Hello from Germany!
Thank you for all your kind comments! We love, love, love reading them!
Again, my week didn't involve much crochet but lots of yarn winding. I am making progress but not as fast as I was hoping for. Unfortunatly the quality of the yarnwinder isn't helping much. I usually have to hold it firm while winding which makes my neck ache.
Which brand of yarn winder do you use and how is it working out for you?!
I saw some beautiful wooden ones online but they are really, really expensive (like this one). Plus shipping to Germany would add almost half the price again.
As I mentioned before I was gifted the left over yarn of my granny's sock yarn collection (this granny is still alive). I decided to make tiny corner to corner squares with it but I am not yet sure what they will become. Perhaps a blanket? One of my ideas regarding the squares is to add whites ones inbetween, so the color of the striped ones pops out. What you you reckon?
Last Sunday, we met my parents in Osnabrück which is a town halfway between our hometowns. The old town looked stunning in the sunlight! I really need to visit the town one day when the shops are open (I spotted a yarn shop). Oh and I even spotted some yarn bombing! Doesn't the spider look awesome?!
Hope you all have a wonderful week!
Take care
Anne
Lovely yarn cakes - but big eek! at the spider, and big yikes! at the cost of that wooden wool winder. I'm not sure if the make of mine but it's one of those white-ish plastic ones with red on. Seems to work ok. But it depends on the table surface and how square the edges are.
ReplyDeleteHm, I might have the same yarnwinder... I will try and add it to another table later tonight, perhaps it will stand for stable that way! Thanks for the tip :)
Deleteyes, (yikes about the cost of the wooden wool winder) at that price I would want an electric motor to turn it for me and not have to hand crank it!
DeleteThat spider has quite the hairstyle!!! LOL Hope you get to the yarn shop soon and tell us all about it. :-)
ReplyDeleteHehe, the spider might need a hairdresser......
DeleteBeautiful town with nice yarnbombs.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the winding tool, I have bought my stuff here :
http://www.seljord-vev.no/seljord/Vevutstyr/ "garnvinder" and "nøstemaskin"
they work perfectly. Not expensive.
Thanks for the webpage link! I will have a look around!
DeleteThat's a geat spider! Wonder how it was made. I wind yarn without a winder and it works very well. I have 7 skeins that I need to wind before starting to crochet a bag.
ReplyDeleteI think it is an amigurumi with lots of wild hair added to the head!
DeleteHow do you wind them without a winder?
I don't have a winder either...quite easy, just takes a bit more time. Anne, look for tutorials on how to wind centre pull balls...but look for a few...not all winding tutorials are equal. You want the ones that show you have to wind the wool so that it doesn't untwist. I am sorry I don't have a link handy to share.
DeleteWell, I happen to hate those kinda "square" yarn balls, whenever I find them I unravel them and I make them round, so that I'm able to work more quickly - but that's just my personal taste! I had no idea there were such cute wooden winders, they'd be a temptation to buy because they're lovely objects, too bad they're so expensive. I know there are much cheaper plastic ones, but I have no idea about their quality. xx
ReplyDeleteHaha, it's the other way round for me now! The round ones always tangle up for me...
DeleteWell, I'm using a plastic winder but I think that in wooden is more solid. But mine helps me having great balls from skeins without which it's not possible for me to use the skeins. Good luck with it !
ReplyDeleteThe wood one is certainly more solid (which is why I dream of it). Do you wind your new handmade yarn with it?
DeleteI love your yarn cakes!! I really need to get me a winder.... The squares are so pretty looking forward to seeing what you do with them :) Osnabrueck looks gorgeous, another German location I want to visit!
ReplyDeleteProbably a dumb rookie question, but what is the main advantage of winding up all your yarn? I guess if you have a lot of projects and/or a lot of yarn, it helps you stay organised, and keeps your yarn untangled? :) Since I'm just beginning with little practice patterns here and there, I just try to keep my yarn tidy in the balls I bought them in! :P
ReplyDeleteOsnabrück is beautiful! Your photos make me miss Europe and especially Germany, all those small towns you suggested I visit when I was there. :) When I was staying in a hostel in Melbourne last week, I shared a room with a German girl from Essen, not far from Dortmund!! Talking to her made me think of you. xx
Often yarn comes in hanks and it is necessary to wind them into balls or skeins so they can be used without tangling. If you want to work two different strands together, you can also use a winder to wind them together at the start instead of getting two separate balls tangling while you work.
DeleteOh, and I also love those little mismatched multicoloured squares! Ever since Michelle taught me the corner to corner pattern I haven't been able to stop :) I think the idea you have of contrasting the coloured squares with white ones - or even stitching them together with simple but thick white strips - is great!
ReplyDeleteI too love your cakes of yarn. Do you wind every skein that you get? I am thinking of getting one even though all my yarn comes in skeins and not hanks. A wooden one would be lovely.
ReplyDeleteYour corner to corner squares are a unique way of using up leftover yarn. I personally would use another color besides white to make for alternate squares. For example the old fashion way of using black for bordering in granny squares. But that is only my opinion.