You will be able to use the yarn - in fact a bit of twirling will probably make it usable now.

I'm just not willing to risk it on a part of the sock that gets heavy wear...but I know I can use the plies separately to beef up the heels on the next turquoise pair.

That might be fun as-is for another project. Turning it into proper yarn would be a bit labor-intensive, though.

Glad you'll be able to finish the sock. Looking very good!

Thanks...the sock was going very well until this. I have two more balls of the turquoise (planned to be another pair of turquoise socks) so I'm sure I'll find enough sound yarn to finish this one.

I'd try to twist them together. You're knitting a fairly tight, dense fabric, after all.

I've run into that problem a few times. Depending on my patience level, I've either twisted them back together or else used the yarn to tie up boxes.

It's particularly annoying to have it happen in the middle of a project especially when you're as far along as you were with this. Hope you have no more issues with the yarn.

Me, too. I like this brand of yarn in the non-Superwash form, and specifically ordered it in Superwash, but am not as happy with this yarn (and haven't been) and may not use it again. At least I'll be ready for problems if I do.

I wouldn't use it in a sock foot, especially the toe. You want good strong yarn there. Maybe the leg, if I liked the look.

Depending how much there is, and the store, you might get a refund. It's a black mark against the brand. (It's also impossible for big factories to keep every single machine working perfectly.)

Some yarns do this on purpose and charge more.

I'd put the splice on the top of the foot, but some don't mind it on the bottom.

Rather than tinking, use an afterthought lifeline. Take a strong, smooth string and run it through the last row you want to take out. Catch the yarn for every single stitch. It's nice if you go through the loop, but ok to split the yarn. Then just pull out the bad bit. Careful you don't twist when you put them back on the needles. Much faster than tinking.

Anonymous, thanks for your reply, but please ID yourself (in the body of the post, if you can't sign in) so I don't have to call you Anonymous.

I don't want to blame the yarn store--this is yarn I asked them to order for me, that they don't usually carry. It's coming out to about eight yards of this stuff.

As for the lifeline thing--I'm not good at doing that, and really not good at putting stitches back on the needles without twisting them (there's a line of twisted stitches in another sock for that very reason. Partly eyesight, and partly lack of experience. So though I know it's supposed to be faster than tinking, for me it probably wouldn't be.

I've had this happen with yarns when I'm turning my work in the opposite direction that the yarn was plied - essentially untwisting it. Re-twisting has always worked for me. Either flip, flip, flip by hand, or (faster and more fun), I'll do a half-hitch around the ball, so that the ball will hang without unwinding (so much easier to show than try to describe!) and give it a good spin. You can over-spin a manageable length, and then gently run the whole un-twisted length through your fingers (off the ball) so that the over-spin distributes through that section. Might need to do this a few times, or section by section (maybe a yard or so at a time) to get the "normal" amount of spin back throughout the yarn.

ooh! just make sure that you're spinning it in the direction that will re-twist it, rather than untwist it even more! >_

That's a technique I hadn't thought of. Unfortunately, last night I cut the "untwisted" off at the "definitely OK" point of the ball, so I can't do it now. Will remember for next time. Thanks.

I've never had it happen before (and I'm knitting this sock exactly the same way as other socks) so I don't think it was me--especially since there were multiple wraps around the ball that were clearly different from the yarn before and after the yards of untwisted stuff.

Sometimes the yarn is just ...odd. Happens with commercial and hand-spun, natural and synthetic. It just is.

From time to time I've had problems with yarn over-twisting, and needed to let it un-twist a bit, in the same manner as I described for re-twisting.

Yes, I've had the very kinky yarn problem and had to let whatever I was working on hang down and unwind it some. Never had it unwind to this extent, though.

The only handspun yarn I have (not worked up yet) is pretty loosely wound, so I'll be careful with it that I don't encourage it to unwind.