Today I decided I really needed a break from the pineapples, so I dug out a bag of handspun alpaca that a friend had sent me a few years back--from a spinning weekend she had hosted. There were several balls of yarn, all contributed by her guests. The one I picked to work with was the ugly duckling of the bunch...I figured it was just a collection of leftover scraps spun together. It didn't take me long to recognize that whoever had done the spinning on that one, was either a really bad spinner, or a real novice. As I knit along (I decided to start a scrappy shawl for the coming winter), there were long stretches where the threads were barely twisted and equally long stretches where they were so tight that they were like crochet cotton--only kinked so badly I could barely use the yarn! It's going to be one, ugly shawl!!! There's another ball that seems to be more of the same--I'll save that for the other end, I guess! But knitting that has sure been an interesting 'break' from crocheting pineapples!!! :D