Monday, May 15, 2006

To Victory, go the Swift…

Well folks, we’re drowning up here in New England :) The counties in Massachusetts, southern New Hampshire and southern Maine have gotten between 10 and 15” of rain over the last three days.  Every river in the area is flooding and a state of emergency has been declared.

We are lucky as we live at a relatively high elevation in the city, but those down by or near the Merrimack River have had and are going to continue to have serious problems.  I keep thinking about what this would have been like if it were snow!

Dad and I had a wonderful lunch at Lord’s on Friday and I even cheated to the extent that I had (part of) a hot fudge sundae for desert.  I managed to avoid ice cream (and indeed most sugary things) on the ship - but this once, for a birthday celebration, I just couldn’t resist.  It was heavenly!

On the way home, we stopped at a couple of thrift shops.  Dad is looking for a substantial piece of luggage as the one he’s been using is only being held together with spit and wishful thinking.  He seems to feel that if he can just hit the thrift shops at the right time, one of them is bound to come up with just what he’s looking for.

Well, he didn’t find his luggage (though I hope he does) but I did find something - something totally unexpected and delightful!

A swift (mine is the 4th one down on this page)!  Unbelievable!  These sorts of things don’t usually show up in thrift shops, any more than good yarn does, but there it was at the bottom of a box containing abandoned embroidery projects and fabric scraps.





It clamps on to the table and the spokes work exactly the way an umbrella’s spokes do.  There’s a little thumb “switch” (for lack of a better word) that you press and the spokes expand or contract to conveniently hold your yarn hank.





Then, assuming the hank isn’t tangled or anything, you can just unwind it as the spokes rotate and wind your ball.  I quickly realized that winding directly from the swift isn’t really a good idea as pulling the yarn down would stretch it too much.  So, I unwind a little bit into a colorful heap and then wind the ball from that.  It works beautifully!  And it is much easier on my back than draping the hank around my knee and leaning over it to unwind the yarn :)





This is a hank of Classic Elite Wings in progress here.  I also wound my last two hanks of Cascade 220 yesterday - and boy - does that hank make a big ball!  I don’t think this swift is particularly new; the top of the clamp is plastic and is slightly yellowed so I believe this is a few years old anyway.  But it has only ever gotten slight use, if any as it’s clean, in very good shape and works like a champ :)





I’m just tickled to death with this thing and am having to be quite firm with myself or I’d be winding everything in the apartment including extension cords and cats’ tails!.

The best part?  It cost $1.99…

I’ll probably find a ball winder in the Salvation Army next week for 89¢!

I have finished the body of the Dragon Wings shawl and am now futzing around (and have been since yesterday afternoon) with trying to figure out how to do an edging that will be attractive, not exceed the limits of the yarn I have left and take care of the binding off without puckering or ruffling.  But I have a head full of ideas and numbers so I expect I’ll get there eventually - I may even have something to show you on Wednesday.  Cross your fingers!

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1. Wow, what a GREAT find, congratulations!

   Posted by  on  05/15  at  10:54 AM
   Location : IndiANna



2. That’s great! I went winding crazy when I splurged on a ball winder.

   Posted by Abi  on  05/15  at  11:33 AM
   Location : London, UK



3. Lisa, Abi - Thanks guys!  I feel very fortunate and lucky :) This thing is a lot of fun!

   Posted by Robbyn  on  05/15  at  11:41 AM
   Location : ...recovering from the exercize bike!



4. i think the people living in your part of the country might need an ark! fortunately grey rainy days are always pretty good for knitting-

   i’m always amazed at the bargains you locate- i think when i shop people see me coming, think ‘ha, here’s another sucker,’ and mark items UP!

   can’t wait to see the completed shawl- i love that red and cascade almost always works up into something special-

   stay happy-

   Posted by  on  05/15  at  11:51 AM
   Location : right here- waving at you...



5. Barb - The weather, well, it’s been setting records all over New England...and cold for this time of year too - about 45F.

   I expect to spend a lot of time today trying out various edging ideas - I’ll say this for the Cascade (aside of being nice to work with and a drop dead color!) - it takes frogging extremely well.  I must have tried and pulled out a dozen attempts last night and it still looks just fine!

   Posted by Robbyn  on  05/15  at  11:57 AM
   Location : ...recovering from the exercize bike!



6. A swift! How awesome. I’ll bet the folks at the thrift shop did not know what it is, so put it into a box of odds and sods.

   At my thrift shop yesterday C&C Great Britian mohair, in one pound bags, for $2.99. I stood there for 20 minutes but could not figure out what to do with it. There were a couple of them, black, white and one red, so if anyone has an idea .....
   Thinking dry thoughts for you.
   amaryllis

   Posted by  on  05/15  at  04:24 PM
   Location : Spring!



7. Wow, what a find!  And I was just about to email to ask if you were under water!  We have been threatened with real drought here in PA, but have, thankfully, gotten some rain in the past week.  Stay dry, and have fun with your new toy.

   Posted by Rob  on  05/15  at  04:24 PM
   Location :



8. Oh, wow!  I have a ballwinder, but a swift would be magnificent!  Great find!  My new toy this week is a drop spindle ... and I’m having all sorts of fun trying to figure THAT out.

   Posted by Colleen  on  05/15  at  04:50 PM
   Location : *daydreaming about owning a swift*



9. Amaryllis - Goodness, for mohair I would probably have ignored the colors - or thought about dying them :) I have found exactly one ball of decent yarn in the thrift shops :)

   Thanks for the dry thoughts :)

   Posted by Robbyn  on  05/15  at  05:54 PM
   Location : ...recovering from the exercize bike!



10. Rob - Thanks for the kind thought - we’re well above the river here though only about 1/2 a mile away.

    I’m trying to think of something to make with either the pink or the dusty aqua “Wings” so I’ll have an excuse to wind more balls of yarn!

    Posted by Robbyn  on  05/15  at  05:56 PM
    Location : ...recovering from the exercize bike!



11. Colleen - I have no doubt you’ll figure it out and be spinning your own stuff in no time :) I keep telling myself I don’t need another stash - I don’t think that’ll work forever though :)

    Posted by Robbyn  on  05/15  at  05:58 PM
    Location : ...recovering from the exercize bike!



12. Woohoo! What a thrilling find! I NEVER see things like that...enjoy!

    Posted by Bron  on  05/15  at  09:13 PM
    Location :



13. Bron - Well, I certainly never expected to find anything like this in a thrift shop - let alone at that price :) Sometimes you just get lucky!

    Posted by Robbyn  on  05/15  at  10:16 PM
    Location : ...recovering from the exercize bike!

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