ball of yarn – Sunrays Creations and Yarns

Posted on April 5, 2013 by mindovermanasa — 2 Comments

Friday WIPs

I sit at the end of the first Quarter of this year, and look back at my achievements… Well, well, they weren’t really very small if I say so myself!

What I did manage to finish this year was the Candied Shells wrap, and the Pink Dreams Cardigan, and a mini-project called Silk Dreams. I also did manage to finish a scarf last week, but apparently the designer has thing about not displaying the FO until she’s actually released the design, if at all! Hmphf!!! What’s the fun in testing, if I can’t show-off what I did and generate interest among people I know??!!

I also learnt how to make a good looking hand-wound ball of yarn. Yeah! That was a nice project. And that was the one thing I learnt entirely from the internet. No books, no personal guidance. It was fun!

Then, I looked at what I have on my needles… and looked. I have 4 projects going on. And one to be resurrected from languishing in the background! So lets see: I have

1 sweater to be tested before 25th of the month, of which I haven’t finished even 20%
1 shawl which was supposed to be last month
1 clutch for a KAL I signed up
the afore-mentioned WIP top : this wasn’t my fault though, the designer just woke up and remembered she’d sent me the design and yarn, and forgot that I sent it back for corrections 🙁

Ah, well, that’s my update for the day! I hope I can post some progress photos by EOD of course.

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Posted on January 8, 2013February 13, 2014 by mindovermanasa — 3 Comments

The Nosty project – II

Well, when I blogged this morning, I didn’t know I’d follow-up with a new blog in the afternoon!

What I did different with this last Skien was that instead of winding in one direction and then the next, I simply continued with one direction. I just kept turning the tube!

Let me explain. I held the bottle in my left hand, and was winding the yarn from the left top to the right bottom. I tried to ensure that most of the thread lay against each other without overlapping.

winding in a straight line! ;) — winding in a straight line! 😉

So when I pulled out the ball of yarn, the gap at the center stayed put without collapsing! Now the ball looks even neater that the previous ones. The ball is taller, and thinner than the previous ones, but hey! I’m not complaining! 🙂

The Nosty Project (sunraysartyarns.wordpress.com)

Posted on January 8, 2013January 20, 2014 by mindovermanasa — 4 Comments

The Nosty Project

A few days back I stumbled upon a page (literally, from stumbleupon.com) which was a tutorial on how to use a nosty, or nostepinde. This handwinding tool is used to wind wool from skeins into fancy balls, without the used of bulky yarnwinding machines. The concept was very nice. But where one earth would I find a nosty here in Bangalore? I left the idea at the back of my mind, just in case I came across a nosty in a shop here, and wanted to buy.

A couple of days back i came across another article where an enterprising young lady (not sure who though) used her lotion bottle as a nosty. Very nice idea, I thought! and promptly pulled out my own lotion bottle and got winding. The result of that exercise would probably give competition to a bird’s nest. 🙁

The Bird's Nest Yarn — The Bird’s Nest Yarn

Last night, however, I was struck by the idea of using my deo bottle. The idea was that I probably got the type of container wrong. While it may have worked for the other lady, the fear that I may squeeze the bottle too hard while winding, and thereby spray lotion all over myself and the yarn prompted me to hold the yarn a little too loose. With the metal container I was now planning, I would get a better control on the yarn, and be able to wind it firmly.

The idea turned out to be inspired! I now have lovely looking yarn balls, with a lot less effort!!!

The process is this:

Take a deo bottle, preferably one with a lid to hold the yarn.

Wind the end of the yarn to the top, and place lid over it to hold the yarn. This allows you to have a center-pull ball of yarn.

Wind the yarn neatly around the bottle up to the width required. I normally keep it to 2 inches.

Now start winding the yarn at an angle, from the right top of the base threads to the bottom left of the base threads. After a few times, change direction to right bottom to left top.

Be sure to wind firmly, but not tightly. Tight will only ensure your yarns stretches, and that’s never good!
Once done, remove the lid, and unwind the inside end from the top. Gently slide off the bottle.

And viola, you have a lovely ball of yarn! This method takes a bit of practise, but not that much.. you’d get the hang of it after the first ball itself!