yarn barf...

I lightly tug on the yarn end peeking out from the center of the skein and feel some resistance... uh oh, I pull harder and....

blech... yarn barf... all over my lap.

I just loathe the notorious yarn barf, especially when I am itching to get my hook around a new strand of fiber. This seems to be a common problem and, for me, quite a nuisance... winding the mess into a ball and the sometimes laborious unknotting and untangling. Though this most recent incident was by no means the worst I have experienced... imagine skeins spilling their guts so badly that only a thin outer shell remains... this was not the first and likely will not be the last. What to do... what to do... I think I will have to visit my trusty friend Google to see if there are any tricks out there to avoid the yarn barf...