The magic skein

Every once in a while, you run into a magic skein of yarn. You know the type. We all have one from time to time. You've used up 6 skeins, and you know exactly how many inches come from each one. Depending on the tedium of the pattern you're working, you may even swear you know how many stitches come from each hank of yarn. But the magic skein just keeps going. And going. And going.

It defies all logic. Every skein is the same size, makes the same sized ball, weighs the same amount. And yet, every once in a while, one seems to last forever.

I have to admit that I often don't really love the magic skein. It's usually the "this is taking forever...is it done yet???" skein. But every once in a while, I really have to appreciate the magic ball of yarn.

My second-to-last ball of yarn was the magic one. And, in case that wasn't enough of a miracle, it turns out that my mom measured all the way to the base of my sister's tailbone and called that the ideal sweater length, which means that I can take about three inches off of the original length and still have something that makes it to her belt line, I think.

One never-ending skein combined with a new measurement for the sweater length means that there is no need to rip back. There is no need for an extra colorwork band, no need for a yoke sweater. In fact, it means that the sweater can go on exactly as planned, minus three inches. Which is good news. Not that I want to push my luck or anything, but I might even have a little bit of yarn left over.

In fact, if I had knit to the original measurement, the wide colorwork band probably would have fallen a few inches low, over the wide part of the hips rather than at the waist. So, shorter probably means more flattering, too.

I will have to think twice about complaining the next time a ball of yarn takes forever to finish.