When I get a small ball or skein of perle cotton, I like to wind it around a big, fat, flat craft stick. It takes up less space (than the ball with the cotton wrapped around a squat cardboard tube), and the cotton can be unspooled without turning into a tangled mess (like in a loose skein).
As a bonus, it's also lollipop-like. Yummy candy colour. The bottom two are from The Cotton Mill Threadworks . They are a delight to work with, not to mention utterly gorgeous!
