No diamond ring for me

My hand-cranked yarn winder and I have, or at least I thought we had, a friendly relationship. I treat it well; it treats me well. Or at least it did treat me well.

On Tuesday afternoon, without so much as a hint that something was wrong, it turned on me. Boy, did it turn on me! I was blindsided.

The trouble began when I placed on it one of five skeins of Cascade Ultra Pima Cotton, a delicious yarn that I couldn't resist when Margaret and I visited The Ball and Skein in Kennebunkport a couple of weeks ago.

I've knitted with Cascade Ultra Pima before, to make two Chic Knits Brynna  sweaters. (I like the longer style of this sweater, with below-the-elbow sleeves and without those silly thingamajigs connecting the front openings.)

So I decided to knit another Brynna, this one in the "natural" colorway. I have two weddings to attend in August, so a new Brynna will be just the ticket to wear with a yet-to-be-determined dress.

Anyway, to get to the point. I put that first skein of Ultra Pima on the yarn winder, started cranking away, and suddenly all h-e-double-hockey-sticks broke loose. I don't know what happened. All I know is I was suddenly staring in disbelief at a huge pile of what looked to be spaghetti. Or spaghetti vomit, if you will.

I didn't panic. I calmly told myself I could untangle this mess by hand.

So at 3:30 p.m. I started untangling.

At 6:30 p.m. I decided to give myself a break.

The next morning, at 5:00 (because the dog wanted to get up at 5:00), I resumed untangling.

At 7:00 a.m. I finished the chore. Hallelujah.

Five hours to rescue one skein of 200 yards of yarn.

Ken marveled at my patience. He said he would've thrown the yarn vomit into the trash.

Apparently Ken wasn't raised to be frugal. I was. And at $10/skein, I wasn't about to throw away one skein of my delicious Cascade Ultra Pima.

I was hoping to find a diamond ring in the pile of yarn vomit, but alas....

Anyway, yesterday I cast on 99 stitches, and so far it's smooth sailing. (Note the correctly wound cake of yarn next to the hand-wound one. The second skein of Cascade Ultra Pima behaved as it should on the winder.)