Friday, May 8, 2009

On All Tangled Up:















The package came in the mail yesterday afternoon. Six skeins of the most lovely cotton yarn. I took out the first skein and Mountain Man, hands at the ready, held the yarn so I could roll it into a ball. I promptly started my test swatch. The yarn was ever so soft and smooth. I couldn’t wait to get started on the project.

I carefully put the project aside for dinner, picking it up again after the dishes were done. In the early evening I was knitting away collecting rows on my needles when Mountain man came in from working on the wood pile. While he washed his hands to help me roll another ball of yarn, (so I wouldn’t have to stop my progress when the first came to an end) I went about untying the knots that held the yarn together on the second skein.

I sneezed just at that moment. A small thing really, when you think about it. Just one moment in time. A sneeze as I turned my head away, jerking my elbow up to protect the yarn draped over my hands ready for transfer.

This sneeze led to two and a half hours of my time being lost. How you ask? I’ll tell you.

As I sneezed I dropped the newly unknotted skein of yarn, King Tut cotton in a non pull skein. I had my hands in the loop of its silky smoothness. It flowed like water as it went down in slow motion, a honey colored ripple. 182 yards of tangled mass lay at my feet.

It took a little more then two and a half hours to untangle and wind it into a ball. I put it safely away for its turn in the making of the sweater that I am test knitting for Judith of Coffee and Tea gals.

Four more balls to go. This time they will be safely in the hands of Mountain Man as I untie and wind the balls.

I hope you never have to untangle a skein of yarn and that all your yarn transfers are sneeze free. Happy Friday folks, the weekend is almost here.

3 comments:

Mouse said...

The fastest way to get a man to buy you a swift is to ask him to stand with his hands out while you wind a skein of sock yarn into a ball... ask me how I know. One skein of Mountain Colors Bearfoot and he was all but headed down to the LYS to purchase one himself. lol.

rabbitIng said...

ouch! been there, done that. my worst was a skein of extremely expensive Lacis lace-weight pashmina, which ended up in a dozen tiny balls. fortunately I had enough to complete my wedding ring shawl and some, or else I might have had to renounce knitting lace FOREVER! ;)

very best knitwishes,
Ingrid

Judith said...

You know, I was winding a skein of King Tut cotton at my LYS. There were some snags so I thought to myself, "well, I'll just re-wind the ball when I'm done." It started out fine, then there was a big knot. I started unraveling it, but the ball of yarn in my hands just flew away and soon there was yarn everywhere. It looked like attack of the spaghetti-spewing monster! I finally gave up and put it all in a bag to take home and sort out. And it took me 2 hours or more at home, but I finally got it all to go just fine. I hate that ball of yarn to this day. :)