Epiphany

The theme for this weekend seems to have been: It's not me.  It can't just be me.

Last night, I reached a rather frustrating conclusion.  It may be a little radical, but I'm sticking with it.  I think I may even compose a theme song or something, a little ditty to rally the troops around me...a call to arms, if you will.  I have decided that there is no excuse for poorly skeined yarn.  Further, there is no excuse for stupidly skeined yarn.  

There.  I said it.  I have no problem laying out cash for good yarn, especially if it is something I covet, something that will make me happy.  Sure, the non-knitting world may shake their heads at the very idea of a $25.00 pair of socks.  But everyone has their little weaknesses and I've come to love a good sock yarn.  Sometimes I even love it enough to buy two skeins of the stuff.

Fresh from my Monkey victory and a-tingle with the possibilities for new and exciting sock knitting, I delved back into the stash last night and came up with a rather lovely example of such yarn.  It is soft, beautifully dyed and has rather pleasant associations.  The day I purchased it was a fun one.  I'd picked up two skeins, thinking it might work as well for a scarf as for socks, but it really seemed to want to become the latter.  

However, one skein was a bit raggedy.  It looked like it was escaping from the twisted state in which I purchased it.  But, having had a little experience with winding yarn, I figured I'd be fine.  I wasn't.  Within minutes, the $25.00 hank of yarn had exploded into a tangled mass and thwarted my attempts to corral it back into something that resembled order.  

No problem.  I had another skein.  Flukes happen.  Thankfully, I was prepared.  I may have even chuckled just a little bit at the mess I'd created.  The second skein was brought forth from the stash and happy winding was anticipated.  

However, when I began to untwist the skein, I saw (to my horror) that the inner workings resembled ramen noodles.  It may have looked good on the outside.  But the inside...not so much.

I tried.  I really did.  But it was to no avail.  In the interest of cutting to the chase and making a long story short (er), I shall simply say that there is now $50.00 worth of very lovely and very tangled sock yarn unceremoniously tossed back into the stash room awaiting the day when my rage has gone down a degree or two.  

This is not the first time I've had a problem winding some of the pricier yarns.  I used to think I simply lacked the skill or an understanding of how certain companies make skeins happen.  But, I'm starting to think that maybe, just maybe...it's not me.

I have the technology.  I own a swift.  I even own a skein-winder.  I have a ball-winder.  The tools are at my disposal.  I know how to use them.  And, as a spinner, I've twisted up a skein or two myself.  I think it might just be that I am a victim of badly wound yarn, fiber so convoluted that no one save a navigator of some sort could work their way around it.

There is no excuse.  The Yarn Company Who Shall Not Be Named should be ashamed.  I only hope that when I finally rediscover the yarn dumped in the stash room I remember how much I paid for it and don't just toss it thinking that it was some cheap yarn I'd considered unworthy of winding.

Meanwhile, with the clock on school vacation week running down, I really wanted to get something on the needles.  Something of a kinder and gentler nature.  Something that wouldn't explode.  Stash diving recommenced and I surfaced with a skein of The Flock Bransonas that I won in a comment contest from Jane last summer.  It was bright, festive and, best of all, eager to go from swift to ball-winder to needles, unlike its cranky cousins.  

See?  I do too know how to wind yarn!

Of course, nothing is ever simple.  Getting the yarn into a center-pull ball is really only the first step.  Then you have to knit it.  And that has not gone quite as well.  I've been through three different patterns thus far today and am hoping that the fourth will be the one that sticks.  The time for fiddling around is over.  Tomorrow I'll be back at school and all consumed with educating America's future.  I won't see uninterrupted knitting time in any real way until April.  

Maybe by then I will have forgiven the ramen noodle yarn.

SA