Friday, February 04, 2011

Compare and Contrast

Like You Needed Another Reason to Knit

39 comments:

  1. LOVE THIS...and the "word" is VERY close to the brand of my wee motorbike (zymba vs Symba)!

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  2. SO true... and hope you're not totally submerged by now! Keep warm...

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  3. Rats! I was supposed to harness Gypsy to the ballwinder. I KNEW there was something I was forgetting.

    If I can somehow convince my cat to man the winder and swift, life will be very entertaining at my house :)

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  4. I had never thought of a ball-winder as snowday sanity device. Thanks, Franklin, for this piece. I'll be buying a winder and swift this week, just in case we get snowed in again.

    sincerely,
    gin-swilling knitter mom

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  5. School? In the Snowpocalypse?!!!!

    Think more ballwinders. :)

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  6. I can't believe it, but Houston is a complete shut down and yes, I am catching up on some knitting time, pretending to work, as we are all supposed to be working from home. :)

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  7. I have boys. I make them shovel so I can knit in peace. They get tired, my driveway gets cleared, and my knitting gets done. It's a win all around.

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  8. WERE YOU LOOKING IN MY WINDOW THIS MONTH?? Were you the one that called the BCW (Bureau of Child Winders) on me??

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  9. My children fight over who gets to use the ball winder. I can keep them occupied for hours that way.

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  10. Kenny is right....can't believe that Houston too has to now deal with this issue. Getting quality knitting done myself and smiling when I think about your return to TX....

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  11. We got advance warning, so what did the child and I do?

    Went to the library, of course! There's nothing quite so nice as reading through a blizzard.

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  12. My kids broke my winder. I turned to drinking AND knitting and hope to god I am not making huge mistakes.

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  13. Oh man oh man oh man, I stop spinning and knitting and listening to David Reidy long enough to nuke some potstickers and dash through my Google Reader, and I find you *and* Brooklyntweed *and* the Harlot. Very thankful that I don't even have to pretend to work from home today; our office is closed (for the third day this week). Thank you for making a good day even better.

    My word verification is "nortion", meaning either "I've got a nortion it's time to get back to my spinning wheel" or "I wish I could have another nortion of potstickers, but this is all that was in the package."

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  14. SusieQ1003:17 PM

    Love it! Just how I felt when we had all our snow - hardly went out the door and got my teenagers to do the shopping; they went out anyway! Thanks Franklin!

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  15. The cats keeps asking to play with the swifts and ball winder, but I won't let them.

    Neither one is allowed to see this post!

    p.s. My word verification is adict. Does that mean that I'm missing only one -d before it's all over?

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  16. Love. For all the people who tell me that they don't have time to knit, this is what it's all about.

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  17. Goodness yes! I don't have kids, but my stash would happily be wound by child labor (not my much inferior kitty labor).

    In Boston we are over 70 inches for the season. Boston.com has a funny graphic comparing our snowfall to Shaquille O'Neal.

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  18. Very funny indeed. Children and a yarn winder (no matter how old ...)

    How is Chicago? we saw pictures in the NYT about cars stuck on Lake Shore Drive ...

    stay warm and dry!

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  19. My DD did some knitting of her own and made Mom a headband for outside, which was much needed Mom does not like cold ears. My youngest DD is the only one of my brood that knits, bless her, In the Blizzard she decided to do Lace please grant us patience.

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  20. That's perfect! When Primogeniture was 5 or 6 he used to love to wind my yarn. Unfortunately, the novelty seems to have warn off. Sigh. But I think he might be intrigued by your jumbo ball winder.... or a swing from it's matching jumbo swift. Ooh the possibilities.

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  21. anne marie in philly5:47 PM

    bwhahahahaha!

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  22. No one could have done a better job describing it.

    I bow to your greatness!

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  23. Wish I'd thought of that...

    I might build a giant hamster wheel. My children would provide energy for the whole neighborhood, and we'd never have to worry about a power outage. Then I can keep them busy, while I play with the swift and the ball winder myself. :-)

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  24. I tried the ball winder trick with Tank, my basset hound, we both ended up napping.

    (Stash still remains unwound three days later.)

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  25. All my friends wonder where I "find the time to knit."
    Yet I also find the time to wonder how they survive without knitting...

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  26. What, wait...you have children? When did this happen?

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  27. Sara in WI11:46 PM

    That is absolutely right on, Franklin! But my boys are all grown up now and I have to do my own winding....Hmmmmm, unless I can figure out a way to hitch up Ben's wheelchair....thinking, thinking

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  28. My boyfriend got so bored that he let me teach him how to use my ball winder. Next up: the spinning wheel. He keeps poking it and comparing it to a car. I will capitalize on his vague interest!

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  29. You captured my week perfectly - both pictures. I waited to hit the bottle until they went to bed though. :)

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  30. Franklin,

    How did you know that this is exactly what I do on snow days? Being a 3rd grade teacher with 2 kids of my own, this cartoon really hit the spot! ;^)

    Debra Rogers
    thenappyewe
    Park Forest, IL

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  31. I always marvelled how differently knitters think...wait two hours for a doctor? Hurry, I can knit without guilt....twelve hour trainride???-no that i stwelve hour knitting time... Snowed it? At least I dont HAVE to go, can stay in and KNIT.

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  32. But come to think of it... Ever since I learned to wind a good centerpull ball by hand... the desire for ballvinders eluded me...seeing this post made me think...Is it possible that I deprive my ten year old boy some joy???

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  34. Funny cartoon. I just listened to you speak on NPR about knitting. While I can't see myself taking up knitting any time soon, the program definitely helped me put knitting in a place of higher prominence in my idea of homesteading and the role of small farms.

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  35. Anonymous11:03 AM

    Wow! I'm adding up the totals now and it would appear I hand wound 827 yards while my children tore up the house. No alcohol or perdition though because Mama was happy.

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  36. Excellent pieces. Keep posting such kind of information on your blog. I really impressed by your blog.

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  37. Your got some inspiration from others and you inspire me a lot.so thanks a lot, and wish you can produce more great content.


    Adipex

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