Can you tell me the secret?

This is what I call a hank of yarn.

Periwinkle, Sky Blue, Aqua, Lime

When I purchase a hank of yarn, I make it into a ball, usually a center pull ball.  Mr. Aitch holds the yarn with outstretched arms and I wind it into a nice center pull ball of yarn.

I don’t do that with yarn already in a center pull ball-type skein like these.  I think they are ready to go.

I call these "center pull" skeins

 I usually pull out the middle hoping to find the end but most of the time it looks like it was disemboweled.

Disemboweled yarn

What’s the secret in finding the end of the yarn in the center of a skein of yarn?  Or do I have it all wrong?

Should I rewind these into my own ball so I can pull the yarn out from the center?

Anyone?

I make plans and lists

Sometimes those plans work out.  Sometimes those lists get checked off.

Just yesterday I discovered something about myself that I should have figured out long ago.  I must have a visible plan to get it off the ground.  It has to be sketched out for it to be real enough to move forward.

For example: The Craft Room in the Basement.  I have been dreaming of such a thing for many, many months/years/decades.    Yes, decades.  The plans have all been in my head.  They change frequently.  They never get off the ground.

Last night I put pencil to paper and started to Draw A Floor Plan.  I don’t have the exact dimensions of the space just yet but I needed to get the ideas on paper for me to get motivated to do something.

Clearing out all the junk and organizing the rest now has real meaning for me.

A week or so ago I found this awesome blog where this person planned out everything in her craft room down to the drawer and cabinet contents.  She had detailed photos of each drawer.  It was amazing!  Can I find that site now?  No!

I do more than knit.  I also paint, sew, cross-stitch, make jewelry, bead, use polymer clay, play with paper, draw, stamp and probably other things that I can’t remember right now but have the “stuff” that goes with it.

If you know of any great craft room design blogs or photos, please leave a link in the comments so I can check them out.

Thanks.

Royalty, knitting, and seasoning

You know how one bad thing follows another?

For instance you have pneumonia then you break a cap/crown on your tooth at 7:15 in the evening when none the dentists are available and it’s snowing outside?

o-o-h

Or you could look at it another way.  You get a four-day weekend and the opportunity for a shiny new tooth.

Royalty

Yeah.

The good news is that I’m feeling better. (Thank you for all the get well wishes.)  And it was a mere ($685) crown and not the actual tooth that broke.

My previous dentist retired so I changed dentists a year ago and have been to this new-to-me dentist a few times for cleanings.  “Good job.  Keep brushing and flossing.  See you in six months.” 

Nothing as dramatic as replacing a crown.  Cha-ching!  Been there.  Done that.  Have the souvenir.

On the up-side I finished the left front of the cardi I’m knitting.  The right side is to the arm hole shaping.  I was 15 rows into it and thought I missed a couple of row counts so I ripped it back to the beginning of the arm hole shaping, only to realize that I didn’t miscount.  Oh, well.  There’s still progress even with all the tinking and correcting mistakes.  (Results of the fuzzy pneumonia brain.)  Granted I am using worsted weight yarn and size 9 US needles.  It should go faster than fingering weight and size 2 needles.

Just before dinner last night Mr. Aitch made me laugh so hard, I thought I was going to cough up a lung.  Seriously, I was really hurting but it was funny, too. 

We (Mr. Aitch did help…a little) made a big pot of vegetable soup for dinner last night with the leftover roast beef and veggies we had for the dinner he fixed Sunday evening.  The soup was ready so Mr. Aitch said he’d get the salt and pepper to put on the table.  I said, ” I seasoned it already.”

Sneezonings

He said, “You sneezed in it already?” and started to laugh.  I started to laugh then went into a coughing fit for about five minutes.

It hurt.  No lungs were coughed up and I certainly didn’t need a couple of broken ribs on top of everything else!

Anyway, we thought it was funny.  Maybe you had to be there.