Technique Tuesday: How to Wind a Center Pull Ball

One of my favorite techniques is knitting two socks at a time on two circular needles, and while I won't be talking about this techniques today it does require me to wind my yarn into a center pull ball of yarn.

There are a few pros to a center pull ball:
1.) You can pull yarn from the inside and the outside at the same time
2.) Your yarn stays protected inside more yarn
3.) your ball of yarn will roll around on the floor less keeping your yarn clean, and it won't become tangled around furniture.

How to start

first you want to find a place to hang your hank of yarn. If you don't have a swift or a willing partner to hold the hank the back of a chair or your knees will suffice.


Next take the dead end of the yarn and making sure it is about 10-12 inches long. (Your dead end it the end of your yarn and the live end is what leads back to your hank of yarn.)


Wrap the dead end around your thumb, making sure that the extra inches are hanging down the length of your arm.


Now you will take the live end of the yarn and begin to loosely wrap it around your index, middle and ring fingers or how ever you winding a ball of yarn.

Continue to wrap the yarn around your three fingers until you see a ball start to form out of the wrapped yarn. Slip your fingers out of the ball of yarn and continue wrapping the yarn around itself, being mindful of where the dead end of the yarn is attached to the ball.

when you are finished your ball of yarn should look like this:

Ta-Da! A center pull ball of yarn.

Welcoming Fall

I am excited to be back and officially blogging again, I am also excited for fall to roll in. Cool days and chilly nights, warm cozy knits and large mugs of warm drinks. To celebrate the coming of fall I went to my favorite coffee house the other day, ordered a latte and sat in the front by the shops large glass window. They already had a pumpkin sitting on the counter.

Look how pretty my latte looked.

Here is what I am working on, a beanie that my husband approves of. Once it is finished and the pattern is complete I may let him keep it. Which reminds me next week I will have a new pattern out in the world. I have a lot of plans for the fall, some new patterns, some fun tutorials, and maybe a recipe or two. On the blog I am planning some new Technique Tuesday posts, along with new stitch pattern posts, a Fiber Friday and even a resurrection of Vintage Finds Friday.

The fun starts tomorrow with Technique Tuesday.

Comming Soon...

In three days I will be relaunching my blog. I'm super excited about this. Nothing huge has changed I've just used these first two weeks home to get things in order for great Septemeber posts.

Check back on Monday!

Did You Hear...

There's a hurricane coming this way!

(Sounds like the perfect excuse to stay inside and get some knitting done.)

Here is a list of what is in our emergency kit:
-Beef Jerky (This is our favorite Snack)
-tortilla chips & salsa
-peanut butter
-bread
-COFFEE
-Honey Whiskey
-1 ball noro lace
-3 hanks tupa in green, gold and purple
-2 hanks sulka in merlot
-size 10, 6 and 8 needles
-my head lamp with fresh batteries
-soy milk
-bread
-72% dark chocolate with espresso beans
-band aids
-playing cards
-oranges (to prevent scurvy)
-1 bottle chardonnay
-bottle openner
-can opener
-H2O

New Banner

I made a new banner for my etsy shop today and I think it might be my best one yet. Go check it out if you get a chance. It's raining here and All I plan on doing is curling up on the couch and knitting, and maybe drinking some tea and defiantly watch some Pride & Prejudice.

The evenings here are starting to feel a bit cooler and you can smell fall in the air. I am hoping this fall actually feels like fall. The past year fall has been just as warm as the summer to only plummet us in to the freezing depth of winter come December and we really had no spring here in Philly one day it was cold and the next was a heat wave were one was worried that the humidity would suffocate you.

This weather gets me geared up for fall and I'm contemplating new project for the cooler months along with new patterns, but I love to revisit my previous patterns. One of my favorite is the Fall of the Leaf Fingerless Mitts, I may have to make a pair in red or maybe orange.

What does the fall hold in store for you?

I'm Back!

Yesterday was the last day of camp for the staff and I am now happily home in my apartment in Philly. I won't start my usual posts till after labor day, but its great to be back. Simon and I are working on the apartment and last night I made veggie curry. I really missed veggies and fruit that isn't banana's this summer.

I am excited to get back on the blog band wagon and want to put a question to the readers. What would you like to see more of on this blog?

Well I'm off to drink coffee, and get ready for the day!

Happy August!

It's August and I have 20 days left here on the farm and then back to Philly with me. Actually Simon and I spent our day off yesterday home in Philly. I'm missing home more so this summer than my other summers at camp. Yesterday was great, I went to my favorite coffee shop, had lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, went to my LYS, and saw friends who I haven't seen since I went to camp. I also drank some gin and tonics with said friends and had a wonderful time.

I have plans for a sweater pattern to be out this November, or October if I'm feeling ambitious. Any suggestions? Pull over, cardigan, hoodie?

I am itching to get knitting again!