Tuesday 15 August 2006

Where no swift dares to follow

Lady Eleanor is still fun to knit, but not as interesting as she was for the first half hour of our reacquaintance. For days now I've been itching to start some socks, a hoodie for my sister, a felted hot water bottle cover - anything, in fact, that's on my list of Things to Knit and doesn't involve buying yarn.

There are two reasons I haven't begun a new project. One is the spectre coughing softly at the edge of my guilty procrastinating conscience, and the other is the same spectre, sitting obstinately on my swift, eliminating any possibility of winding yarn. (I could of course have used the back of a chair, but I wasn't running the risk of exacerbating the spectre's cough, and thereby ruining my current listening pleasure).

I seem to remember blithely saying something like 'I think I will regret this' when I was spreading the yarn out to dry. Ha! I hadn't imagined the half of it.


If I had to choose my lowest point, it would've been this:


and while it wouldn't be strictly accurate to say that by this stage I had reached a state of Zen-like calm, I did find it helpful to repeat a little mantra as I worked: 'Thank God it's superwash, remember the Kidsilk Haze'.


Finally, at 4 pm today, I slid the ball of yarn off the baking parchment inner-tube (known affectionately as my 'bommyknocker' for obvious yarn-winding reasons), and sent it off to the yarn drawer. Not for punitive reasons, you understand, but just so it can hang out with the other yarn for a bit, and think about whether it's ready to behave yet.


Right, I'm off to wind some sock yarn. Yes, it is variegated. It's also already in my yarn drawer. I've done my time, and I'm ready to take whatever it chooses to throw at me.

Unless, of course, it chooses a ball of green yarn.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Two words: holy cow. You should be awarded some sort of medal. How long, would you say, the whole process took?

p.s. a certain something was mailed on Monday. It should take about a week to reach you (they say).

Anonymous said...

It's good to know I'm not the only person masochistic enough to keep fighting a tangle so profound. Though I will admit the other day it was with a ball of KSH that my dear, sweet kitten found. (She also attacked a nearby ball of Kid Classic: she likes the mohair A Lot.)

Marie said...

You are brave! I would have been reduced to tears at the low point. I spent last night untangling a skein while trying to wrestle it into ball form. Mine was nowhere near as bad as your green pre-center pull tangle but I ready to pull my hair out. Hurrah for perseverance! (And may that earn you extra inspiration on the sock project :) )

Ashley said...

Are you kidding me? Did you cry? I would have wept hot and bitter tears. I am profoundly impressed that you persevered.

raspberry beret said...

yippee!! congratulations

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry, but I cackled wildly when I saw those pictures (and immediately felt bad for having done so). Oh. Dear. Well done on working through it.

BTW: What felted hot water pattern are you planning on working from? I'm thinking of nibbling at the Great Yarn Mountain for the purposes of clothing my hottie, but I can't find a pattern.