Friday, November 02, 2007

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!

5 comments:

Christy said...

If you bring your yarn on Wednesday, I can bring my swift and ball winder. I just need a reminder! :-)

Terri said...

I am so sorry about that mess. If Christy hadn't volunteered her equipment, I would have volunteered mine. Glad you got the yarn vomit corrected.

Anonymous said...

You're one piece of equipment ahead of me; I don't have a ball winder either. It takes me about 30 minutes to wind a skein by hand! And I'm the queen of yarn vomit. I once had a skein that got so bad it took two of us several hours to make sense of it. I've added both the my Christmas list.

Hey, at least you've gotten Scott in the yarn store enough that he knows what you need. Stace didn't even know what they were until I put them on my list and explained them to him. I'm still not totally sure that he gets it.

And I agree about the Studio. I've shopped places that charge for winding!

Anonymous said...

And, of course, if Christy and Terri get struck by lightning or run over in a freak Zamboni accident or something, I can bring mine!!! (yes, I'm punchy...long day...)

Linda said...

You guys are great! Just make sure that you don't *ever* tell Scott that you are willing to share your equipment, otherwise he'll never agree to buy me one!

I don't think I'll be bringing the yarn on Knit Night (altho I will be there) - for reasons I will explain that night.