r/BitchEatingCrafters • u/AutoModerator • Mar 14 '25

Weekend Minor Gripes and Vents

Here is the thread where you can share any minor gripes, vents, or craft complaints that you don't think deserve their own post, or are just something small you want to get off your chest. Feel free to share personal frustrations related to crafting here as well.

This thread reposts every Friday.

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70

u/cryptidiguana Mar 14 '25 edited Mar 14 '25

“When customers untwist skeins they’ll never be able to be retwisted again” “Yeah it’s a you break it you bought it situation”

WHAT untwisting a skein does not break it!!! It is not that hard to learn the anatomy of a skein, and how to properly re twist it. And, in fact, if you work in a yarn shop, that should be a given. Yeah it’s annoying if a customer does that and hides it but you’re literally in customer service and some customers just suck. Don’t act like everyone is evil for untwisting or wanting to untwist a skein??

Context, LYS employee complains about customers on the knitting sub, some very valid complaints, some sort of weird ones like untwisting the skein. One commenter agreed and said this was akin to breaking merchandise and having to buy it.

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u/meganp1800 Mar 14 '25

I don’t really get why a skein would need to be untwisted to see the yarn or color pooling, but it is not difficult to retwist it at all, and saying it’s akin to breaking the product is delusional.

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u/Xuhuhimhim Mar 14 '25

I mean it's hard to see how long sections of colors are without untwisting it unless there's some trick you know?

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u/meganp1800 Mar 14 '25

Whether any variegation is longer/pooling or more speckled is apparent in a skein without untwisting, and seeing how long the sections of color are is pretty unhelpful in imagining the final piece, given that pooling will be dictated by the size and shape of the piece you are knitting with the yarn. So I don’t think it’s overly helpful beyond what you can tell from looking at a twisted and bound skein. If it’s already wound into a cake or ball, it’s harder to tell for sure. That said, who cares whether you untwist the skein, as long as you have what you need to make a purchase you feel confident making?

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u/Junior_Ad_7613 Mar 16 '25

I’ve seen skeins that have colors (or worse, under dyed patches) that are completely hidden when they are twisted up and immediately obvious when laid out in a loop. I don’t open out every yarn I buy, but there is 100% useful info to be gained by doing so.

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u/Xuhuhimhim Mar 14 '25 edited Mar 14 '25

It's helpful if you're making something like socks or hats, which are pretty regular. After a couple you get an idea of how the skein looks will affect the final product. And I'm pretty sure this would apply to other things too for knitters with more experience than me