In spite of the fact that I think I know everything, clearly, there’s a lot out there I’m clueless about.

I was in my local sewing/crafts store the other day getting a picture matted. While waiting, I wandered around. I don’t sew or do a lot of crafty things that aren’t woodworking, so there was nothing I was specifically looking for and was just killing time. Then, lo and behold, I stumbled on these:

What in the wide, wide world of sports was going on here – lathe-turned bowls? In the sewing section? Since this was a store for people who make their own things, why were there finished bowls here? So, I snapped a photo, thinking there was a blog here somewhere.

But when I showed the photo to Sally, she didn’t blink an eye. “Those are yarn bowls,” she informed me. Yarn bowls – including lathe-turned ones – have apparently been around forever, flying under my know-it-all radar. You put a ball of yarn in one and feed the string out through one of those cutout swirl things. Huh, I’ll be darned.