This holiday season saw the arrival of not one but TWO different yarn buddies!  Welcome, my friends. Welcome!

The first comes to me from friends-of-a-friend who listened to me moan (and moan) about how sad I was that I couldn’t find a single yarn buddy at Stitches East.  They sent this to me, as a total surprise! I love it!  Even if my knitting group (you know who you are!) keep making jokes about the, um, slightly phallic appearance. It has no moving parts, which is a great plus.  I suspect a drop of spinning wheel oil will make it spin freely, but for now I’m keeping it “dry” — the slight friction allows me to pull without risking a yarn tilt-a-whirl.

In the mean time, I had asked (pretty please!) for a yarn buddy for Christmas from my Mother-in-Law.  She bought this ball-bearing model from The Woolery.  It’s fantastic!  It’s one piece, so I can bring it in my knitting bag without worrying about parts going places. The ball bearings provide smooth, musical turning. I personally appreciate the less-phallic shape, so as to avoid ribbing by the knitting gang.  The clear non-slip feet are nice too — it doesn’t slide across smooth cafe tables when I pull.