Surely, when you started crocheting you thought it was just a matter of learning how to hold yarn and hook and make stitches, but it goes much further than that. Crochet is a whole world full of things to learn every day.
That’s why in this post I’m going to introduce you to the different ways you can find your yarns and the way they are called in Spanish too.
Types of Yarn Packaging
Yarns are packaged in several ways, you will see below the most common ones:
- Hank: is the form in which most wool artisans (the people who work with wool from the care of the animal until it is in the state we need it to crochet) and dyers fold it or present it so that it reaches us. This form of presentation helps the fiber to maintain its fluffiness and elasticity.
- Skein:is the most common form of packaging in many places and is made in an automated way in factories, not manually as hanks.
- Ball:is simply a ball that we make when we wind the hank or any yarn by hand.
- Cone: it is a packaging made mostly in factories. The yarn is cone-shaped with a cardboard or plastic cone (almost always) inside that gives it the shape and makes it stand upright.
- Cake: it has the form of a cake. This term is also used in Spanish. It is usually made by hand, with a homemade winder machine.
- Donut: this packaging resembles the shape of a delicious donuts. It is of automated production, it is not made manually, but in factories.
How do Spanish-speaking crocheters call them?
You may wonder why you need to know this in Spanish.
Well, very easy, when you crochet a pattern in Spanish in the materials’ section you can find these words, it is important for you to know them if you want to be a bilingual crocheter.
Hank – Madeja
Skein – Ovillo
Ball – Bola
Cone – Cono
Cake – Cake
Donut Ball – Dona
What is the best choice for you?
I will tell you a bit about my experience to help you choose which one is the best for you.
Hank: Do not use it to crochet directly, it can form a huge tangle and end in frustration. You must wind it before with the help of a winder or you can do it without it perfectly helping you with a chair or someone to hold the skein while you wind it into a ball. However, if you are going to dye the yarn, it is better to do it in the form of a skein.
The rest of the packaging come ready to use, although some may be more comfortable to crochet with than others.
For example, working with a cake is easier because it won’t be rolling all over the place, it stays more easily on a flat surface or in a yarn ball bowl.
I prefer the ball or the cake.
Like everything in life, it depends on each person and their tastes and habits to choose the packaging that they like the most.