Resorting to the Bottles

It's been raining roundabout Exit 151 and the humidity has been making my hairy Blue Face Leicester turn stubborn again, twisting back on itself to form pigtails and refusing to ply. After all, if humidity causes human hair to curl, just imagine what happens to wool. It's enough to make one resort to the bottle... or maybe three.



It turns out (unopened) wine bottles make a serviceable plying stand. I wound the singles into center pull balls on a ball winder, placed them on the necks of the bottles, and plied away. The slight tension on the singles greatly reduced pigtailing. Heavier bottles would be good – these tend to teeter a bit, which on the plus side does focus the attention, particularly when the red wine wobbles. Hm... must find some magnums.

I'd been thinking about knitting rolled mittens but the thrummed mittens in the new IK are awfully cute. Hairy 3-ply Blue Face Leicester yarn would make an excellent outside and Kool-Aid dyed Merino roving an excellent inside, doncha think?

Which reminds me of this immortal bit of poetry attributed to George A. Strong and likely also involving a bottle or three:

       He killed the noble Mudjokivis.
       Of the skin he made him mittens,
       Made them with the fur side inside,
       Made them with the skin side outside.
       He, to get the warm side inside,
       Put the inside skin side outside;
       He, to get the cold side outside,
       Put the warm side fur side inside.
       That's why he put the fur side inside,
       Why he put the skin side outside,
       Why he turned them inside outside.