A Present

I have been wanting a certain knitting accessory for awhile now, and while ogling cute puppies on kijiji the other day, I decided to run a search and see if I could find a used one locally.  I found one!!  And it was cheap!  And since my birthday is only a few weeks away, I decided it was a must-have.  


Ladies and gentlemen,
My yarn ball winder:





It helps me turn a skein of yarn into a nice, neat ball, or "cake". This 
is necessary because knitting from a skein is virtually impossible.  
Your yarn tangles up, and it's just generally a bad scene. I've been 
hand-winding my own balls (more balls than cakes -- I don't have 
great technique), but it takes about an hour to do just one. With my
new toy I can do it in a few minutes. I LOVE it!!

In other news, I am an itchy beast all of a sudden.  Wednesday night when I was getting ready for bed, I complained to Jason that one of our pets must have fleas because I was covered in itchy bites (I react pretty strongly to both fleas and mosquitos).  He took one look and said, "Nope, you've got HIVES!"


Egad, I've never had hives before and now I'm on hive-tastic day three.  I likely should have had my doc check me out today, but I was busy (hey, I've got a life you know!).  If they're still around by Monday I'll give him a call.  They were at their worst last night -- my hands were so swollen I was unable to continue my video game, and knitting would have been out of the question.  I think I even had one under my thumb nail!


As for what might have caused my plight, I'm absolutely dumbfounded.  The only thing I can think of is that I must have a new Spring/pollen/spore-type allergy, as I've heard Spring allergies are supposed to be quite severe this year.


This experience does give me a new appreciation for how Jason must feel when he gets hives.  His hives are not caused by an allergy and can last anywhere from a few months to more than a year.  It's ridiculous, and I can only imagine how frustrated and uncomfortable he must be.


My itchies are less prominent today, and I might be able to do some knitting.  My sweater is coming along nicely, but I am itching (har-har) to take it off the needles and try it on!