I had occasion to stroll back through the archives and find this post about winding wool into a ball.
Then, thinking about how much fun it is, got out this recent fibre archeological find at a church thrift store dig. The labels were inside the cone; I have not yet researched them (good ol' google) to get some provenance/history on the yarn.
Yep, I remembered how to do it. If sound was involved it would be "bdipbdipbdipbdipbdipbdip….."
Dah – dum. Three sips of tea later.
Another nice thing about center-pull balls is that if you want the yarn doubled you can use the ends of one ball (outer and inner).
Now I think I will take my own suggestion about carrying a small ball of yarn around and use it like worry beads or finger-tapping or simply employing a physical motion to be in the present.