Cheap and Easy Center-Pull Balls

I think center-pull balls of yarn are the bee's knees. I like that i don't have to put down my knitting to unwind yards of yarn to avoid the ball bouncing around. I used to distrust center-pull balls because they tangled so often. I only recently started shopping at my local yarn store and haven't had any problems with the balls they wind for me.

I had some yarn left over from my latest project and the skein was in a tangled heap by the time I finished using it. I remembered that my Vogue Knitting Knitopedia has directions for making a center-pull ball using an empty toilet paper roll. It was a very simple process and went by faster than I expected. I still don't think I will use this method for large hanks of yarn, but it is perfect for leftovers that will go into my yarn stash.

I pulled apart the roll at its natural seam to secure 

the yarn end pointing inside of the roll.

Then I wrapped the yarn around to form an X. I wrapped 

several times to form the left diagonal then changed 

directions to form the right diagonal. 

My third small ball. 

I did three progressively better balls, but forgot to insert label information before I removed the roll. The book suggests using a figure-eight, but I had trouble doing that method. I think that it will form a neater and more balanced ball. My real test will be if they all pull from the center without any snags.

Do you like to make your own center-pull balls? Have you tried using a ball winder or a nostepinne?