Little yarny bags and cakes...

I finished another of the Christmas Gift Bags this week:

And started on the fourth (and I think my last) one:

Super cute and easy to make now that I've found a suitable (for me) yarn to make them in.  I'd like to mention something in case anyone looks at this pattern and wonders about how the designer carried her yarn on the back...  She doesn't cover the yarn on the back side of the fabric, but all those long crisscrossing threads on the back would make me crazy, so I carried my unused yarn under the stitches of the yarn in use.  With a more solid yarn, or a less dense fabric being created, carrying the yarn under the stitches normally creates some show through, but I accept that as normal when doing crochet colorwork.  Using this stonewash-look yarn in these bags, though, makes the show through virtually undetectable.  Which makes me even happier with how these turned out.

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And I learned something new this week!  I learned how to hand-wind skeins of yarn into cakes!  There are a number of videos on Youtube that will help you understand how to do this (if you're interested),  but I used this one:

I also found the following tutorial helpful in seeing how she holds the yarn. I found slippage a bit of an issue and look forward to trying this again by using my left-hand thumb as a guide for the yarn being wrapped.

Not having a nostepinne, or an empty TP tube, for that matter, I went on a hunt around my house for something round with the right amount of thickness.  I had no idea what I might have that would work, but when I saw a short closet rod that wasn't being used I grabbed it and gave it go. 

While it's just a tad long (about 17 inches long) it worked great!   I found making yarn cakes so addicting I didn't want to stop.   

I only stopped because I didn't want to make cakes of any yarn I wasn't looking to use soon.  But you can be sure I'm eyeing some skeins of yarn that are sitting in a basket waiting to be crocheted up into my Spicier Life blankets...

The little rolled up pieces of paper in the middle of the cakes is the ball band from the skein.  I just rolled each one up and put it in its respective cake.  So far I've been able to pull the yarn from the center, leaving the label inside.  It's a great way to store the label, and when I want to weigh the cake before using it next time I can just pull the label out and put it back in once weighed.

I couldn't be more pleased with this new skill I've just learned.  And I'm now going to be on the lookout for a nostepinne that I like. While my rogue closet rod works for now, I know eventually I'll need to put it back.  I have to say, I really like how the sides of it are straight instead of tapered (most nostepinne's seem to be tapered) and I like the nice size hole it makes in the wound cake.  Maybe I should just find a shorter dowel rod that has a similar circumference and diameter.  

It's been a great week for me.  I didn't mention it before, but earlier in the week I learned how to voice text and how to open group text messages on my half-witted cell phone.  I'm limping into the 21st century finally.

And now I can make yarn cakes!  

Life is good.  😊

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