This May Sound Nutty

I like Cascade 220 a lot. (This is not the nutty part.) Everyone who is a fan of this yarn, like me, is aware of its many virtues, but I have also always had one big problem with it: unusually rampant Torque.

You know, torque



when a yarn twists and twists until it twists back on itself while one is knitting with it causing knots and screaming.

Now, (this is the nutty part,) I don’t even remember how I came up with this idea, but it occurred to me that there might be something in the way I was winding it into balls that was causing trouble. And I further deduced, that when I take the ball off the ball winder, it might help to pull the lead yarn through the bottom. I suppose this unwinds the yarn from the center of the ball in the opposite direction from which it was wound into it? Whatever -- it WORKS. I am Torque-Free using this method, and I am So Glad.

However, I still don’t know why I think I need a Who Scarf



I never saw an episode of Doctor Who in my life, although my dad watched it all the time on PBS when I was a kid. People who are Who fans will see right away that my scarf is not authentic



I stole that image from the same place I got the pattern I’m using, a link I got from Ali's blog, The Doctor Who Scarf. That guy is Really Serious about his Doctor Who scarves. No doubt he would be appalled by my version. I wanted a scarf I would be able to really wear all time without dragging it on the ground, tripping on it, or shutting it in the doors of my always-muddy SUV. (My motto: if your SUV isn’t muddy, you didn’t need one.) So I scaled down the Season 12 pattern (the one with the most green) by width, casting on enough stitches for 8” wide, and by length, cutting the row repeats in half. I would have gotten a truer appearance, at least on the surface, if I had just stopped working at the half way point for a scarf half as long, with the long color blocks intact, but I wanted all the stripes.

Harking back to yesterday, I have completed five chapters of Harry Potter VI and I am enjoying it a lot. Much better than V which I gave up at the half way point. My husband wondered why I shelled out the cash for this book when I wasn’t able to slog through the last one. I explained to him I don’t give up on Authors I Have Liked without giving them plenty of chances to redeem themselves. They just don’t come around all that often. (He did NOT ask me why I felt compelled to dress up as a witch and attend a children’s party in the middle of the night.)