Delicious Detangling
January 10, 2016 11:43 AM   Subscribe

Got knotty yarn? These volunteers will help.

Knot a Problem (Ravelry group), where people bid to undo knots for those in need.
posted by jebs (28 comments total) 17 users marked this as a favorite
 
A friend once sat down with me when I was detangling a skein of yarn, and within a couple of minutes she'd started working on it with me. We sat there working on it and chatting, every now and then saying, "What is it that is so satisfying about untangling yarn?"

I am guilty of getting out the scissors from time to time. Next time I have something to untangle, I'll think of these women and try to do without.
posted by not that girl at 11:52 AM on January 10, 2016 [2 favorites]


If a knot is jammed so hard it'll ruin the yarn picking at it with a tool then might as well cut, but otherwise it's largely keeping the loops loose, laid out as neatly as possible and the absence of someone poking their nose around the corner with that expectation look, "is it done yet"
posted by sammyo at 12:15 PM on January 10, 2016


I have sent yarn to detanglers from this group on three separate occasions, and am just about to put in a request for one more. A+, would farm out my tangled yarn again. I want to like detangling, but I'm too rough and impatient and just end up making the knots worse.
posted by ActionPopulated at 12:23 PM on January 10, 2016


I love detangling, but not enough to do it for other people. That said, my secret is to keep *light* tension on the yarn -- I use a lot of upside down stools with different branches of the yarn looped over different legs. You don't want heavy tension that will pull the knots tightly, but light tension that holds the length of yarn up off the ground and lets you see where things are running makes it easier to pass ends through.
posted by jacquilynne at 12:29 PM on January 10, 2016


If this isn't already an econ textbook example of a market for a service where the price crosses the 0 mark, it should be.
posted by ocschwar at 12:35 PM on January 10, 2016 [7 favorites]


Oh God, I may have found my new hobby.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:44 PM on January 10, 2016 [6 favorites]


Spontaneous knotting of an agitated string, in which science tackles this problem using knot theory. Figure 6 speaks to my experience, but incompletely, in that not only ends of the string but loops from the middle do the braid moves.
posted by clavicle at 1:23 PM on January 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


Do they do Christmas lights?
posted by peeedro at 1:41 PM on January 10, 2016 [4 favorites]


Keep the yarn, but I'll stand and patiently untangle knotted muddy manes and tails all day.
posted by BlueHorse at 2:19 PM on January 10, 2016


Christmas lights are not a job for amateurs, peedro.
posted by ambrosen at 3:15 PM on January 10, 2016 [2 favorites]


Christmas lights are not a job for amateurs, peedro.

The first two points on the person spec create a very odd image of their ideal candidate:

"Be passionate about Christmas
Be able to untangle 3 metres of Christmas lights in under three minutes"

I mean..who the fuck are you if you know this is you?
posted by howfar at 3:37 PM on January 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


Me, if I win the next PowerBall!
posted by rhizome at 4:12 PM on January 10, 2016 [2 favorites]


Oh God, I may have found my new hobby.

I'd think you'd get enough of detangling threads with your new mod duties.
posted by Jacqueline at 5:47 PM on January 10, 2016 [7 favorites]


Christmas lights are not a job for amateurs, peedro.

The trick with Christmas lights is "don't roll, zigzag." You'll never have a problem ever again. A similar trick works with rope and cable.
posted by leotrotsky at 5:58 PM on January 10, 2016 [2 favorites]


I will happily untangle anything. Any Mefite who needs it done can hit me up via PM.
posted by GrammarMoses at 7:20 PM on January 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


Holy mother of God. Please, I'm begging you, nobody tell my mother about this. I'm not joking.

I think she has something close to a cubic acre of tangled yarn in a back room in a studio somewhere. We'd never see her again, and she has grandsons now.
posted by Sphinx at 7:24 PM on January 10, 2016 [2 favorites]


I don't get why they think it's fun, though I do know a person or two who seems to be into it while watching me in person.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:01 PM on January 10, 2016


You want to live a nightmare, try untangling a box of SEVERELY tangled jewelry. Necklace chains that a clumped so hard as to be literal nodules made of up to 10 individual chains.
posted by Ferreous at 8:08 PM on January 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


Needles are your ticket there. Jewelry is pretty easy once you get a little bit of space between the tangles.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:34 PM on January 10, 2016 [2 favorites]


I can detangle any knotted yarny mess...with fire....the great detangler!
posted by ian1977 at 9:10 PM on January 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


I ripped out a hideous hideous knitted blanket once and had a lovely time separating all the dozen plus different yarns in to neat tidy balls. But it was a hideous blanket because it was hideous yarn, so into the dumpster went all those neat tidy balls of yarn.

But I wouldn't have dreamed of throwing it out whole. It was a very satisfying project.
posted by SLC Mom at 9:12 PM on January 10, 2016 [2 favorites]


Knowing that this group -- indeed, this passion -- exists to provide an equlibrium to the inevietability of tangles, well it gives me a great sense of inner peace.
posted by equestrian at 1:58 AM on January 11, 2016 [1 favorite]


I wonder f they help out anglers?
posted by TedW at 2:21 AM on January 11, 2016


There is something very satisfying about fighting entropy.
It's a human need to take in energy and cause a localised reduction in entropy.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 3:11 AM on January 11, 2016


jenfullmoon: I don't get why they think [detangling yarn is] fun…

Every sysadmin in this thread just cocked their head to one side and squinted at your comment. It's just who we are.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:39 AM on January 11, 2016 [1 favorite]


I don't get why they think it's fun

I think it's the regular feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment. Like, yes, I know, it's not earth-shattering, but you can work away at something for any length of time and get something done. As the working balls start to build up in your hands it feels like doing something.

And it's not as RSI inducing as actually knitting.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:12 AM on January 11, 2016


I would volunteer my detangling services as well but I have a problem with getting things into the mail. Maybe there is another group for that? I need someone to come into my house with envelopes and sharpies and sit with me while I address everything and then they can take it to the PO for me. Surely there is someone out there (in my city) who loves to do that kind of thing, right?
posted by dawkins_7 at 11:17 AM on January 11, 2016


Every sysadmin in this thread just cocked their head to one side and squinted at your comment. It's just who we are.

I am not a born problem solver by any means. (Sadly, "problem solving" is now my job.)

*glares at several balls of painfully detangled yarn in the bag right now.*

Seriously, I like winding up the balls too but the damn knots drive me batty and when you end up having to hack up your yarn anyway....FEH. I'm all, who the shit wound this?!
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:02 PM on January 12, 2016


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