Feed the addiction

Tuesday, Kristine finally set out the fiber she's selling so we can all see it. I know she wants to be appropriate and all and not mix business with social events and that shows how well-bred she is. However, I'd tease her about how I feel weird about sneaking back in her fiber room to check out the merchandise. Even though I know that's what she wants me to do, I feel like I'm going through her medicine chest or underwear drawer or something.

So this time she set out a shelf and some baskets of yarn and fiber and I felt relieved - especially when I feasted my eyes on her polwarth roving in the "El Rio" colorway. At first I was thinking, well, I have a lot of fiber on deck, I'll just hang back and not get some. But Mike started picking out fiber to buy like a perfectly reasonable person and the addict part of my brain went all paranoid and started shrieking "MINE MINE!" like a kindergartner. I ended up with 8 oz. of the stuff because I'm not a reasonable person. I don't regret it. :)

I will be so sad when her naturally-dyed polwarth is gone (most of it already is it seems). But there's always next year, and her other pretty fiber to keep me occupied until then.

Speaking of utterly remorseless impulse buying, I went and ordered the Morehouse Merino Monet Shawl KnitKit the other day. I can't help it - I'm fixated on Impressionism after Eric took me to the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia and I want a Waterlilies shawl, goddamit! I also bought three new shorty Grafton spindles - a Mala, a mini Swan, and another Fibership, all in pretty wood laminates - mostly for portable spinning. They have the shorter shafts which make them easier to stick in a little project bag.

I actually broke a spindle a few weeks ago, my Dave Larsen acrylic laser etched one, and I'm totally in mourning, which is why I bought the Graftons. They've grown on me for sure. I really think that for all-around value for money in terms of artisan spindles Bosworths are the way to go (they're absolutely no-fail - you can spin anything on just about any of them). The advantage the Graftons have is they are not only fairly well-designed (especially the Swans) but are built Tonka-tough. I worry a lot less about breaking them in my travel bag, whereas I'd worry about my Bosworths.

(Oh my god, if I broke one of my Bosworths I'd be inconsolable.)