I love a useful product that works for both knit and crochet!
What Is the Skerin “Best Darn Yarn Tender”©?
You might have also heard these called yarn bras.
Have you ever had to deal with a ball of yarn that didn’t cooperate? It came apart, leaving unwieldy yarn everywhere and tangled all on itself. Or, you wanted to store it with other yarn and it grabbed different yarns and made a big mess.
Well, enter Skerin’s “Best Darn Yarn Tenders”© on Amazon.
How Do Best Darn Yarn Tenders Work?
It’s simple!
Any center-pull skein, ball, or cake can be inserted into a yarn tender. They’re 14 inches long and come in two sizes – the large size for 6-16 oz. skeins and the small size for skeins 6 oz. or less.
A 16-oz. pounder skein is accommodated by ganging two yarn tenders (see the photo below for multiple uses). Just stretch the tender to go around the ball and you’re good to go, snag-free!
The tenders perform like panty hose, holding everything in place. The yarn flows easily from the tender – down to the last pull.
- 7 oz skein in a tender
- pounder ganged with two tenders
- small skein that had “yarn barf” which was rewound center-pull style to be reinserted into the tender so that the tender could continue to be used.
- a skein that was totally in tangles upon opening; untangled until an initial center-pull ball could be wound and then reinserted.
- an example of yarn barf before rewinding into a center pull ball.
For a small one-ounce ball, the tender can easily be folded back. When you do this, it even makes the compression greater for the small amount, and the pulling of the yarn continues to flow beautifully (see the pic of the cupcake in the yellow tender as an example).
What I Do
There are multiple ways I have found to use the tenders.
I did find that if I include the wrapper in the tender, care is needed so as not to tear the net. They’re very soft but absolutely get the job done.
I also found that it’s not a good idea to cut a tender, as that will alter its integrity. Instead, just make some folds, as shown in the photo of the one-ounce pink ball cupcake above.
Other Uses
Some people have posted that they also use them to store multiple yarns, both new and partial amounts. The compression keeps the yarn intact and prevents tangling with other yarn in the stash.
Win a Set of Yarn Tenders
Looking for a way to keep your yarn better protected from itself or other yarns in your stash or in WIPS? Skerin’s “Best Darn Yarn Tenders” might be a great solution for you!
Just leave a comment on this post to be entered in the giveaway!* You could win a full set of Best Darn Tenders – 18 Small and 18 Large.
* The fine print – Open to mailing addresses in the U.S. only. One entry per person. Leaving a comment on this post enters you into the contest and subscribes you to the Knotions weekly newsletter. This contest runs until 11:59 PM EST on February 28, 2018.
Good luck to everyone!
very cool item … i would love to win this give-away…
Thanks for the many and varied approaches for using the tenders – I would never have thought of all of them and they look really helpful for different yarn situations.
I have used this type of product to contain my yarn and they are wonderful. I just love them, so nice to see them in several sizes now. I recommend them if you haven’t used them yet.
I definitely need these – my yarn invariably flops all over.
great idea!
I wish I had thought of it
I would love to try those!
Looks amazing!!
Wow, this looks like such a great idea – I’m always having problems with balls and knotting and… I would love to get a set of these.
Thanks for the chance!
Oh yes please, I have been looking for a way to buy the netting to make these, but I don’t think it’s available retail. In much need for all my partially used skeins!
This seems like a *great* product!
lovely giveaway
Who couldn’t use a set of the Best Darn Yarn Tenders
I’d love to win these
would love to win these! great idea
Awesome giveaway. Thank you for the opportunity.
i have ONE of these and it’s very useful. came in a grab bag from a local yarn crawl.
can’t wait to win one!!
jd in st louis
I have used them and they are great. It was recycled from something else.
I really could use these Because I have skeins of yarn all over the place.
I get so upset with yarn barf I know my mom had the same issue because as a child it was my job to unbarf it and wind it up for her once fixed.
Great giveaway. Would love to try these
Very nice, they certainly would be handy.
These would be very helpful for me. I hope they will be available in local craft stores.
in response to your wish about availability, they are available on Amazon. Click the links in this post or in the Amazon search bar type “Best Darn Yarn Tenders”.
These tenders look real useful. I have a few skeins to wrap with these already. Thanks for the chance, this is a great giveaway!
This device is new to me. I have made some items that help me not have a message of yarn everywhere. I use plastic container (must have a lid) and my DH drills a hole in the life and places a grommet in the hole so yarn won’t be torn.
But that is only when I am working with a specific yarn ball.
These yarn devices sound so wonderful because much of my stash needs something like your offering.
Thank you for considering me.
L. Yvonne Murray
What a novel item! As a newbie I appreciate the tools that enable me to concentrate on hooking.
This is brilliant! I use a piece of old panty hose on cakes of yarn, but having something that fits a commercially bought skein would be a blessing!
Thank you for the review. This would be helpful in keeping yarn separated in my knitting bag.
Been using liquor bottle protectors from duty free but these look like they would be much better.
Love the sizes.
Would love to try these!
These look useful – would love to try them out!
I’m learning about new things all the time since signing up here at knotions. These look amazing!
Three years ago, of my good friends was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. She is also the reason I took up Knitting again. She was my Knitting buddy and now has no clue on how to knit. Her husband gave me loads of yarn, which most are in balls. Therefore, these yarn tenders would make my craft so much easier to keep neatly stored!!
I am really interested in how these would work and since I travel a lot I think I could really use these!
I’ve thought about recycling panty hose for this purpose, but this product is way better! It is sooooo annoying when you spend time you’d rather be knitting winding up a nice little cake or ball and in the end you wind up with a tangled mess anyway!
Thank you for this wonderful opportunity to get such an interesting item! I’m anxious to try them out.
Genius idea! I use lots of slippery ribbon and rayon yarns in my knitting and weaving. These clever tenders will save me many headaches!
These would be so helpful esp when using multiple colors at once.
Where have these been all my knitting life??!! I do a lot of color work and these would come in SO handy!
I have a yarn bra and have used it a couple of times. It works pretty well, but I suspect I haven’t begun to get full use out of it. I would like to try these yarn tenders to see the difference.
I think you have a smart idea going on . I would like to try your yarn tenders. They look good to me. And they would help me keep my yarn in one place. Thank you for allowing me in your contest.
I currently use a piece of paper fashioned into a sort of “label” wrapped all the way around the cake. I attach the ball band or label to it to stay organized. However, as the inside of the cake gets used, the sides collapse, and the paper obviously does not contract.
These yarn tenders intrigue me – may order some on my own!
Sounds good…I’d love to try them!
I make wheelchair blankets and walker pockets for our local rehabilitation center residents. Also blankets for Red Cross and teen parenting service. Many times it is donated yarns I recoil. This would so help me speed up my projects.
Thanks
A friend gave me some leftover yarn once, and one ball had a yarn tender around it. Wow, it was great!!! I would love to have a set of these ~ they looks really soft and malleable.
I am also thinking they might be very handy for two-color knitting, with both balls in one tender, one color coming out each end. Hmmm… will have to try that if I win!!! 🙂
Could have used one of these tonight when I spent many minutes keeping a skein untangled just to finish a few rows.