[hobbyknit]

Can anyone tell me why any "cakes" yarn is more expensive? It is just wound round instead of oblong? It seems you could buy a similar skein and get the same results.

 

[MMWRay]

I don't find it anymore expensive. It is just a different shape of winding a skein. It does show the colors and sequence of colors and length of individual colors clearer in a cake rather than a ball which only shows the outside yarn layer.

 

[AnnaBananaGram]

I always thought you had to turn the skein into a cake before you knit. That's why I had purchased a yarn winder from Ebay. I've never tried knitting straight from a skein.. it always manages to get tangled

 

[Squiter60]

Also, less joining of yarn ends.

 

[MMWRay]

I always thought you had to turn the skein into a cake before you knit. That's why I had purchased a yarn winder from Ebay. I've never tried knitting straight from a skein.. it always manages to get tangled

You are doing something wrong.
I never rewind yarn unless it comes in a hank. It is manufactured to be worked directly from a skein. Most are center pull and that is how I use them so they don't flop around so much. The yarn is manufactured just for our convenience.
How are you using yours that it is tangling?

 

[targa416]

It’s possible one reason for the manufacturer winding the yarn into cakes is that if the yarn has long colourways, the cake shape is a good way to showcase the colour bands.

I find the cake yarns are priced comparably with other yarns. Sometimes they have more yardage.

 

[targa416]

I always thought you had to turn the skein into a cake before you knit. That's why I had purchased a yarn winder from Ebay. I've never tried knitting straight from a skein.. it always manages to get tangled

I would wind into a cake shape only if knitting on a machine, but not for hand knitting. I only wind the yarns that come in hanks, not skeins.

 

[Moisey]

Can anyone tell me why any "cakes" yarn is more expensive? It is just wound round instead of oblong? It seems you could buy a similar skein and get the same results.

Lion Brand just sent out a newsletter saying 4 "shawl in a cake" yarns for $10 which sounds good to me. Offer ends 12th February, whoops they have typed 2020 must be a boo boo we don't want this year repeated, thanks.
Cheers
Moisey

 

[jmcret05]

Lion Brand just sent out a newsletter saying 4 "shawl in a cake" yarns for $10 which sounds good to me. Offer ends 12th February, whoops they have typed 2020 must be a boo boo we don't want this year repeated, thanks.
Cheers
Moisey

You will probably get a corrected newsletter soon.

 

[peppered]

I always thought you had to turn the skein into a cake before you knit. That's why I had purchased a yarn winder from Ebay. I've never tried knitting straight from a skein.. it always manages to get tangled

Some skeins or balls like silk or bamboo mix yarn are slippy and can tangle. Put them in bowl or container so they don't get moved much and knit from the center. If you can't find the center end, just knit from outside.
They don't have to be rewound.

 

[scumbugusa]

I haven't noticed a price different.

For me the benefit of a cake, is that I can pull from the center, and if I need a double strand, I can pull from center and outer end.

Some skeins are not meant to be pulled from the center. My solution to skeins that don't pull is to rewind them with my yarn winder.

 

[Montana Gramma]

I buy Cakes on sale and find them a good baragain, like the little more yardage, usually have enough left over from my smaller projects to make slippers or mittens too. I use the center pull and have only found one with a knot.

 

[GrumpyGramma]

I always thought you had to turn the skein into a cake before you knit. That's why I had purchased a yarn winder from Ebay. I've never tried knitting straight from a skein.. it always manages to get tangled

The term skein can be confusing. Many yarns are already in some kind of ball shape, referred to as a ball or skein, that can be pulled from and those I may or may not rewind depending on my project and what I need - for example, I wind 100 gr. sock yarn skeins into two 50 gr. cakes if I'm using it for socks. A hank of yarn has to be wound to work from. I have to wonder if you mean hanks, not skeins as many define the word.

This might help clarify thing or further confuse us all. lol
https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/what-is-a-hank-a-ball-a-skein-2117241

 

[Montana Gramma]

I buy Cakes on sale and find them a good baragain, like the little more yardage, usually have enough left over from my smaller projects to make slippers or mittens too. I use the center pull and have only found one with a knot.

Oh brother, I thought you were referring to the CaronCakes, lol! I think I am okay, lol! But let's not let the family know!

 

[Maureen Therese]

Lion Brand just sent out a newsletter saying 4 "shawl in a cake" yarns for $10 which sounds good to me. Offer ends 12th February, whoops they have typed 2020 must be a boo boo we don't want this year repeated, thanks.
Cheers
Moisey

The only problem with this offer is that you have to buy 4 in the same colour. Why would you want to make 4 shawls in the same colour? I guess it you wanted to make a blanket with it, it would be ok.
Although the price of the yarn was US$10, it was US$20 for postage to Australia.

 

[Moisey]

Yes, that seems very unfair. Don't worry, I have no intention of purchasing yarn from the U.S.A. or anywhere overseas.
We have Spotlight here & Bendigo Woolen Mills plus many others to purchase from. I have been lucky enough to have been given a stack of acrylic yarn to use mainly for toy making so am not hunting out any bargains just now. Just shopping from my own stash, right now.
Cheers
Moisey

 

[JTM]

I always thought you had to turn the skein into a cake before you knit. That's why I had purchased a yarn winder from Ebay. I've never tried knitting straight from a skein.. it always manages to get tangled

In the USA a skein is a prewound object...round or oval-ish. Other parts of the world call the twisted loop a skein, while we call that a hank, which does need to be wound into a ball, or even a cake.

 

[spins2knit]

Before coming to the conclusion that it is more expensive, look at the yardage. Most of the cakes being sold currently have several times the yardage as an ordinary ball of yarn.

 

[headlemk]

I almost always rewind skeins onto cakes ... even center pull. Fits my Yarn bowl. I can find and correct knots as I wind. They sit and stay where they are put ... don't roll around. They store more compactly. I just like them that way. There are no "rules," ya know.

 

[Pittgirl]

I almost always rewind skeins onto cakes ... even center pull. Fits my Yarn bowl. I can find and correct knots as I wind. They sit and stay where they are put ... don't roll around. They store more compactly. I just like them that way. There are no "rules," ya know.

I do the same thing. I like to find and fix any knots and yarn barf.