Where have you been all my life?

A couple weeks ago, I had enough. I was cranking away on Finn's holiday sweater and discovered that I needed to ball up another skein of yarn. I grabbed a new skein of Classic Elite Provence and started winding up a ball, by hand. In no time at all, the skein had become a tangled mess. So, instead of spending my evening watching TV and knitting, I was watching TV and spending 2 hours untangling a monster. Completely inefficient. I have precious little time to work on my projects, between work and family, so that sort of time suck really gets to me.

The next day I started to think about ball winders and swifts. For my non-knitting friends, that is a contraption that winds your hank of yarn into a tidy ball... with ease and speed. The problem is, they are not cheap. Every time I have a little money in my pocket to spend on my crafting, I consider this purchase. But then, I see some really fun yarn, or fabric, or something catches my eye, and all practicality goes out the window. But, this time, I had had it. I was serious. I went online and started pricing out expensive and unsexy winders and swifts.

Yikes! I saw a sale! Knitpicks had their $84.99 swifts for $50.00. My birthday was a week away so I decided to make my mom's life easier and send her a link to the sale page. (She's a busy woman you know.) She happily ordered me a ball winder and swift and had it shipped right to me. I got it last night. Oh man, I have a new love.

Knit Picks Ball Winder and Swift

I joyfully wound more balls in the last 2 days than I need, I couldn't help myself! I cannot believe that I put off this purchase for so long. This is making my life so much easier. And it got me to thinking about all my favorite crafting items, and how unsexy they are. My seam ripper, my good scissors that must not be touched by any other household member by penalty of death, my knitting bag and needles. Those are the items that 40 years from now, I will look at and muse about how long I've had them, how many projects they have seen come and go, and how much they have meant to me. I can only imagine that people who love to build things feel this way about their tools and bakers feel this way about their pans. Only crafters wax poetic about their ball winders and swifts.

– Cassandra