I wind every skein of yarn before I start using it in a crochet project for one reason – I do not like the frustration of running into broken or knotted yarn.
When you’re cruising through a row of stitches it’s like a form of meditation. You’re all zen and relaxed.
Then, when you least expect it, you run into a knot where the yarn must have broken during the packaging process and was tied back together. (Are there people who are paid to do nothing but tie yarn breaks? Yikes!)
If you’re working with a solid color, this isn’t really a big deal. I cut the yarn in two places – once before the knot and once after – and then pick up where I left off by joining in the yarn without the knot.
(By the way, I NEVER keep the knot and crochet it into my project because you can feel it later. Knots stand out in your finished piece as rock hard pebbles in a field of soft deliciousness.)
Even if it’s simple enough to keep going, your flow is all thrown off because you didn’t know the knot was coming. For a minute, you swear you’ll never buy yarn from that manufacturer again.
Yes, you get past it and you realize the yarn is still good and knots are normal but your mood is still impacted.
By winding all of my yarn in advance I keep control of deciding when I want to have to join in a new ball of yarn and not have the yarn tell me when I’m going to have to do so.
This is particularly useful if the break would have happened early into your project. You don’t want to be creating a 200+ foundation chain only to find that at chain 175 you have a knot and have to start over.
Yes, it takes time to wind your yarn in advance but it’s mindless work that you can do with a winder or while watching TV.
If you approach it as a normal part of your process it can be relaxing in its own right.