Yarn Susan

Last month (Jan 17th) I read TECHknitting™ blog on The Ball Winder - a useful tool.  In it she talks about winding all her yarn. ALL yarn. Yes, even skeins of yarn. She explained she winds her skeins of yarn into yarn cakes because she can see if there are any knots, any flubs, dirt, etc. before she is actually using the yarn in a project. I thought hmmm.... that idea is great! You don't know how many times I have been knitting on a project and come across a knot. It is so frustrating! Especially if you are using variegated or striping yarn. By the time you cut out the knot, the yarn may or may not match up to where it was in the color. I immediately ran into my yarn room and wound two skeins of worsted weight yarn into cakes. (This yarn was for the St Brigid's Carnamoyle Stockings)

It is a great article and there is so much more information I highly recommend reading it.

On Jan 18th on TECHknitting™ blog I read Ball Winders Part 2: Avoiding the Yarn Twist.
Again, an excellent article and I highly recommend reading it. She had some comments from her readers to be careful because winding and rewinding yarn can cause yarn twists.  So she did a lab experiment and reported on how your yarn twists due to winding your yarn using the ball winder.  I didn't even know there was a yarn twist problem. I thought my yarn was twisting because of the way I throw it when I knit (I'm a thrower not a picker).  Her conclusion and recommendation is to pull the yarn from the outside of the yarn cake not the middle.

Well, I like pulling the yarn from the middle. Then I don't have to chase it all over the place. I guess I could find a bowl or something for it to jump around in but it is just easier to pull it from the middle. And, every now and then hang the yarn to untwist it. :sigh:  Does it really matter if the yarn twists?

TECHknitting™ must have heard my thoughts because on Jan 27th, she answered that question in her blog, Avoiding yarn twists--why does it matter? Yes, another must read!
At the end of the article was a link to a new gadget.

I was speechless when I clicked on the link and watched a neat knitting tool.

A yarn susan!
I was so excited! I googled, I searched, but I couldn't find where to buy one. I showed my husband when he came home. He agreed, it was a neat gadget.

Imagine my surprise when my wonderful, fantastic, terrific, darling (enough gushing?) husband found where to get it AND ordered one for me!!!

It came in the mail yesterday! Of course I've already tried it out!

If you want your own, you can find them at Gosh-Yarn-It, LLC.

Now I'm off to play knit some more on my mitten using my fabulous yarn susan (love that name!)


p.s.
I have been a follower of TECHknitting™ blog for quite awhile now. Her blog is one of the first places I go to when I am looking for knitting help.