Elf Coat Update 2 – A chair does not a swift make:
My first batch of yarn for my Elf Coat has finally arrived! It's had a tortuous journey to get to me. I originally ordered it in early December and it was posted before the Christmas rush. However, the postie decided not to leave it at my door and just returned it to sender without trying a redelivery or leaving it with a neighbour. I'll put it down to a new postie on a Christmas job who didn't know the code to get in or the ins and outs of the mail.
I contacted the mill who were now on Christmas break and they offered to send me another parcel once they were back in the New Year, which I accepted. I got an email to say it would be delivered but that because they couldn't get in, they took it to the local post office. I got home, checked the closing time; I still had an hour. I quick marched up to the post office only to find it shut an hour early. “They'll be open Saturday 0900-1700 though!” Ok, I'll go back. Finally picked it up on Saturday and opened the box. The colours look amazing in person, pictures don't do them justice!
Last night, in a fit of excitement to get started, I decided to ball up the dark blue skein. I still had a ball winder from my last Crochet Journey, but I'd given the swift away to Charity some time ago. I researched how to wind it without a swift and found I could use the back of a chair. “This can cause issues, however, as it can cause tangling” said many of the sites I read. “I'll be fine,” I thought “How hard can it be?”...
I spent a good 2 hours and several restarts due to uneven tension and a messy ball before I finally had something vaguely resembling a ball of yarn. I have no doubt it will fall apart on me during unraveling, but it should be enough to get a swatch done and check my tension for the project.
As a certain Scottish Actor once said: “Allons-y!”