Do you see that nice little oval ball of yarn? Well, it represents a lot of frustration and wasted time. I got up and about early this morning in hopes of having a little knitting time.
Today is the first day of a mystery knit-a-long by Boo Knits, one of my favorite, favorite, favorite designers. Trouble is I didn't have yarn or beads picked out to start; and, our LYS is only open Wednesday thru Friday. Impatiently, I dug in my stash and pulled out this Madelinetosh Light in Esoteric (isn't that a cool name for a colorway?!). It wasn't the lace weight called for in the KAL, but I LOVE the color AND I found some leftover black beads!
Finished all my early To Do List and was all excited to settle down and cast on... until, duh, I realized that both skeins were still in hanks. You can't knit from hanks. I KNEW I should have just waited until tomorrow and took it in to the LYS to have it wound OR drove the 30 minutes to where my swift and ball winder were.
But, impatience took over. I only had a small window of knitting time; so, I decided to wind one hank into a ball the old-fashioned-way, without the benefit of a swift or an extra pair of hands. I knew the perils. Imagined that I would be extra careful. blah... blah... blah...
Any of you who have wound 420 yards of fingering weight yarn know that, if it gets out of control, the tangles can be vicious. At this point, I was starting to think about cutting it out! I KNOW that you have to struggle GENTLY with yarn tangles or they only get WORSE! But, man, oh, man, it can make you want to scream. As it is, I had yet ANOTHER life-lesson in patience and not fighting so hard against the problem at hand. I did finally get it all untangled... but, needed to step-away-from-the-yarn by then! LOL!
Thus, the need for a little comfort. I saw this recipe in an old Southern Living magazine when I was cleaning last week. It is a fresh apple and cream cheese goody. I'll have to report back on how it tastes. It is cooling right now... along with my impatience! ;)
Hope your week finds you making smarter, more patient choices!! And, it's not too late to join the Morticia Mystery KAL by Boo Knits!
"Patience is the companion of wisdom."
~ St. Augustine
blessings ~ tanna
40 comments:
the strung out yarn made me laugh. the cake made me want some! :)
Oh, you poor thing. Patience is not one of my virtues at all, and when it comes to things like tangling fine yarn, forget it! I end up throwing a hissy fit and pulling and ripping and yanking the yarn like a mad woman. Then it's worse, of course! Your apple goo cake sounds delicious. What a nice way to let off some steam.
My goodness.. what a mess. I'm so sorry. I've never had a lot of patience with anything, so I imagine that I would have found myself in the same predicament.
Baking is always a great way to re-focus, and have something wonderful, and tasty to show for your efforts.
BTW... that yarn is beautiful!
Well, I didn't understand a word you said until you got to the cake!! Hope all works out in the end. If not, just eat cake.
Best,
Bonnie
I always do that winding into the ball thing alone, I forgot totally that we used to help each other. But my yarn is much simpler and less than your incredible yarns. Well I think you did the right thing with that cake and I hope was just the ticket for pain relief!
Great quote, and your blog, by the way, is so colorful! Love coming by!
Oh I love the yarn color! Hang in there sweet friend...tomorrow is always another day!
I am planning on joining you...just finished my last test knit shawl today, some later on in the week I can settle down and start the MKAL with you....I still don't have beads, but I will soon.
Blessings always dear friend.
beautiful yarn, if I haven't someone to help I use a wooden chair turned upside down to help me wind my yarn, lol, your cake sounds and looks amazing, I think I can smell it!
I know you were having a bit of a fit with the yarn, but it is so gorgeous and the black beads are going to be spectacular with it. I am old fashioned, I have a ball winder but I like to do it the old way. I put my hank over one of my kitchen chairs and roll it all into a ball, I like it better than a yarn cake.
Good luck with the fun project.
Meredith
That is completely something I would do...no time to wait! My art and creating is much easier to 'fudge' than yours. Usually I am only dealing with embroidery floss and felt....and knots? They absolutely can be cut out! Only problem is rethreading the needle which my arms are barely long enough to hold these days. The cake looks delicious!
deep breaths...deep breaths....and big bites of cake!
Love, d.
See? This is one of the things I love about you. Petty inconveniences are NOT your master. Pop Pop and I could stand to take lessons. LOL! =) Eat a bite of cake for me! XOXO love you!
Bless your heart.....Frustration can be a bit overwhelming! I'm proud of you, for taking a break and moving on to something else for a while. By the way, that cake looks so super good. I sure would come over and help you, but I know that by the time I got there, you would have it all done..
hugs..
Shug
a very pretty color....that cake does look good...
oh, I saw that kAL and was soooo tempted, but restrained from yet another shawl (honestly, how many shawls can one person giveaway/own??? well, maybe one more, but just not now!)
I'm a hand winder....and deal with that trial of patience every time I wind. I have a chair that works quite well in lieu of the extra hands (most of the time), but when I'm lazy (most of the time) I think I can be R-E-A-L-L-Y careful winding around my knees. (The fact that this rarely works out well is never a deterent to me doing it again!!!) I feel your pain and frustration. Been there!!! (But you now are ready for that great shawl knitting!!)
Oh yeah I did that once on a car trip. It took three hours to wind one skein. After that I bought a swift and ball winder and now I am equipped to wind at home! It's a very good thing!
Some times you just have to have perseverance and redo and redo and redo. Your cake looked great. sandie
I wondered about that ball as I figured you surely had a swift! Yikes, a hank can turn one into a raving lunatic, can't it? I had one last week that was awful, and it was even on my swift. I concluded that it was possessed. So, I could sure relate to the "just cut it up" thought that tries to take hold and is hard to resist. That hank of mine is in time out, too, and it's been almost a week. Yours sure is a pretty color even if it's not well behaved.
I am so impatient that this is something I might have done. As I write I have a Banana-Nutella loaf baking, otherwise the sight of your cake might have sent me into a state!
I would love to hear your report about the cake. I have 3 lbs of Gala Apples that are calling to be used :-)
Nice is the color of the wool and the cake looks yummy!
Greetings, RW & SK
Oh Tanna, I can hear your frustration and have great empathy. Just a couple of weeks ago, the exact same thing happened to me, I was so frustrated, I had to just put the whole knitting bag back in the closet...sigh.But can I tell you...this yarn is just STUNNING♥
I was that way yesterday trying to make a garden flag illustration for licensing. I finally had to walk away. Hopefully today will be better. That yarn is beautiful and I can't wait to see what you are making.
Ive been there and done that too! So sorry.
I try to stay at the yarn shop long enough for them to wind it!!!
I want some of that cake...mmmm
Okay, I HAVE TO SAY I felt anxiety for you and this yarn Tanna. But the color is SOOOOO wonderful that I just KNOW you will conquer it!
Your bundt cake looks heavenly...and apple at this time of year? Perfect!
Ha! Your story sounds an awful lot like one of mine. I'm afraid I'm a little short on patience sometimes, too. I bet that cake was yummy! xo, janice
Dear Tanna, The cake looks sooooo good!!
As for the yarn, well, I know that when a knot appears it is nature to want to give a good tug!
It is a pretty color for the fall season or any season. Blessings dear. Catherine xo
How was the bundt cake?! Hopefully it was worth the wait to let it cool off.
Love this yarn color & that cake looks delish!
P.S.Thought you might be interested in a giveaway I'm hosting for eShakti & Invisible Glass :)
www.domesticsweetheart.com
Oh boy...have I been there and done that...!!! It is just so hard when you get those sorts of tangles! I had to laugh when I you said you found the recipe in a book 'while you were cleaning' I do like that sort of cleaning...where you start off...something catches your eye on the cover of a book...and before you know it, you are totally engrossed in an article, recipe etc! I do hope that the recipes turned out as tasty as it looks?? Hope you are well away with your wool now. Joan
I can't wait to see your masterpiece with that yarn... It is beautiful.
The cake is tempting too :-)
As a gardener and book writer I learned that patience (and tenacity) is EVERYTHING.
Thanks for this posting,
Sharon
The only person I know that can make a ball of yarn look pretty....and I can smell that cake. :)
Oh dear! I'm so sorry we were not open for your hour of need! Hope you are well on your way to finding lovliness with that yarn now. Hugs, Jen
Oh Tanna!... alone with 420 yards of yarn... you are lucky to manage it in balls.
And apple cake is so delicious... should i make one today? Why not...thank you for the idea!
Hi Tanna, I just popped over from Mereknits to say Hi! Ummm, I just broke down and finally purchased a ball winder and a swift. Now, as with many of us money is an issue, which is why I didn't have a ball winder or swift up until now them being so darn expensive. Well months of research finally turned up this combo on Amazon that you might want to look at...http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0078T6KQY/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and the swift at http://www.amazon.com/Stanwood-Needlecraft-Wooden-Umbrella-Winder/dp/B000IG1I8O/ref=pd_sim_ac_1 I can't sing their praises loud enough and am tickled that I have such a well constructed ball winder whose base is all metal and of course the swift is equally well made. If you shop around for the Stanwood Needlecraft models you won't regret it and might even find them less expensive than on Amazon. I just got tired of the tangled messes of my beautiful yarns :D Anyway, I love your blog and will be back for many more visits!
Hugs,
Beth P
Oh my goodness. Anything with cream cheese is delicious in my book. I've yet to meet a recipe with cream cheese I didn't like.
Champagne Lifestyle on a Beer Budget
Oh dear...I was trying not to laugh, because I know it wasn't funny, but your talent for telling a story just pulls me in.
However, when I'm frustrated...I bake. The cake looks wonderful, and I wish I could come and share a slice.
I'm still knitting dish cloths, and have given away over a dozen. I find the knitting helps my bursitis in my hands. Picked up fall colored yarn, so at least when I give them away, they'll match the season. HaHa.
Beautiful cake Tanna - you can't go wrong with apples, cream cheese and Southern Living :) Love the blue yarn and hope you got it un-knotted quickly :)
Hi Tanna! I think we have all been there more than once I am sorry to admit! :D Currently I am struggling with a tangled mess of the most lovely cashmere lace weight yarn. I finally gave in and purchased a ball winder and a swift... now don't go thinking I have lots of money, nope not a chance, lol. However, I found this great ball winder made out of metal and a really nice heavy plastic for $60.00 on Amazon. This is the link just in case you are interested http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0078T6KQY/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Thanks bunches for becoming my newest follower - I so love having friends online that I can share similar interests with :D
Hugs from your blogging sister in New Hampshire!
Beth P
P.S. I can smell that cake all the way over here, :D Yum!
Me again, gosh brain stutter... already told you about the ball winder! LOL! That's what happens when you try to make comments before caffeine!
Hugs again,
Beth
Ha-ha! Been there ... but I never did get all the tangles out. Just gave up and stuck it away somewhere never to been seen again. That yarn is a gorgeous color! :) Tammy
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