Ohhh, The Humaknitty!!!

I had such a nice evening. (Almost. We'll get to that.) Remember that mystery package I received word of on Saturday? Remember that swift and ball winder that I ordered from Joann Fabrics? The ones that they shipped on THURSDAY? (Please allow 7-12 business days, etc.?) Let that sink in - shipped Thursday, arrived Saturday.

Anyone spot anything different about my knitting room?



Wait, wait, let me give you a hint:



Wheee! Hurray for Joann and their lightning-fast shipping! I immediately wound the second skein for my Lost Coast socks (photo of at least one finished sock coming soon, I promise). Oh, and I almost took my hand off with the swift. (Note: you gotta pay attention while you do this stuff, try to avoid sticking your hand - or head - real close to a juggernaut yarn swift.)



A finished ball in about four minutes! Travis' arms give thanks for the swift, mine give thanks for the winder.

But then.....tragedy struck. I snatched my darling cashmere sock yarn off the shelf. I have one, count it, ONE skein of anything cashmere in my collection. I carefully snipped the loose ends free, put it on the swift, and....ooh, that's not a good idea. So I attempted winding it delicately off the skein. Nothin' doin'. This skein was ANGRY. This skein wanted to be a SKEIN, dammit, not a ball - and it certainly did not want to be knit! I spent probably twenty minutes accusing the skein, its cousins, relatives, friends, and even mother of being .... well, it wasn't flattering - and then I finally gave up. After 20 minutes I'd wound 15 yards and broken two knots, and I had a hopeless mess.

Here lies my cashmere:



It breaks my heart - I put her in a box and closed it up. God forgive me, I couldn't bear to look at her. I even emailed Yahaira to beg for forgiveness and answers. The skein was hopeless, I knew that - but where did I go wrong?? Goddess that she is, she offered, among other potential solutions, to try to wind it for me if I mailed it back to her. (No, no, no...I like her far too much for that - I can think of one person I would consider tying to a chair in a locked room with this skein of yarn and the instructions, "Figure it out," and trust me, she'd deserve it...no one else on the planet should have to suffer in such a way. Trust me when I say I REALLY mucked this up good. You've heard of making a bad situation worse? Yeah.) Long story short ("Too late!"), I ruined my cashmere, Yahaira is still a saint (once again, my heartiest endorsement her shop) and yet I'm probably going to end up trying this again very soon because I NEED cashmere socks.

Oh, but the rest of the evening - we had a nice quiet night, watched some Dane Cook Tourgasm on HBO over some calzones and Ritter's frozen custard. If anything can dull the pain of tragic cashmere loss, it's a Peanut Butter Mountain with cake-batter custard:



(Cue: "Only You" by The Platters, Peanut Butter Mountain spinning slowly in a dimly lit room.)

Meanwhile:



I found this photo on my camera this morning while I was uploading - I guess Travis must have taken it. I had to share - she's just so adorable.