In Which I Realize I am not the Smartest Person in the World

It's hard to admit, but I may not be the smartest person in the world (you may disagree, of course). Remember the devil yarn that I couldn't wind right the first time? There's more...

Last week DH had some spare time so I decided to have him help me wind the second hank. I unwrapped the hank and much to my displeasure ran into the same issue I had last time: the label was looped in the *middle* of the yarn. Last time I removed the tag by cutting the yarn, resulting in the aforementioned two balls of yarn.

This time, I wrestled with the tag for several minutes, trying to figure out how to get the tag off of the yarn without cutting the yarn. DH stared at me while I was doing it, and while I was taking a short "stress break" (in which I swore I would never buy this yarn again!) he calmly reached over, ripped the corner of the tag off, and freed it from the yarn.

Yes, paper tags do tear. I have learned a lesson. Oh yeah - I ran out of yarn and now need to buy another hank. This time I will let The Studio wind it for me.

Christmas Knitting...

I wasn't sure what I would be able to post in the next few weeks since so much of what I'm knitting is going to be gifts for people who may read this blog. (People who *don't* read my blog are usually deemed unworthy of knitted gifts - sorry!) However, one gift I'm making can be mentioned on this blog - the hat I'm going to make for the husband.

I may have posted eariler that I have already made a crocheted cap for DH. He wears it sometimes, but the openness of the double crochet makes it unusable on really cold days and I haven't gotten around to lining it yet. So...hubby has started asking for another hat...here's his request: "a hat like the other one, only with smaller holes and a skier on the side"

"a skier on the side" means he wants a colorwork image of a skier, similar to the Atari-era Indiana Jones I put on Linc's knitted hat last year.

This presents me with 2 problems: 1) I don't know how, nor do I want to know how, to do intarsia in crochet, and 2) I used an online image of Indiana Jones to make Linc's hat (no big deal since he's just 10 pixels)...there is No Way In Heck I could design a skier motif.

What do I do? Do I ... Make a knitted cap and try to find a simple skier design to incorporate? Make a crocheted cap with just a stripe? Or do I chuck the whole thing and buy him a pair of gloves instead? What would you do?

The Beast

It has two ears, two arms, and two legs. It doesn't have a face, but I'm hoping my mother-in-law can help me with the embroidery.

Yes - The beast is complete. Lincoln loves it (and kept trying to hug him as I was weaving in ends), and Scott says "it's the first bear you've knit that actually looks like a bear)...

Pictures may follow, but you know how bad I am about pictures.

In other knitting - my v-neck vest just needs the armbands picked up, Lincoln's Tomten is 1/2 done, and both have been put on hold as I've cast on for my Secret Christmas Knitting.

Why I need a Swift

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Studio to buy some yarn for a gift. I had exactly 1/2 hour before I was due back home to relieve hubby from baby duty (or baby doody - same thing). After 29 1/2 minutes, I chose some fabulous yarn and proceeded to the checkout counter. This is when I made The Mistake. The yarn came in a hank (2 hanks, to be exact). Sarah, the most fabulous shop employee ever, asked,

"Would you like this wound?"
"No" I replied.
"Are you sure? It won't take long"
"No - I don't need it right away. I'll do it myself".

Fast forward two weeks. I head to our new knitting/office room, and dig out the hanks. Hubby takes kiddo to the basement. I unwrap the first hank, wrap it around my knees, and proceed to wind it using my handy ballwinder.

Problem 1: I run into an end. Apparently, what I thought was a yarn end was actually where I had accidentally snipped the yarn when undoing the hank. I start over.

Problem 2: As usually, the yarn comes loose off my knees, and proceeds to become a yarn vomit mess. After over an hour, I have un-vomited the yarn and wound the ball.

Problem 3: I still have one hank left. Haven't gotten to it yet.

After I was done, I walked downstairs and hubby notes: "You really need one of those ball-winder-helping things like they have at the knitting store."

Uh, duh. Good thinkg Christmas is around the corner.

PS - There's a big thread on Ravelry about this - apparently there are lots of LYSs that won't wind hanks for you, and a lot of LYS employees that are bitter about people even asking for it. Next time you're at the Studio, make sure you tell them how much you appreciate their great customer service!