Yarn Management

I'm currently sitting next to a pile of blue yarn. It's just one hank that I've completely unraveled into a pile. This is in preparation for winding it into a nice ball so that I can make something from it. Tomorrow I will be taking a break from Christmas knitting. So, I'm going to work on a new hat for me. This hat will be the same color as the scarf that my mom knit for me. The pattern won't match, but the color will, and that's good enough for me. It's a very pretty blue. I'll post a photo some other time. In a moment I will get out my nostepinne and wind the yarn into a nice center pull ball. It's actually more of a yarn cake when I use the nostepinne. I do sometimes wind things into actual balls. Sometimes center pull is nice, but they get floppy as you get to the end, and that can be annoying. When that happens, or when I want that to not happen at all, I make a sturdy outer pull ball. And it's an actual ball and looks like a ball.

Background: I meet Michael for lunch at his parents' house most days of the week. It's close to his work, and forces me to get out of the house during the day. If I didn't do that, there would be multiple days that I wouldn't leave the house at all. I'm a bit of a hermit that way.

A few days ago I was at my in-laws' house for lunch. I'd gotten there a bit early to get lunch cooked, and the food was in the oven. My in-laws have two dogs, Bentley and Lexi. While I waited for the food to cook, I was preparing to cast-on for the second sock for my dad's Christmas present. The yarn I was using came wound in a ball already, but it's the kind that will get floppy as you go, regardless of if you start from the outside or the inside. I'd been dealing with a floppy ball of yarn with the first sock and was tired of it, so I decided to rewind the ball into a nice, solid outer pull ball to make my life easier. I was accomplishing this while sitting on the couch. Lexi decided her presence was necessary and proceeded to jump in the middle of the pile of yarn I was making in preparation for re-winding it. I pushed her off to the side and quickly grabbed my yarn up and moved my operation to the breakfast bar. Of course, in doing that the yarn got tangled. Anyway, I managed to untangle it and wind it all up. While I was doing that, Lexi came over and was staring up at me rather pathetically


and making funny noises to indicate that she wanted what I had. Apparently, she thinks that balls of yarn make good dog toys. I would have to disagree.