Being a hank n00b, I had no idea what to do with one when I finally received my first. It looks unassuming and not all that intimidating, being in a nice neat twist. As per uge, I had taken advantage of a sale from Knit Picks and grabbed up one of their beautiful hanks of wool and poly-amide blends called Hawthorne, prettily named Happy Valley.

I had very specific plans for this hank, as I intended to make the Fortune’s Shawlette from Moogly.

I was ready to get my yarn on.

Unfortunately, I didn’t Google what to do with a hank before I got started, so what began as a simple unraveling turned into this mess:

It’s pretty tragic.

I thrust one end of the yarn at my husband, who good-naturedly took it, I started with the other end, and we started winding the yarn through an infinite number of knots.  While I’ve made progress, this is how it sits on my table until I can finish winding it. The ball on the upper left is connected to the suuuuuuuuuper extra knotty section of the hank.

Far too belatedly did I research how one is actually supposed to unwind a hank, so The More You Know on that one. Then of course, I also read that you should plan to make whatever it is you’re going to make with the wound yarn quickly so it doesn’t stretch it out, making me slightly more anxious than I already was about getting this yarn ready to use.

While it remains to be seen whether I make the shawlette with this particular hank of yarn, it is next on my list after I finish a round of amigurumi orders, which I’m  still in the throes of making.

So for anyone else out there who hasn’t experienced a hank disaster, take not after me. Ask your local yarn shop expert or someone who has done it before to guide you through this process so you aren’t going through a harrowing ordeal that may result in throwing away a perfectly good amount of yarn. (Right now I am determined to get through this–I hope to win out.)

Wishing you happy yarn creating and a beautiful weekend!

Edit: I managed to salvage a lot of the yarn, and I do have an idea up my sleeve on what to do with it, but it is in my long-awaited crochet queue as of February 2016!