OK..I got this from Martha stewart! But I have to share because I think it is a really handy way to keep track of your yarn.
Keep unruly balls of twine in line with big aluminum funnels, which serve as organizers and dispensers. Hammer a nail through each funnel near the top lip, attaching it to the wall of a shed or back of a door. Place a ball of twine or string in each one; run the ends out the spouts. it will roll around in there and keep giving you your yarn!

Anyone else have any clever ways you keep your yarn twine or string in check?

you can put it in a tin can. my work also got these awful "Shaker string holders" by accident, and we sent them back, but they were basically cast iron eggs on bases that were in an open, lacy pattern with a hole for the string. i'm sure you could rig one up with an old fake Faberge egg or something.

i keep my string on the old spool rack that came with my loom.

stella