Beautiful yarn can be almost hypnotic. I’m particularly drawn to the mulitcoloured kettle dyed yarns – there is so much depth and richness in colour. Of course it’s great to knit with such lovely colours, but sometimes it’s nice to take a break from the knitting and wind some yarn by hand. I have to admit that I don’t do that often anymore. I mean, I knit a LOT, and yarn winders are awfully handy. But I used to really enjoy the small break between projects when I wound the yarn for the next.
I’d watch the ball grow and allow myself to be mesmerized by the colours. Pretty soon, my mind would relax and roam free.
Winding a skein of fingering weight yarn – around 400 yds – is really quite a perfect way to relax.
…..although I have to admit that winding 2,400 m of laceweight is not relaxing at all. Not. At. All. In fact, that’s what made me break down and buy a ball winder.
For me, it was the first ball of Misti Alpaca lace weight in a multi-skein project that broke me. But then just last week I hand-wound a 250 yard skein of handspun to look at all the pretty colours. I guess that means we’re both perfectly normal, right?
Perfectly!
My winder sits in the closet unused. I much prefer hand winding although a large skein of lace due to arrive soon may be a game changer. Love your yarn pictured.
Thanks! It’s malabrigo sock in stonechat & lettuce.
Yes. even with the ball winder the meditative qualities of watching the yarn transform from skein to ball (or cake) often help … i’m still trying to figure out how to hook up a motor to my ball winder so those large lace skeins will go easier… that is a very gorgeous colourway, i look forward to seeing it transform into finished knit!