Another 'intractable' skein

UPDATE: I got the yarn from J. Knits on eBay.

What do I need . . .

. . . to turn these things into one of these?

Anyone . . . Bueller . . .

I did manage to change the skein on the right



into this ball


all by my lonesome without benefit of handy tools or, well, just another pair of hands. It took a very long time and turned into the Herculean task of unraveling the Gordian Knot (which, unlike Alexander, I did not cleave in twain.)

So I ask, what tools do I need to turn an annoying skein into a much friendlier and more tractable center pull ball?

Still burned out, but . . .

. . . I do have one new skein of yarn to show off. It just amazes me how the pictures I take look nothing like the color the yarn actually is. This one is actually a very deep, sinfully luxurious blue and not the pale blue of this photo.

Happy Easter!

Scarcity

I know I've been a bit scarce of late, but I've been on a reading kick, having burned myself out on crafty things. The white on white cross stitch on the butterfly fairy was driving me mad so I decided to take a few weeks off from that. I was very industriously knitting scarves - as is evidenced by the two samples I posted last month - but I've managed to seriously screw up twice on the very simple scarf I'm working on now so I decided it was break time from knitting for a few weeks as well.

As for the reading, I'm about half done with the third Tawny Man book by Robin Hobb. Not a particular favorite, but it is soothingly mindless.