Baller, get your ball on*

I am very much a knitting amateur.  My years of knitting clock in at eleven (on and off, mostly on, since 2000) but I haven't designed anything, I knit free patterns only, I have never knit a sock, etc.  I also DO NOT OWN the following:

• digital scale                                                                                   (they're also used for baking? whatev, don't own one.)
• blocking pads and/or wires
• yarn swift and/or baller

The absence of that last bullet point has challenged my creativity for the hank-to-ball transformation that's so important before casting on.  Looking around on the internet for ideas led me to several good tutorials; I'll recreate Laughing Purple Goldfish's method below with Cascade 220 Superwash Paints in 9860 Jelly Bean.

1) Start with a hank of beautiful, squishy yarn.

makes you want to eat candy

2) Create a notch in a cardboard tube and secure a yarn end in it.

the center of a TP roll works well

3) Begin wrapping the yarn around the tube in an orderly fashion.

that's really neat, yo

4) Wrap and wrap some more; you can even create some diagonal-type patterns to keep it interesting.

using my shoulder as a makeshift swift

5) Stop wrapping once you run out of yarn.

I really like those colors together

6) See how there's a big hole in the middle without yarn in it?  Take out the tube, in whatever direction tickles your fancy.

magic will happen soon...

7) The tension in the yarn will release to the center, making a beautiful, squishy center-pull ball of beautiful, squishy yarn.

beautiful and squishy, natch

_____

* with apologies to Snoop Dogg