Ahoy!

By the Powers! Ye didn't think I'd let Talk Like a Pirate Day pass without notice, did ye? Grab yer grog and some dubloons, matey and plunder!!

If ye be a WoW fan, head yerself to Booty Bay and party with the Dread Captain DeMeza, where it be Pirate Day. And don't ferget yer pirate togs and grog! See, there be the Dread Pirate Alastrine. Ye don't want to be tanglin' with that wench, do ye? I have me a big axe and I not be afeared to use it! ;)

And go get yerself a pirate name. I be the newly named, Pirate Val the Staggering Drunk. Yo ho ho and a bottle o' rum!

Chugging right along

The knitting is going. That's all I'm saying, lol.

I've been reading a lot lately too. A co-worker introduced me to Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas series, I'll start book 3 tonight. I used to read a lot of Dean Koontz in high school and early in my marriage. Somewhere along the way I just stopped reading for some reason. So when my co-worker offered to loan me the first two books I jumped at them.

One reason is because it's a series. I love series books, I love watching the characters develop through out the books, learning more about them.

And of course, it's fall, with All Hallow's Eve approaching, my favourite time of year. So the ghosty books have hit my reading list as well.

I've started keeping an Amazon wish list again. Mostly to remind myself of which authors I like are coming out with new books so I can remember to request them from the library ;) But Amazon also has a Universal Wish List now, so I can add links from anywhere I like, lol. So now I have knitting things on my list as well. I've stuck the link in my sidebar so y'all can see what I'm reading and what I'm lusting for ;)

In other news, we've bought a new toy. It will hopefully arrive next week. Our computer hard drive is dying. It keeps freezing up, leaving us no choice but to shut off at the power source. That inevitably screws with Windows XP and we have problems.

So now I shall be switching to Vista. I've played with it a bit at work, we shall see.

I think perhaps

I should just not blog about my current knitting project status. It seems that every time I do, I end up in Frogville.

This time it wasn't because of a mistake, at least not that I know of. This time it was because of the way sets of stitches were lining up funky. I noticed that every once in a while a small section, usually for an inch or so, the stitches would look off. And if I flipped to the wrong side of my knitting, you could see that the purl stitches were absolutely lined up.

Instead of looking like this:
- - -
 - -

They looked like this:
----
----

Which in the grand scheme of things wasn't really noticeable to anyone. Except me. And it finally got to me enough that I frogged. So we will see if it's something I did unintentionally or if it's the funky twist of the cotton yarn or what. I just know I couldn't let it continue without at least trying to fix it. *Sigh* The joys of perfectionism, lol.

Lovely

What a difference a week makes! Labor Day weekend was truly the last summer weekend if this week has been anything to go by. Last weekend was hot and I remember wishing for fall to hurry up and get here ;) Come Tuesday, autumn arrived. The temps dipped and I am loving it. This next week should stay in the 70s as well. Of course, this means I need to tidy the spare bedroom up a bit, so I can move my geraniums indoors before the first frost (Which I am begging for now. Just one hard frost to kill off all the weeds that are making me miserable, lol).

I'm thinking it could be a long winter though. The high country had its first snow a few weeks ago, actually leaving several inches behind in the lower mountains and it has certainly snowed above tree line since. But that's ok, I have plenty of knitting to see me through ;)

Speaking of knitting, I'm plodding along on Cherry Bomb. I've reached the first repeat of waist shaping on the front (so about 5 inches, lol). I joined the Big Girl Knits group on Ravelry last night and went through the posts on Cherry Bomb whilst I was there. I am now very glad that I added an inch to the length, since the biggest lament of CB knitters was that it needed to be a bit longer. I tend to like my tops a bit longer anyway, and looking at pics of FOs on Rav made me decide to add a half inch. Fortuitously, I lost track whilst watching TV the other night (new Ghost Hunters) and when I checked length it was 4 inches instead of 3.5. I didn't have the patience to unknit for half an inch, so I left it and just changed my notes on my pattern. I think the extra half inch is better.

My next plan is to pick up a cable needle tomorrow and try my hand with some leftover yarn at cabling. I want to make sure I can turn out a nice cable before I commit myself to yarn for the Susie Hoodie ;) I've priced the yarn though, and figure I can get it for a reasonable price, so that's good.

Anyhoo, I have to work today so I had best get moving. Ciao!

No laboring on Labor Day here

For the first time in years I have Labor Day off. We haven't planned a bloody thing, other than I know I have to go to the grocery store at some point today.

Not sure what I will do today. I've been doing very little knitting. I've only just begun Cherry Bomb (nothing like waiting until autumn to start a summer tank, lol).

There's been a lot of reading. Nothing spectacular that stands out though, just quick reads, like a bunch of cozy mysteries. I do have Acheron in the bedroom, waiting to be cracked. It's a tremendous volume, 736 pages, and I just can't seem to be too terribly interested. *Sigh* I will read it soon though, it's a library book and must go back soon.

As always there's been a lot of WoW. I've got Alastrine kitted out in top gear, although she could use a new helm at some point, I think I will start work on that today in AV.

I've started playing one of my old Ally 'toons again yesterday. Gnorma is a level 32 gnome mage who needs a lot of help, lol. But at least she's high enough to have a mount to ride instead of running every where. I sadly don't have the patience for that any more, Alas has spoilt me, with her flying mount and her very fast Cobalt Riding Talbuk. Gnorma's mechanical chicken mount is almost too slow for me, (And so incredibly stupid looking!) lol. It's been a bit tough getting used to soloing again, after having a pet to help Alas kill things, and the whole magic thing is odd too. Gnorma is an incredible squishy compared to Alas at this level, so I have to be careful about what I take on or she ends up dead.

Anyhoo. It won't be long before the family is awake, so I think I shall take the last of my quiet time and head for WoW. Ciao!

Well what do you know...

I was looking for a recipe on the 'net this afternoon and as I went to close out my browser I got a pop up window that said "Warning, your computer is infected!" And it claimed to be Windows XP Antivirus 2008. When I tried to close the window without installing it tried to install the software anyway. I hurriedly turned the computer off.

McAffee is running on it now, just to make sure, but I think I caught it. This is the evil virus I was talking about. It's not an anti-virus program like it is claiming to be.

Unfortunately, most people don't know that and they immediately click on the "Remove all threats now" button.

So word to the wise, don't visit web sites you don't know and don't trust anything that tries to download automatically.

Since I've not done one in ages...

Snagged from Pollyanna Rainbow Sunshine and the Needles of Doom

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

1. Venison and elk.
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding I know what this is made of ;) Likely no, never.
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht Not a big beet fan.
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi- haven't tried it, but I love curry so I'd likely eat it ;)
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle- it's a shroom, and an expensive one, chances are no, never...
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes Grapefruit wine from the Amanas.
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries Itty bitty baby wild strawberries! Yum!
23. Foie gras Goose liver. It's the entire animal part thing again. But I have had pate and it's good so I'd try it.
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese There's a reason this is called head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper I've tried dried ones. Made me sneeze, lol.
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters Do Rocky Mountain Oysters count? ;)
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas Yuck!
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi Sweet Lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float Black Cow, anyone?
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea Yum!
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo I would try this given the opportunity.
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects Not intentionally, but I've had bugs fly into my mouth while outside ;)
43. Phaal This I would try, as I love hot curries!
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu Sorry, I don't feel the need to tempt fate by knowingly eating something that is poisonous if not prepared just right...
47. Chicken tikka masala Brilliant!
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear I'd try this.
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV Don't like beer.
59. Poutine I'd try this given the opportunity
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads Sorry, but I have enough problems eating regular cuts of meat, innards are not happening.
63. Kaolin Hah, if you've ever had Kaopectate you've had this ;)
64. Currywurst
65. Durian Ha, I saw this one on Bizarre Foods. I don't know that I could get past the smell.
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis Animal parts again.
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe HATE anything black licorice flavoured
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill Well, maybe if I were starving....
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef Can't afford it.
86. Hare Wouldn't order it on a menu, though I'm not against trying it.
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse Nope, never.
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish Yum, mud.
95. Mole poblano I would try this given the opportunity
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor Can't afford it and really wasn't impressed enough by the lobster to order anything with it again.
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee YUM! A restaurant in Moab, UT used to serve this with breakfast. Brilliant.
100. Snake

I'm a pretty fussy eater. I tend to stick with what I know. The few times I've gone out of my comfort zone I've found things I really liked (curries) and things that were nasty (why didn't Rocky Mountain Oysters make this list?). But I do occasionally try new things.

As for the alcohol related items, I'm not a big drinker. I don't like beer at all and usually only drink sweet white wine (travesty, I know!).

Watch out!

I work in a store where we provide tech service and computer fixes. There's a nasty virus out there that seems to be spreading quite rampantly in the last week. Update your anti-virus and get yourself a spyware removal tool. Ad-Aware and Spybot Search and Destroy are both free and easy to use.

We have at least 10 computers hooked up, waiting for spyware and virus removal. Each owner originally came in to buy a brand new computer because theirs were so screwy. But virus removal isn't cheap. $100 will get your computer cleaned, but you'll still have to buy an anti-virus (or renew your original one), so you're looking at $150 at least. Save the money and get the anti-virus now and keep it updated!

And speaking of computers... We got a new monitor a while ago. It's a lovely thing to behold. Lovely vivid colours, all in a fairly compact package. It's a larger monitor than my old one, yet we gained more space, purely by losing the huge bulk that was the old monitor. Yay!

But because of the new monitor, this blog looks sad. It's overly bright to me, and oh so dull. And of course with a different resolution than this was built in, and fixed spacing, there's way too much "white space." So look for a change soon. I just have to decide what I want. That's the hard part, lol.

Technical Difficulties

I can't connect to Blogspot, so I can't see my own blog, and I can't get to my blogrolling list or see any other blogspot blogs. No idea why, but it's pissing me off. Hopefully be fixed soon. See you soon!

Speaking of Big Girls...

I decided that the tank I am going to knit is Cherry Bomb, from Big Girl Knits. I love the shaping on this pattern. I've tried store bought tanks before and by the time I get one to fit my chest I end up feeling like I am wearing a sack. So I am quite hopeful that this one will fit nicely. I am going to add about an inch of length to it though.

And I found another pattern I really like too. The Susie Hoodie, from More Big Girl Knits. I've always loved the Rogue Sweater. But now I've seen the Susie and I think it would work better for me. I rarely wear sweaters. A jacket I could just pull on, now that's the thing for me! The cables have me nervous, but I've been wanting to try them anyway so why not on something like this?

I've started to post several times now...

And each time I get a few sentences in before I run down. Work is turning out to be ok. I like the people I work with, I really like not having to deal with the unemployment jerks, but I am already tired of sore feet at the end of my shift.

I have cool shoes. They really do help. But there just isn't any escaping the fact that I'm on my feet seven hours a day and I'm a big girl. I guess I still need to be looking for that dream job, the one where I surf the internet all day and only deal with people through email

I've done absolutely no knitting in the last few weeks. I just don't feel mentally awake enough by the end of the day to knit lace and days off are spent running errands and such. I need to start something simple, I guess. I have some lovely red cotton that I was going to use for Soleil, but for some reason the lace on that killed me. Maybe a more simple tank? This maybe? I really like the Flow tank the Harlot did, but I can't pay $16 for the book A.t.M.

Anyway, I'd better go. The family will be up soon and I'll never get any WoW time, lol.

Irony?

I don't have a problem with alternate religions. In fact, at one point I researched Wicca and thought seriously about becoming a Wiccan (I will admit now that it was mainly to freak out my mother, though I find many of the Wiccan beliefs appeal to me still, but anyhoo...), I don't post this out of malice but it did tickle my funny bone.

"A woman accidentally stabbed herself in the foot with a 3-foot-long sword while performing a Wiccan good luck ritual at a central Indiana cemetery."

Was this an example of her luck and the reason she was performing the ritual?

WTF?

This morning started like any other day. I got up, put the coffee maker on (it turned out to be clogged and we cleaned it at home rather than sending it away, yay!), and then booted up the 'puter.

I got a message from McAffee that my virus protection was expired, so I deleted the old and went to download the new from my ISP. In the process I restarted the 'puter and lo and behold no wireless connection. It didn't exist. Somehow, some way, our wireless disappeared.

And not just on the desktop. Neither laptop would connect either. Not a provider issue, we still have tv and phone. Several resets later and the dragging of tower and monitor to the physical connection to the internet and resetting the network later we have the 'net again, but... It's still odd. Still can't connect on the laptop. The networking card doesn't want to work. And well, the settings of the network aren't right. Like we missed a step along the way?

I'm tempted to pick the brain of the compu-geek at work if he's there tonight but I don't know him very well yet, and it seems a bit presumptuous, lol.

Speaking of work, so far so good. I am hoping I can finish all of my certifications there tonight, I've only been doing exactly what they are for for a week now, I should be able to pass easy enough. ;)

Uh oh!

Abby says it's not polite to knit or crochet while attending a meeting or social gathering... What say you?

I say if it's a small meeting, yeah maybe. But if it's a huge conference room and you aren't bugging the person next to you and you can still pay attention and contribute then you are fine.

Weird

This morning I went out to the car to get the login for our daycare pay site and the glove box was open. Was someone in the car? Hubby wasn't in the glove box and neither was I. But there was $40 in cash in the car and it was still there. But now hubby's phone seems to have gone. The phone would have been right on top of the cash, although the cash was a little tucked under some other stuff.

But he can't swear the phone was in the car. We've tried calling it to see if it's in the house, but it goes straight to voice mail. Now, it's just a Net10 phone, so it's not like someone can run up hundreds of dollars worth of calls on it, so we aren't worried about that. But it does have some numbers in the contacts that hubby doesn't have anywhere else.

And maybe as hubby says I'm being paranoid. Why would they take the phone and not the cash? But maybe they were interrupted? I don't know. Just seems odd that we can't find his phone.

Anyway... I need a new look for my page now that the 4th is over. No idea what I want now. *Sigh*

Vacation

We decided to take a trip down to Santa Fe before I start working again, figuring it would be our last chance for a bit. So we spent a lovely several days down south eating and playing.

I love, love, love the Blue Corn Cafe! We actually ate there twice this trip and both meals were sooo good. The first night I had their "Carne Adovada, tender pork cubes marinated in red chile and slow cooked. Covered with melted cheese and served with flour tortillas." Enough there to feed two and so yummy. I wish I could get my red chile sauce to taste like that!

I love Santa Fe, from the lovely adobe style houses to the food. Where else can you sit in the plaza eating ice cream and listening to buskers playing the harp and violin?

And of course much time was spent in the hotel pool. I have the sunburned shoulders to prove it! (Always remember to REapply sun screen before going in the pool. Oops)

While we were there we headed into the mountains to check out Bandelier National Monument. The ancient cliff dwellings are interesting, but the fact that they also had ground level buildings make the site unique. We'd all been before, but the munchkin was in a stroller then so hubby wandered the cliff while the munchkin and I watched ants. This time was much better as we were all able to explore the cliff. And yes, I did manage to climb a ladder and stick my head in one of the cliff homes, despite my fear of heights and claustrophobia.

We saw several little lizards and to my delight, a blooming Jimson Weed ala Georgia O'Keefe. The picture turned out much better than I thought it would, we had to respect the park and stay on the trail and that was the only bloom on any Jimson we happened across. They are quite a bit larger than I expected and very beautiful.

Anyway, off to nag my hubby to go get coffee as our 3 month old fancy espresso machine is not grinding properly and needs to be sent back!

Busy few weeks?

Nah. Not really, just too lazy to blog, lol.

We did go to our first drive-in movie last week. We saw Kung Fu Panda and Indiana Jones. Kung Fu Panda was better than hubby and I expected. Indiana, well it was okay, definitely the worst movie of the 4, but okay.

I've been on a non-fiction kick in my reading lately. See, I love the show Wild West Tech. I live in what was once the wild west, after all. So I've been reading about the history of the wild west, specifically, the women of the west.

Denver and the surrounding mining camps had a rolicking past, lol. In Denver there's the aptly named Market Street, once the home to high class brothels run by such infamous madames as Mattie Silks and Jennie Rogers. Mattie's "house" at 2009 Market St. in Denver is now an historical landmark. Just down the street at #1942 was the House of Mirrors, originally owned by Jennie and an object of great jealousy for Mattie. Mattie bought the House after Jennie's death and immediately had her name inset in the tile entrance. The building was restored in 1998 and is now houses a restaurant called Mattie's House of Mirrors.

Of course, it's not just the soiled doves I find fascinating. There were cattle queens and lady doctors, too. And of course, suffragettes. Colorado was the first state in the Union to approve women's suffrage in a popular election, a full 25 years before the 19th Amendment was passed.

Anyhoo. I've changed the sock pattern to Monkey. When I actually read Chevrolace and discovered it was knit on circulars I pouted and found Monkey instead, lol. I will start the lace pattern today.

OH! And I got a job! It's retail again, sigh. But it's an office supply place, so I am thinking clientele is likely to be very different from what I've seen in the past. I start on July 8. Mixed feelings abound. In one respect I am hideously bored, but in another I like not having to be somewhere. We shall see how things go. Wish me luck ;)

Friday was a bad day!

I woke up Friday morning, wandered into the kitchen and turned on the computer then wandered to the coffee maker. A few minutes later, armed with my Cinnamon Dulce latte, I returned to the computer. The wireless network was having issues, so I went to restart. The big freeze. So shuddering as I did so (Premonition? Too much past experience? Both?) I hit the power button and held it until the computer shut down.

A few seconds later I started it up again. Did you know that on my computer the blue screen of death isn't actually blue? It's evil black. System error. Windows cannot load because a file is missing or corrupt. Please insert Windows start up disk to try to repair.

Now, years ago the lovely people at Dell stopped sending out system disks. In fact, my computer came with not one damned disk. Which means if a complete reformat is called for, I've no way to rebuild. Much hair was pulled out.

Finally it was 10 AM and the calls began. Geek Squad wanted over $300 to come out to my house and try to fix it, more if a backup and reformat was required.

The next repair place wanted $80 to come out, plus the labor charge to fix it and even more to back things up and reformat. At least $160.

All to stick in a Windows disk and repair (I've done that myself, takes just a few minutes, really. Not worth that much money.)

Third place we called said bring it on in. It would likely cost under $60. Ding, ding, ding!!! We have a winner! And so hubby disconnected everything and drove up the road to the shop. That left us with no computer for the day and major concerns about data that we may or may not get back. Luckily almost everything was backed up on our external hard drive so it wouldn't have been a major loss. The main concern was software. I don't know where all my disks are. In a box somewhere. And of course this computer never had disks for the software that came on it, so I'd be without Word Perfect or Word if it couldn't be fixed.

But by 4 PM they'd fixed it and sold us a Windows Sys disk ;) All for $40. A very good thing!!!

And everyone who worked there plays World of Warcraft, so that was kind of funny. They thought hubby was lame because he plays Alliance side, but apparently I am cool because I play Horde side ;)

PS: The moral of this story is that if y'all don't have Windows set up disks, look it up on the internet and create one!

Whew!

Sock the Second v. 2 is complete! I have a finished pair! No second sock syndrome for me.

The next pair, Broadripple from Knitty.com, was begun in time for the Estes Park Wool Market and Worldwide Knit in Public Day. (It was also frogged later the same day, but that's another story...) I'm excited about this pair, because it's more than just a plain Jane pattern, and really, if I could just pay attention, a simple pattern to memorize.

Unfortunately, my attention span seems to be shorter than a gnat's. On my first attempt, I was three repeats into the cuff when I lost it somewhere on the pattern line of the 4th. since then I've been unable to get any farther than one repeat and lose it in the second. Last night I couldn't even get the first row completed. Sigh. Hopefully I can get out of the house for a bit today and clear the cobwebs from my brain and get back on track. And today, there will be lifeline involved.

But anyhoo. You don't care about my sock trials and tribulations. You want to hear about the wool market! As in the past it was lovely. I do think the number of vendors was down this year, as were the number of animals being judged. Gas prices screw everyone

But the few vendors I wanted were there. Brooks Farm Yarn and Plain & Fancy Sheep & Wool Co. The lovely lady from Interlacements was also up from Colorado Springs.

So I bought the place out right? No. I did finally buy from Brooks Farm, I've drooled over their yarns for three years now, and this year I bought a lovely hank of Solo Silk in graduated blues, despite the fact that I went in wanting reds, lol. I liked the color changes on the blue, the red was a lot more subtle and while lovely just didn't grab my attention like the blues.

As for the other vendors, they have lovely things as always but I still have two skeins from Plain & Fancy from last year. And the lovely spiderweb from Interlacements as well. And being that I am still unemployed (and enjoying it for the moment) I just couldn't see spending a lot of wool.

I will say that the Yak yarn tempted me greatly. As did the Bison (especially since we just returned from South Dakota where we viewed many, many Bison in Custer State Park). As did the softness of the Angora (but the large price tag vs. the small quantity did this one in).

We also found a booth that carried needle felting things. The kiddo had a grand time making a pin. Those felting needles are SHARP. And they have barbed ends, so if you stab yourself with one it's going to hurt. But she did brilliantly.

All in all we had a fine time, although the kiddo started to get fussy when I wanted to go back into the yarn barn again. So instead we got into line for grub. I bought 2lbs of frozen ground lamb for $5.50 and had a nice lamb kabob as well. Last night we turned 1lb. into samosas to go with our Chicken Tikka Masala. Yum.

The next several days are going to be spent on crafts, I think. I finally got the spare room walkable, now I just need to clear off the craft table so the munchkin and I can scrapbook some of our many vacation pictures! And of curse, I intend to work on the Broadripple. Ciao for now!

Minutiae

Sock the Second has gone the way of most knit projects in my life and been frogged. I cast on again last night, but I've only completed a few rows. Sock the Second was less than two inches from decreasing for the toe... I thought I had it made. *Sigh*

I dropped a stitch along the way and when I slowly tried to unknit down to it, I got fed up and decided unraveling would be faster so I did. And then could pick all the tiny little stitches back up. After unraveling way more than I'd planned due to losing stitches here and there, I finally lost patience when I got all the way to the last stitch and it unraveled before I could pick it up, destroying the last of my patience.

I was really angry, because I got some lovely new red sock yarn last week and I want to play with it So I unraveled StS and rewound the yarn. Then I pulled out the new sock yarn. My LYS has a brilliant selection of sock yarn, I was almost spoilt by choice. The people who work there are so friendly. BUT, they never offer to wind yarn.

I wish they would. I undid the band on my skein and proceeded to set up my winder, skein loosely draped over my knees as I did so. Things went fine, with me slowly unraveling the skein and winding the yarn. Until I dropped about a third of the loop and hopelessly tangled it up. Took me well over an hour to hand ball from the other end, weaving the yarn in and out until all the tangles were gone. And of course, the cat decided whilst I was untangling things, that was the best time ever to come sit in my lap.

But the lovely yarn is now rewound properly and no worse for wear. Of course, there's a second skein waiting to be wound...