Victory!

Can you believe it?? It’s DONE!

I spent nearly all week working on the first of three balls of navy blue silk yarn, and I finally felt like I hit a breakthrough late last night, so stayed up way too late winding yarn. Then, by this afternoon, with help from the kids (who find my ball winder to be most fascinating) the first ball was done. Then this afternoon my good friend Steve came over and asked me why my ball winder and swift were out, and I showed him the remaining two hanks. Next thing I know, he had the twisted mass of yarn all straightened out and ready to go on my swift, and so the second ball went much quicker!

Once Steve got it all figured out about which end was which, after a few times of untwisting the yarn from around the hank it was actually pretty smooth going. I sometimes wonder if it’s my eyesight and perhaps I can’t see where the yarn is going, so I set it up wrong in the first place? I don’t know… but Steve was able to get it all sorted out, so the rest of the yarn got balled up today! Yay!

I actually love my ball winder. It’s the Jumbo Ball Winder by Strauch. I got it last year at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, and I have loved it! It was so worth the money to have something so sturdy. I got it because even though it comes with a clamp to clamp it to a table, it’s not 100% necessary to use the clamp, as long as you don’t wind it at breakneck speed. All of my tables have aprons under the table top so none of the ball winder clamps work on my tables anyway. So this one is good and sturdy and as you can see, it winds HUGE balls!

After I did the second ball, my mom and Tony showed up and prepared dinner, so Steve settled on the floor to tackle the third ball:

Next thing I know, BoyZilla wanted to take a turn on the ball winder:

So, the yarn has been conquered and tamed into balls, and soon it will be on its way to becoming the February Lady Sweater.

This week… I swatch.

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Now This Is How It’s Supposed to Go…

Tonight I decided to be brave and try to wind one of my other Lisa Souza yarn hanks into a ball. My daughter gave me that, “Mom, you’re NUTS!” look as I began to drag out the swift, knowing full well my troubles from the last week. But I knew that the hanks from this one particular colorway of yarn seemed to be more tightly wrapped than the others, so I figured my chances of success would have to be pretty good. I was right.

My kids both found my new Strauch Jumbo Ball Winder to be a wondrous machine, and enjoyed immensely taking turns at the crank. I’ll have to get pictures of them doing this next time since they seemed to enjoy it so much. I am now happily swatching for my Elizabeth Zimmermann February Baby Sweater from Knitter’s Almanac. (Note to self: I’m using the 3 mm Harmony needles for my swatch. I can’t tell yet, but I think they’re going to be too big. I’m a loose knitter. Wonder how many repeats of the stitch pattern I’ll have to add to make the sweater fit an actual baby?)

New Baby Knits Book

BabyKnits Hats & Booties–by Edie Eckman, Bonnie Franz, and Debby Ware. Well, it’s new to me, anyway. I bought it yesterday while at my knitting group at Borders. I especially love the hat and bootie set on the cover, but as a mom of people who used to be actual babies? I’m not sure what I think about the ribbon yarn in terms of safety. I’d probably substitute with icords or something. That said, there are some SERIOUSLY cute patterns in here! Definitely worth a look if you want to knit something cute, and maybe a little fun, for baby.

Festival Haul

Howdy, Peanuts! Do forgive me for not so much with the blogging. My mom’s been ill and was just released yesterday after 11 days in the hospital. She’s had a tough year but I’m hoping now she’ll be turning a good corner.

So, what I left out of my blog the other day, was photos of The Haul from the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. So here goes.

First and foremost was this:

It’s a Strauch Jumbo Ball Winder. I’ve been wanting one for a while because I tend to buy these really huge hanks of yarn when I go to fiber festivals. This year was no exception.

These are both Mountain Colors Weaver’s Wool. The top one is Mountain Twilight, which is deep blue and dark purple, and Sun River, which has oranges, purples, and burgandy. I love them both and couldn’t pass them up.

I also have to admit that I am no longer a Socks that Rock virgin! I did NOT, repeat, DID NOT subject myself to the craziness that is is the now legendary Saturday Morning Sock Line at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. No, I was saner than that. But, I admit to being mildly curious, and at just after 2:30 in the afternoon I got a whim of “what the heck” and went to The Fold‘s booth and was pleasantly surprised to find that there was some sock yarn left to look at. The one at the left is called “Purple Rain” and of course I love it!

I also got these:



Socks that Rock Mediumweight, colorway: Hot Flash

Socks that Rock Mediumweight, colorway: 24 Carat

I guess the truth is that I could not just pick one color. I now know why the stuff is so adored by the people who buy it. It’s Soooooooooffffffffttttt. It has to be the squishiest sock yarn I have ever felt. Charmin Soft. Really.

Also in the booth at The Fold was this yarn I had never heard of:

It’s called Seppho, by the Sanguine Gryphon, and the color is Purple Breasted Muses. How could I pass up a name like that? It’s laceweight, which I generally don’t use, but I have been searching for the perfect laceweight yarn that I would use, if I had some. I think this is it.

There was one more batch of sock yarn:

This is Wullenstudio Merino Sock Yarn, in a colorway also called Purple Rain. I bought two because I have a friend in mind for a pair of socks out of these, and she has some unique requirements that could take more than one hank for a pair. There was a sample pair of socks knit up at the CloverHill Yarn booth, and they were so pretty that they had this friend’s name written all over them. Hopefully I’ll knit them up someday soon!

And so comes the end of the haul. Thank goodness! My wallet is definitely thinner. But there was one last little thing:

I got myself the much-coveted Ravelry tote! Their online store isn’t quite ready for prime time, but I was able to get one at the party. Should’ve gotten the lapel pins, too, but they’re patiently waiting in my shopping basket of the Ravelry store. I needed another tote bag, didn’t I? Suuuuure I did. You know it. (I won the Namaste Needle Cozy at the party. Since I don’t use straight needles anyway, Diana found a home for it right quick.)

Phew! Aren’t you glad that’s over? PS… don’t show this post to my husband. He’d faint.