I love yarn. I’m a yarn collector. One of my favorite things to do is wind yarn. Ever since I got a swift and a ballwinder, I’ve enjoyed the sensory experience of winding yarn – feeling the yarn slide through my fingers, watching the colors change, watching the spinning swift and cranking the ballwinder, finding a rhythm as it curls my yarn up into a satisfyingly hefty little cake. I like to sit at my kitchen table and wind up my skeins, pondering what they will become – a cowl? A baby sweater? A pair of socks?
Usually winding is calming, a quiet, thoughtful process. But some days … some days, winding is an unmitigated disaster.
My ballwinder is probably just like the one most of you have – a little plastic contraption from Japan – and it requires some … attention. Sometimes, frankly all too often, the yarn gets caught up in the gears of the ballwinder and requires untangling. Usually, it’s simple. Usually, I catch it pretty fast and can tug out a strand of yarn and fix everything up and keep winding. Not today. Today, I spent about twenty minutes looking like this …
Today I had to actually cut the yarn in order to untangle it. Sigh. Must remember to keep a closer eye on that ballwinder. Or maybe invest in this.
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September 7, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Carrie
That is totally sucky. I have trouble with mine too sometimes, although my problem is more that I can’t ever figure out the right way to put the yarn on the swift. But, that yarn is really awesome!
September 8, 2008 at 9:51 am
Jessie
I feel your pain. There’s nothing worse than having to spend hours untangling yarn that would have otherwise been spent knitting it up!
September 9, 2008 at 6:44 am
Diane
I have the same problem……..but am adapting…..I tend to go to fast and that’s when I have a problem….