Tangle

Many years ago I bought a skein of laceweight cashmere yarn after taking a 2-day workshop on Orenburg lace from Galina Khmeleva. I had every intention of knitting an Orenburg shawl. I still have every intention of knitting an Orenburg shawl.

This yarn sat in my stash for a number of years. Then a few years back, I sold it -- needed the $ -- to my friend Molly L. Last week I was visiting her and she returned the skein to me. You see, her dog is quite the Fiber Hound….and not in a good way. He apparently loves yarn, especially high quality yarn. He got into Molly’s yarn stash and tangled up the skein of cashmere But Good!

Now, I like a tangle challenge. I consider myself to be especially talented at undoing knots and snarls. So, the other day, I put the messy skein on the dining room table to tidy it up. Here’s a picture of the start:


It’s not a particularly good picture. The composition is a mess. The lighting is terrible. The table cloth is too busy to allow you to see the yarn. The color is off; the yarn is really a most lovely layered rust color, not cranberry red.

I’d show you a picture of the untangled yarn…..if I had one. I worked for about 2 hours and was able to wind up about 1/5 of the yarn. Maybe that much. Maybe. Having other chores to do, I put the rest of the tangle on top of my dresser, where I’ll be forced to see it frequently. I hope the regular reminder will motivate me to finish the untangling job. I know it’s going to take time. And patience. But I think it’ll be worth it.

I remember in the book, The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx, that each chapter started with a quote from The Ashley Book of Knots. One chapter’s quote was about untangling a rope mess. Same applies to yarn, I thought. I wish I could remember the quote.