Old Dog, New Tricks, Part 3: Tell Me a Yarn

Do you know the difference between a ball, a skein, and a hank? Think yarn. I learned to crochet as a kid and over the years I’ve made various items—mostly blankets because they don’t necessarily need to fit anyone. I’ve always used skeins of yarn which generally work pretty slick once you locate the correct end to pull out from the center of the skein. You simply keep pulling as you go until you use the entire skein. While occasional entanglements do occur, a skein can’t roll away from you like a ball of yarn can.

With my oldest grandson finishing Grade Eleven, I decided to start on a blanket for a grad gift, just in case the project takes me a year to complete. I chose a simple striped pattern with a fringe and asked him what colors he’d like. He picked black and neon green.

I visited our local yarn and flower shop, Proctor Designs. As I expected, Valerie looked at the green my grandson had texted me and knew she’d need to special-order it. We viewed the 74 gorgeous colors from her supplier’s website (Estelle) and agreed that “peapod” came closest. Valerie called me when the order arrived only a week later. I returned to pay her and brought the yarn home.

I still hadn’t clued in that this yarn, probably like every other higher quality yarn, came in “hanks,” not skeins. I wouldn’t have been able to tell you what a hank was before this. With a hank, the yarn is loosely wound into a large ring and then twisted on itself—a visually appealing shape for sure, especially if you like to keep a basket full on display. Once I untwisted my first hank, I found myself faced with a big ring of yarn that needed to be wound into a ball before use. Except I didn’t know that. I found an end and began crocheting.

My yarn soon formed such a tangled mess, it took me hours…and hours…to untangle, find the other end, and roll the remaining yarn into a ball. Surely a better way existed. I knew I could go back to Valerie for some excellent instruction, but first I turned to YouTube. Sure enough, I quickly learned that hanks must be rolled into balls first. 

These are "hanks"

Have you ever watched old movies or TV shows where someone holds up two hands, fingers spread, while another person places yarn over them? I never paid attention to what they were doing. Suddenly I knew. I needed a partner.

My partner and I have three hands between us. And he has better things to do.

You can buy something called a yarn swift—an adjustable, umbrella-like device that holds the unrolled hank firmly in place as you wind. Two dining chairs back-to-back will do the job, too.

Once the circle is draped over the backs of the two chairs, adjust the distance until the yarn stays in place without sagging or stretching. Pick an end to work from and wind the yarn around your fingers a few times. Slip the yarn off your fingers and continue wrapping the yarn around and around, moving the ball as you go to make a nice, even ball. Don’t wind the yarn too tightly or it could lose its natural stretch. Don’t go too fast or it may tangle again. As your ball grows, your circle around the chairs will shrink until it’s gone. The process takes me about 20 minutes but I hope to improve.

Winding in progress

If you’ve known this forever, you will laugh at me and my big discovery, but hey… I’m happy to be learning something both new and useful.

The powerful will be like a thread of yarn, their deeds like a spark; both will burn together, and no one will put out the fire. (Isaiah 1:31)

Granny Baker's Doilies

When Stephanie, the director for the Prairie Players’ upcoming production of Arsenic and Old Lace, handed around a list of required props, the word “doilies” jumped out at me and I signed my name beside it. Though I haven’t used them in years, I knew exactly where to find half a dozen or more handcrafted doilies.

I suspect my grandmother (my mom’s mom) learned how to crochet as a very little girl and I never saw her go anywhere without her crocheting in hand. She taught me how to crochet when I was eight or nine. I’ve stuck with yarn, though. I never had the patience for the delicate work required by fine crochet cotton and miniscule hooks. 

Granny Baker produced doilies, table cloths, afghans, slippers, and more. For years, MCC gave her their unsellable sweaters which she’d unravel, knit into mittens or slippers, and return to the store where they’d sell like hotcakes. My children each received one of Granny’s afghans when they married, even though she had already passed away and left the colorful blankets behind for them in trust. I’m confident not one of my siblings or cousins is without at least one item lovingly made by her.

But she was definitely most famous for her doilies. I bet every bride within a 25-mile radius of Amaranth received a set of her doilies between 1940 and 1980. Only God knows the number of stitches Granny Baker’s hands made over the course of her 91 years on this planet. 

For years, I used my doilies faithfully as a pretty way to protect furniture from scuffs or provide a bit of cushion under breakable knickknacks. Once a year, I’d wash the doilies and take them to Granny to starch—a tedious task which involved dipping each doily in a cornstarch and water mixture and then pinning it to heavy cardboard on which several concentric circles had been drawn, using hundreds of straight pins. This resulted in a perfectly symmetrical, stiff-as-a-board piece of intricate lace no household should be without.

I’m not sure when doilies went out of fashion, but at some point, I declared mine mere dust collectors. Not ready to part with these heirlooms, however, I washed them and stored them in a box. I certainly can’t predict whether they’ll ever make a come-back. Pintrest is probably full of great ideas for what to do with doilies and maybe one day I’ll take the time to look. In the meantime, it’s lovely to see them getting used to beautify the set for a story that takes place in 1939. I think Granny would be pleased.

You can see Granny Baker’s doilies—and a lot of other old stuff—on stage at the William Glesby Centre when The Prairie Players present Joseph Kesselring’s “Arsenic and Old Lace” November 11, 12, 13, and 14. The first two nights are the play only and the last two are dinner theatre. Call 204-239-4848 or stop by the Glesby Centre for tickets or more information. You can also buy tickets online at www.glesbycentre.com