The idea of these yarn cozies came to me a few years ago when I saw a commercial product made of plastic mesh. I thought if one were to knit up a simple tube of ribbing from left-over sock yarn you would get the same results. These cozies hold any center-pulled ball of yarn together nicely, but truly shine with slippery yarn. The ribbing keeps the ball nice and snug.
These are fairly straight forward, and you can adjust the sizes easily to your needs. The instructions below give you a place to start. What I would recommend is that you knit up at least 3 inches in length or more. As you use up a ball of yarn, it tends to collapse lengthwise. This happens especially with “flatly” wound balls or those from a hand winder. Sufficient length in the cozy will keep loose loops contained and tangles to a minimum.
Yarn Cozy
The grey cozy works well with the larger 100g balls of yarn or the wide hand-wound “cakes” from a winder. The red cozy is for 50g balls of yarn.
Needle Size: 0 – 1 (2mm – 2.5mm)
Yarn: Left-over sock yarn or any wool fingering yarn. Why wool? It has natural elasticity.