... not sure I understand what you mean by tangled, if they haven't had separating ties in them it will always bery diffficult to unwind them...
I have found the separating ties (I guess you mean the bits of spare yarn used to tie off two-three strands of yarn), the problem was that I didn't know whether they were to be left, or somehow used to elongate the strands or else... chopped off. Which is what I did after much headache and confusion. It seemed to help in loosening more yarn to pull in my ball, but after a bit I got tangled again.
Am I supposed to keep the separating ties in place and the whole skein rotates because you are pulling the yarn from it?
I found that one of the ties was the beginning/end of the skein - is there one end that is better than the other to start pulling?
(OH not good with this sort if thing and wouldn't lend his arms for attempts. I ended up using my feet kept widely apart!
)
Can you borrow a swift and ball winder - who is near you?
I could have a shufty around jaykay, but I don't have a car that I can use at my pleasure most of the time (OH tends to keep it for himself), so I couldn't go and collect them even if somebody was close enough; there's always the hoarding issue (which OH kindly lets me not forget), and also I think I'm actually missing some important bit of info in this matter
I would like to learn how to do it myself before acquiring/borrowing more equipment. Also I tend to buy balls anyway, I have very few skeins atm (will have more when I spin more).