An Ode to eBay.

These lovelies are why:

Aero Swift - £3.99

Royal Ball Winder - £7.00

I don't have a Mastercard, but the joy of easily being able to wind my many many skeins of yarn into cakes, priceless!

It occurred to me the other day when I was trying to work out how to make an umbrella swift that I hadn't looked on eBay to see how much they were there. I knew I couldn't afford one from a shop, and the one I had made while good takes up a lot of room and I don't have a huge amount of space at my disposal. They were still pretty expensive mostly, but then I spotted the Aero. It is from the 50s/60s, and it works like a dream still. I put it next to some Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock so you could get an idea of how small it folds up, and it only weighs 250g, it's crazy small.

I really think they should still make them because they would be perfect for going on holiday! The arms extend out and obviously you clamp it to the table, and it is super easy. I shall take some pictures of it in use next time I do some winding. I got a bit wind happy when I unpacked my new gadgets this morning and was a bit too excited to remember the camera!

I did however wind this beauty, it is my Malabrigo sock that I bought ages ago to make a Damson by Ysolda Teague. I have decided that this will be my next project when I have finished my Hermione socks. I always seem to have to have 2 projects on the go at once at the moment, I can't settle to just one, I start getting the itch to do something else after a while!

Speaking of my Hermione socks, here is the second sock.

The heel is turned and the gusset decreased and now I just have to knit the foot length. progress has significantly slowed on this because of the rash on my hands (my herbalist colleague says it looks like an allergic reaction (another one) or just heat rash that has gotten really really bad) so I only knit a few rows before I stop, but I am glad I am on the home stretch now. I have been waiting to finish this one so that I can block this pair and my Berry Sock pair at the same time (I had a genius idea the other day about using my sisters supply of craft wire to make sock blockers, I will let you know how that one goes).