crochet · Knitting · My other ramblings

Life is Like a Ball of Yarn (Wool!)

Karen

A couple of weeks back I found myself a wool winder in a vintage shop.  I was so busy celebrating my ‘tracking down a bargain’ skills that I completely and utterly failed to notice that it had no clamp. Yep, it was pretty much useless. After a quick Internet search to see what the clamp was meant to look like I dragged my less than enthralled children to a DIY shop. These types of clamps do not seem to exist in small market towns, or even in quaint little DIY stores. I settled for some G clamps even though I knew it probably wouldn’t work. When  we got home, with both children disappointed that the journey did not entail a trip to the park, I tried it. Nope, not even close. 

Image source:https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-illustration-fun-knight-image55132282

Then in strolled a knight in shining armour. OK, maybe a slight exaggeration, it was Mr Craft in his best ‘going into the shed’ clothes, armed with a rather vicious looking bench grinder. A lot of noise, dust and mess later and he had successfully modified my purchase into one fit for the job. At last I could test out my long awaited new toy!

Whilst I was merrily winding my stash into neat ‘cakes’, my mind began to wander. Then, when I had come across a knot, my work (and thoughts) came to a grinding halt until suddenly I realised that this was just like life. 

No, I haven’t gone completely doolally, at least not yet. Let me explain. Sometimes in life, we have ‘perfect’ days. They may be few and far between, but they are still there to be marvelled at, remembered and appreciated. This is represented by the very pretty yarn cakes I created once I got the hang of using my wool winder.

My best go at perfection!

When life is running smoothly and everything seems awesome, it seems wise to make the most of it. This depends on your school of thought, if you subscribe to the ‘pride comes before a fall’ approach then you may well find it hard to enjoy the good bits because you’re waiting for the bad ones (unfortunately this is me). I wish I could be someone who tends towards ‘make hay while the sun shines’ and just damn well enjoy it!

No matter what your outlook, there will come a time when a knot, a tangled mess, a problem, creeps up on you. Some are small-a tiny bit of untwisting and the way is clear again. Other ‘knots’ are more complicated (the kind that make the air turn blue when they are discovered!). They need gentle handling and some careful thinking ahead. What will happen if you pull that piece? Will it make something else worse? Is it time to brave the scissors and start again? Some are best left alone while you have a cuppa and a think, and some might need a friend to help, with a different pair of eyes and a new approach. (Like MrCraft and his modifications to the clamp I needed!) The temptation may also be there to put the knotted yarn in a cupboard and hide it away. Does this sound like a familiar approach to problem solving?

Might be time for the scissors to come into play!

Other times, the wool just winds in an OK way, it’s not perfect but it’ll do the job and there’s no tangles. Like most days in life, just average but that’s fine. Most of my yarn cakes have just been mediocre, but they’ve still worked. If every day were ‘perfect’ it would be harder to appreciate them (though of course every day has something small in it to celebrate, even if it is just drinking a cup of tea whilst it’s still hot!)

See? Life really is like a ball of yarn.

What do you think? Can you relate to this? 

32 thoughts on “Life is Like a Ball of Yarn (Wool!)”

  3. A wonderful post! And I definitely agree with your wool/life analogy!! A few years ago now I bought a swift to put my skeins of wool on to then wind a ball using my wool winder. The wretched swift kept collapsing and I blamed myself thinking it was something I’d done wrongly…ended up just putting the skeins on the back of 2 chairs. Then I saw a swift being used in my local wool shop ( where I had bought the winder and swift) and noticed a wooden peg thing in the side of their swift. Mine didn’t have that! Long story short, I mentioned this and the owner replaced my swift as it was faulty!! 🙄. Felt a bit of a dill but nevertheless a happy dill! Lol

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  8. I agree. Life is like a ball of yarn. There are lots of days where the wool is free and unknotted, but every now and again, there comes a knot and we have to take a little time to sort it out. To untangle, then to go on.

    Love your precious find, love your children for going with the flow (bless their hearts), and love that husband of yours who worked a miracle.

    To be brutally honest … with regard to knots in general (not the life knots though), I rather like knots. I’m the un-knotter in our lives. My girls would always bring their necklaces, which they’d casually thrown into a drawer after wearing, only to find that the chains were all tangled up next time they wanted to wear them. I could always seem to unknot them – and yet I have no idea what my secret is.

    Knots in cotton, wool, Christmas tree lights … you name it, I can unknot it, and normally in pretty quick time. I wish I could tell you how I do it, but I can’t. I think they take one look at me and admit defeat and simply unravel, untangle, or un-knot themselves. The ‘give in’. LOL

    Great piece of writing. ~ Cobs. x

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      1. We need to live closer and then you could drop your tangled and knotted wool around and I’d take enormous pleasure at sorting it out. (Seriously … I actually do enjoy the unknotting. Yes … I’m one of those strange people. LOL)
        Cobs. x

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  9. So much to learn. I thought swifts were only birds, your granny/hands/husband/partner/chairback was your wool winder and surely, surely all cakes should be edible? No?

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