Balls O' Yarn

[Carleendiane]

Akavit.....I promise....I will NEVER, NEVER.....bring up that coffee table again. 60-70 hrs. a week. I don't know how you manage. That is a lot of time at work. Do you ever wish you were just an employee and not owner of this company? I mean you would get to work with wood, which you obviously love, but you would get to go home after you punch out.

[Akavit]

60-70 hrs. a week. I don't know how you manage. That is a lot of time at work.

It's not all that difficult.  Since I handle everything, that includes emails, phone calls, designing, traveling and fun stuff like shop improvements.  Even if I work a 12 hour day, it's not all physical labor so it doesn't usually get fatiguing.  I also do most internet and design work from home instead of going to the shop.

Do you ever wish you were just an employee and not owner of this company? I mean you would get to work with wood, which you obviously love, but you would get to go home after you punch out.

NOT A CHANCE!  I did the employee thing for 10 years and enjoyed it very much.  But having got a taste of being self-employed, it would be difficult for me to go back to employee status.  This is especially true because in my previous job, I had a huge amount of autonomy in how I'd do the work once I'd been there for 5 years.  So I'm used to calling the shots in the workplace and most jobs don't offer that benefit.  Also, woodworking is pretty easy.  Making it into a successful business is a much bigger challenge and that excites me.

One of my sticking points is that I've got different ideas on how a small, professional woodshop should operate and many small business owners would be afraid to take the risk to make it happen.  If an owner is turning a profit, he's unlikely to want to change anything about the operation.  If he's losing money, he'll usually try to work in a frenzy to shove projects out the door and collect payment.  It's rare to find people who want to undertake a program of infrastructure changes because doing so usually means taking 10 steps backwards before advancing again.  There are some rare owners that are like-minded and many are running highly successful companies.  But now that I have a chance to take the helm myself, I'm going to take that chance and run with it.

[erin is nice]

There are easy directions for making a swift out of pvc pipe and a few joints and dowel rods. My dad made it for me and all the pieces come apart so it's easy to store. I don't have a ball winder though, I wind by hand.

[kayla_veronica]

All the yarn stores have one of those. My mother does as well.


Some yarn comes in hanks. Hanks of yarn are wound in a circle then twisted. You untwist and attach the yarn to this machine to make a ball. A ball of yarn is created to easily pull the yarn without knots occurring. If you did that with a hank of yarn, the whole thing would get tangled, resulting in tears of frustration and possibly fire.

I have zero patience for tangled yarn! Poor hubby still doesn't have his winter hat because I was using hanks I picked up a thrift store and just couldn't handle it anymore!

[Bernadette]

All the yarn stores have one of those. My mother does as well.


Some yarn comes in hanks. Hanks of yarn are wound in a circle then twisted. You untwist and attach the yarn to this machine to make a ball. A ball of yarn is created to easily pull the yarn without knots occurring. If you did that with a hank of yarn, the whole thing would get tangled, resulting in tears of frustration and possibly fire.

I have zero patience for tangled yarn! Poor hubby still doesn't have his winter hat because I was using hanks I picked up a thrift store and just couldn't handle it anymore!

I actually like untangling tangled yarn. It's so satisfying. Like a puzzle, but useful!

[kayla_veronica]

All the yarn stores have one of those. My mother does as well.


Some yarn comes in hanks. Hanks of yarn are wound in a circle then twisted. You untwist and attach the yarn to this machine to make a ball. A ball of yarn is created to easily pull the yarn without knots occurring. If you did that with a hank of yarn, the whole thing would get tangled, resulting in tears of frustration and possibly fire.

I have zero patience for tangled yarn! Poor hubby still doesn't have his winter hat because I was using hanks I picked up a thrift store and just couldn't handle it anymore!

I actually like untangling tangled yarn. It's so satisfying. Like a puzzle, but useful!

Good on ya! Takes heroic patience.

[Bernadette]

All the yarn stores have one of those. My mother does as well.


Some yarn comes in hanks. Hanks of yarn are wound in a circle then twisted. You untwist and attach the yarn to this machine to make a ball. A ball of yarn is created to easily pull the yarn without knots occurring. If you did that with a hank of yarn, the whole thing would get tangled, resulting in tears of frustration and possibly fire.

I have zero patience for tangled yarn! Poor hubby still doesn't have his winter hat because I was using hanks I picked up a thrift store and just couldn't handle it anymore!

I actually like untangling tangled yarn. It's so satisfying. Like a puzzle, but useful!

Good on ya! Takes heroic patience.

Not if you like it. 

[MundaCorMeum]

All the yarn stores have one of those. My mother does as well.


Some yarn comes in hanks. Hanks of yarn are wound in a circle then twisted. You untwist and attach the yarn to this machine to make a ball. A ball of yarn is created to easily pull the yarn without knots occurring. If you did that with a hank of yarn, the whole thing would get tangled, resulting in tears of frustration and possibly fire.

I have zero patience for tangled yarn! Poor hubby still doesn't have his winter hat because I was using hanks I picked up a thrift store and just couldn't handle it anymore!

I actually like untangling tangled yarn. It's so satisfying. Like a puzzle, but useful!

I spent almost the entire Super Bowl occupying myself with a tangled ball of yarn (I mean, really, the Super Bowl....boring!).  You and I could solve some serious life problems together, while untangling yarn