot and the knot alone. Once you pull your project or your skein through a loop of your knot, you will never get it undone using simple untangling techniques. Doing this will make it impossible to get the knot out, and you basically locked the knot in. The only way to get the knot undone after you pull your project or skein through the knot is to continue pulling it through the tangled mess until the knot is completely undone. You can still untangle it a bit, or nearly the whole way, but you won't be able to get the whole knot out unless you pull your project or skein through it.
Sadly, sometimes pulling everything through is the only way to get certain knots out: like with a knot that has engulfed 1 or both ends, the project, or the skein. Again, you can work the knot out a bit and loosen it up, but you won't be able to get the knot completely out doing so.
And on the subject of unfortunate knots, sometimes (very rarely) a knot is so tangled that all you can do is cut it out. It does happen from time to time and it really is disheartening to waste yarn, but it's literally the only way to salvage your skein or project. I personally will only consider this as a last resort when the knot is so tight that I can’t work it loose even with a needle, or there was so much friction that the yarn matted together. At the end of the day though, if you don't have the patience to untangle a knot and you don’t care to discard the tangled yarn, you can always cut it out and go on as normal.
As a side note, I will be adding a video to visually explain the technique soon, so hopefully it will make a little more sense once you see it, instead of just reading it.
Tangled Knots
Knots are the bane of crocheters and unfortunately a natural part of working with yarn. The best thing to do if you find either a manufacturer’s knot or a tangled knot is to take a deep breath before tackling it. As intimidating as the tangled knot is, it can be undone with a little patience. As annoying as the manufacturer's knot is, you can always re-tie it.
As corny as it seems, one thing that makes irritating crochet problems bearable for me is this motto “you can’t control what happens to you, but you can control what you do about it”. Sometimes knots are unavoidable, but you can undo them.