I had no idea.

Seriously. I really didn't know how much fun it would be to wind my own wool with my new wool winder. Positively addictive. In fact, after I wound my first one, I simply had to do another, and then another. I found myself frantically scrounging through my stash in search of any yarn that needed to be wound. My boys both wanted turns winding, which they did get - briefly. But soon enough, I was (gently) shoving them out of my way, insisting, "Mommy's turn! MOMMY'S TURN!!"

Nevertheless, the boys enjoyed the spectacle, even though they didn't get to play with my new toy very much. When I first opened up the swift, they called out "Umbrella!" which I thought was very brilliant of them. (For awhile I was trying to teach them to call umbrellas "umbershoots" but it didn't really take, I guess.) When I finished my first winding experience, I pulled the yarn off the bobbin and showed the boys my yarn cake. When they heard me call it that, they insisted I put a candle it. Of course I obliged. It was a festive afternoon.

My Old Man really did right with this gift. I am possibly a little difficult for him to buy presents for. I have very specific desires, and I make a detailed list (with URLs and Amazon wish lists and everything) for him. Which sort of takes the element of surprise away. But I never asked for a swift and winder because: 1) they are so expensive, 2) I thought I just didn't need more crap to store, and 3) I thought I could just keep making do with winding by hand. But once or maybe twice My Old Man heard me say, while I wound by hand, "I could do this a lot faster with a winder." It wasn't a hint, honestly. It was just me complaining while taking a whole hour to wind a single hank of yarn.

So right before my birthday, he snuck off to my (awesome) LYS and inquired about such a contraption. It ended up being more involved - and more expensive - than he had imagined, and at one point he started to just give up, saying he wasn't sure it was something I really wanted. But the (brilliant) LYS salesclerk asked him, "How much does your wife knit?" "Oh, she knits a LOT. It's like her thing. She even has a blog where she writes about her knitting and shows pictures of what she's made." The (fabulous) salesclerk (wisely) advised, "If she has a knitting blog than she definitely needs a swift and winder." So he bought it. When I opened that surprise, I think he got the single best gift reaction that I have ever given (and as you might have noticed from yesterday's post, I generally react very positively to good gifts!). It was a happy moment.

So anyway, the yarn in the picture above is for my Sockapalooza socks. It is my first-ever Etsy purchase. 100% Blue-Faced Leicester Superwash wool, hand-dyed by Collette. The color is Stellars Jay, inspired by a bird Collette sees a lot when her family camps in the mountains. Isn't it gorgeous? I thought this color would go great with jeans. I am still trying to decide on a pattern. My first pair of Monkeys only whet my appetite to make more of those, so I may well decide to go with that (I think that pattern would be a great match for this yarn). But I'm also spending time with Favorite Socks to see what else might inspire me. I suppose I ought to cast on sooner than later, given how long it is currently taking me to finish knitted objects. And now that I know how much fun it is to wind yarn, I just have one more thing competing for my attention....