As many of my friends (and blog readers) know, I’m a big football fan. But, I really only enjoy watching my favorite college team, The University of Southern California Trojans, play. We had a lovely New Year’s Day in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl this year, thank you.

But my sister’s family is a pro-ball family. For the last two years she has requested Patriots hats for her gang (she also has three boys, but she wisely gave them each their own initials). These hats are knit in Encore worsted, my yarn of choice for non-hand-washing-families. I made up the patterns as I went along, but did my best to make sure the stripes were each different so the kids couldn’t get them mixed up. I made hats for my DS and BIL as well.

My sister tells me that the Pats did quite well this past weekend. And that her kids all wore their hats as they watched the game on tv.

So, what did you do on new year’s day?  I went to work and counted sweaters and now I’m home watching football.  My team is playing in the Rose Bowl, so I got home in time for the second quarter.  Instead of typing in my blog I should be knitting, but my arms are tired from dancing with sweaters today.  And, I know better than spin while watching football.

Two years ago I learned to not spin while watching a good football game.  The national championship game (which we won two years ago and lost last year), is not the time to attend to yarn tension.  It’s also a problem when you forget which way you’re plying and go the wrong way.  "Huh?" you may say.  Here’s a tiny plying lesson.

In spinning it makes no difference which direction you spin the fiber.  The fiber simply doesn’t care (wool, silk, cotton, alpaca, hemp or anything else).  But throughout the history of spinning, much of it has been done co-operatively.  That means that I’ll spin on a spindle today and put it into the box of spindles at the end of the day; tomorrow you’ll pick up a spindle and so will I, but not necessarily the same one we used previously.  In order to continue making yarn, by convention, we all spin clockwise.  Looking down at the spindle, or from the orifice side of the wheel, the wheel or spindle will turn clockwise.

If I spun clockwise and you spin counter-clockwise, you would unspin my work, and I would unspin yours.

Plying is done in the opposite direction–slightly untwisting the yarn.  Which means that, when done correctly yarn is plied counter-clockwise.  Unless there’s an excellent, exciting football game on.  Then you ply clockwise and make twine for yarn (it ends up very overtwisted).  And, I’m so wrapped up in the game, I don’t even notice until 100-150 yarns of plying is completed.  It is almost impossible to unply yarn.  It takes two people and much patience.  I think I tossed the project.

So, no spinning during a football game.  Perhaps blogging is better anyway.

Since we won the game, be assured that when football is on, I’ll be blogging (not that I’m superstitious or anything

Fight On!