The Art of Detangling Yarn

Remember this photo from last December's post, Curse of the Spider Woman?

Well, it turns out that the urge to untangle knotted yarn is an actual thing; there have been articles written on the phenomenon and there are groups devoted to it. 

Here are a few things that I discovered when searching the term "yarn detanglers:"

Daphne Basnet of Melbourne, Australia, once paid about $50 on eBay for a 25-pound box of snarled yarn, simply for the pleasure of untangling it. “I was so happy, I can’t tell you,” recalls the 58-year-old of her purchase, a mess of about 120 knotted balls. (Wall Street Journal).

The Wall Street Journal and others have taken note of the phenomenon. Here is an article from Smithsonian.com called Tied Up in Knots? Call a Yarn Detangler.

There is a group on Ravelry devoted to people "who love to untangle or detangle skeins of yarn that are in a big, giant, tangled mess!" The group is called Knot a Problem.

I probably should never have taken the yarn off the swift. Friday night, in my haste to start on a gift with a tight deadline, I rushed through the winding process and after hitting a tangle, decided to loop the hank over my husband’s arms. Then one tangle turned into more, and before I knew it... (My Afternoon With a Yarn Detangler)

Read about what happens when knitter with a mess of yarn gets together with someone who loves a problem just like this, in My Afternoon With a Yarn Detangler.

Last but not least, you can find "stash detanglers" in this international listing by location, found at http://www.ravelry.com/groups/knot-a-problem/pages/Detanglers-by-Location.