First, here's a couple of answers to comments left on my last post (or delivered via telephone for you dinosaurs afraid to post a comment via the InterWebz):
1. My essential oil warmer came from Body Shop. I have several. That particular one is my favourite. I like oil warmers because I can control the amount of "stink". Plus I really like candles.
2. Some of us ladies, obviously myself included, PREFER underwires in our bras. Unless you male types are REALLY in touch with your feminine side, just sit back and enjoy the results instead of puzzling over the physics, okay? Nuff said.
3. I'm guessing the wood thing you are curious about is my YARN SWIFT ... I suppose not everybody has one of these ...
It's called an UMBRELLA YARN SWIFT 'cuz it works something like an umbrella. More on that in a moment. A yarn swift comes in very handy when knitting with wool that comes in skeins like this:
REAL wool often comes this way. Skeins like this are NOT ready to knit from. Synthetic yarns tend to come in tidy little balls and all you have to do is find one end and start knitting. As y'all know, I prefer working with natural fibres, as in real sheep's wool. When you try to find one end of the wool in one of these skeins, you will end up with this ...
... a giant apparently endless circle of wool. In the OLD DAYS, knitters had to find family members, partners, and friends to "volunteer" to hold the circle of wool while you wind it into a ball, like this patient young lad:
Eventually, family members, partners and even very good friends learn to RUN AWAY when they spot UNWOUND SKEINS of wool on the horizon. When that happens, the knitter either has to clone themselves and have their clone hold the circle of wool, or use a yarn swift. I haven't mastered cloning me (and believe me, there are days when I could REALLY use a cloned me!), so I carefully untie the knots holding my wool in this circle ...
It's called an UMBRELLA YARN SWIFT 'cuz it works something like an umbrella. More on that in a moment. A yarn swift comes in very handy when knitting with wool that comes in skeins like this:REAL wool often comes this way. Skeins like this are NOT ready to knit from. Synthetic yarns tend to come in tidy little balls and all you have to do is find one end and start knitting. As y'all know, I prefer working with natural fibres, as in real sheep's wool. When you try to find one end of the wool in one of these skeins, you will end up with this ...... a giant apparently endless circle of wool. In the OLD DAYS, knitters had to find family members, partners, and friends to "volunteer" to hold the circle of wool while you wind it into a ball, like this patient young lad:Eventually, family members, partners and even very good friends learn to RUN AWAY when they spot UNWOUND SKEINS of wool on the horizon. When that happens, the knitter either has to clone themselves and have their clone hold the circle of wool, or use a yarn swift. I haven't mastered cloning me (and believe me, there are days when I could REALLY use a cloned me!), so I carefully untie the knots holding my wool in this circle ...... and then put my unwound wool on the extendable ribs of my yarn swift, like so:
Then I tighten the ribs ...
... just like popping open an umbrella. A quick twist of this knob ensures my swift stays open and the circle of wool is held taut, like so:
Then I wind one end of the wool around my fingers ...
... and keep on winding ...
... and winding. The "umbrella" twirls as I wind.
It helps to put on some good music, or catch up on Coronation Street for the week while you wind. 
Eventually, you end up with a nice tidy compact ball of wool, all ready for knitting. Coronation Street was particularly good, and I was really ON A ROLL so I wound up all THESE balls of wool ...
They're for my gurnsey cardigan.
Then I tighten the ribs ...... just like popping open an umbrella. A quick twist of this knob ensures my swift stays open and the circle of wool is held taut, like so:Then I wind one end of the wool around my fingers ...... and keep on winding ...... and winding. The "umbrella" twirls as I wind.It helps to put on some good music, or catch up on Coronation Street for the week while you wind. Eventually, you end up with a nice tidy compact ball of wool, all ready for knitting. Coronation Street was particularly good, and I was really ON A ROLL They're for my gurnsey cardigan. And here's the update on my FEBRUARY FEVER:
- gurnsey cardigan: 1 1/2 sleeves to go (Thought I had a photo, but apparently not).
- pink and purple socks: one sock done, second sock started (yes, this is an extra-long sock ... I want to wear them inside boots).
- long-arm cross stitch project: one half done, second half started.
- guitar practise: has been happening ... okay, not EVERY day, but more frequently!
It's March, but we're still up to our belly buttons in frozen snow banks, so I'm still in the throws of February Fever. Stay tuned!
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