Remember my lovely birthday present from my hubby and kids? Granted, my link isn't the exact one..apparently Knitpicks has changed it to a less expensive, yet, more versatile model. Well, all that aside, I really haven't used the darn thing much. I thought...OOOO...a ball winder, that'll be EASY! Right?
Not really.
There is actually a knack you either must be born with or you just have to practice alot. I was the latter of the two. This last weekend, as I was demonstrating the ball winder to a fellow knitter (with much trepidation about how my cakes would turn out) I FOUND my perfect technique! Hallelujah!
Everybody do the happy dance. :)
1st up we have the first ball of 6. This is how many of my early cakes turned out. THIS I could have achieved by hand*...no ball winder needed for this beauty. *Remind me to tell you a story about balls wound by hand when I'm done with the cakes....
2nd is another of the typical cakes. Very loose and airy. Huge...feels like it'll fall apart if you jostle it too much. I used a pen to give you a visual reference.
3rd, my cakes are getting better. This is the exact same yarn brand as the yellow. Notice how much more compact they are getting? It's still messy looking, though. Not neat and uniform.
Last up, we have perfection. 3 beautiful, perfect, little cakes. Same amount of yarn, same brand as the last two pictures, yet, oh so much more pretty to look at. I am actually excited to use them! LOL
I would love to run around showing all of my family my beautiful, little cakes...however, they would not appreciate it. Not like you will. :)
*Ok, true story about hand wrapping yarn. I am sitting at a powerlifting tournament a few weeks ago. I always take my crafting with me. I had either not started my project, or I had just finished a project and was wrapping the left over yarn up (which is the most likely of the two scenarios). Anyway, an older lady a row down and about 5 people over suddenly says "Can I tell you? You're doing that wrong." (I've been wrapping my yarn by hand for almost as long I've had children, and I've never had a problem with it.) I said "Ok." So she proceeded to tell me how to do it so that it can be a center pull ball. It was interesting, even if it seemed impractical and too hard to pull off (ie: How do you keep the yarn taut enough to keep it from unraveling while you wind it?). I thanked her for her advice. I, then, finished wrapping my ball of yarn the way I usually do and put it away. I laughed when my friend was like "that was sorta ballsy", cuz I know that if I had a better way to do things and I saw somebody doing it the hard way...I'd say something. :)
Ok, on to my book reading. I've been reading this book for what feels like forever. I have 2 more books of hers to read ,yet. Thankfully, only one of them is as thick as this. This is, by far, THE longest book I have EVER read. Interesting story, even if it is repetetive at times. They could have edited out about 500 pages and had the same impact. But, she was revolutionary for her time and her writing is as timely now as it was back then. I can hardly wait to read "Atlas Shrugged". :)
So close, yet, so far away.......
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Atlas shrugged is definitely a good read. It gives you a lot to think about. Thank you so much for your crochet patterns as well, they're great!
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