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Dear Misses Twinsetellen and Twinsetjan,
It is hard to believe it has been almost a month since the last question. Time flies when you are having fun knitting. From the many cards and letters received with questions, I have chosen this one from an alert reader in Wapakoneta, Ohio.

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Question 2: Does having your boyfriend hold the yarn while you wind the ball really result in his keeping his hands to himself?

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Answer 2: All this started in Holland years ago when a boy named Hans Brinker was dating a pretty 24-year-old lady obsessed with knitting. Whenever he would get a little “forward” she would get out a big bunch of yarn (history says it was called a “bunch” in those days) and have him hold it. Some times this would slow him down a little. His name was later mistranslated to English as “Hands.” To this day, when ladies get back to their dorm rooms and discuss dates they often refer to their second best boy friends as “Hands.” So you see, the answer to your question is “No.” However, if it weren’t for what the ladies call “the old yarn trick,” Case Western Reserve Medical School would have to expand their OB-GYN graduates by a multiple of ten.

There is a down side to this. Some young men have vowed never to date any ladies belonging to a knitting club. It is a little known fact that one young man went home in a huff after his girlfriend started knitting on a third sweater.

Thanks for this timely and important question.

Dr. Yarn

Editor’s note:  Yes, I have purchased a swift for my daughter and her husband.  —TE