fiber events like this usual spark an intense need to spend far more money that you should, but i showed extreme restraint in my purchases. the big attractions for most knitters would probably be all of the pretty, multi-colored skeins of hand-dyed yarns. that is not really my thing though. plus, on the incredibly rare occasion that i am in the mood to knit with fancy-colored yarns, i am more than capable of dyeing my own... thank you very much.
what did catch my attention however, was this gorgeous basket, which i packed with some fiber i purchased with the intent of turning it into future-yarn... you know... once i am done spinning up all the other fiber i already own into "future-yarn". everybody knows that amassing supplies beyond-life-expectancy is half the fun of any hobby.
i was quite pleased to hear about the company's fair-trade practices and all that wonderful stuff, but before all of that... i fell in love with the basket at first sight.
no exaggeration, it was the first thing i saw when i entered the festival. we were running late to catch the morning sheepdog-herding demonstration (yes... you read that correctly), so i told the lady i would return later. and i did. and the one i wanted was still there.
i held it up, turning it this way and that, questioning if it was just a bit "too much", when i heard the voice of a stranger behind me.
woman behind me: are you kidding me? look at you! it was meant for you.
not gonna lie... i was in full Divine-Earth-Goddess mode in my flowy, Summer dress covered in images of large flowers. plus i was wearing the chunky, super-colorful necklace that always elicits unsolicited-compliments from random strangers—as it did on multiple occasions that day. to top it all off, my hair was doing that whole "might have just stuck my finger in a light-socket" thing that makes me smile. that basket was begging me to grant it access to the mode.
so i did.
the photos do not do justice to describe the sheer beauty—or the size— of this thing. i am about 5'9" (roughly 1.75m for the metrically-inclined), and the top of the handles hit about halfway up my thigh. mind you, my thighs end where most people my height keep their belly-buttons, so that basket is much taller than it looks.
it is a sturdy market-style bag which i will use as a replacement for the plastic bin i have been using to hold my fiber when i am at the spinning wheel.
and speaking of fiber...
as i noted, i did not buy any yarn, but i did get a couple bags of fiber for spinning into future-yarn. another vendor had huge bags of fibers in different colors, which they sell by weight. so, you just grab a plastic bag... and stuff away.
the white stuff is one pound of a blend of 90% BFL wool and 10% nylon. this is a perfect combination for making socks... so i guess i will be spinning sock yarn... which i will be obligated to turn into socks at some point. [if you have been here before, you will recall my ongoing non-fondness for knitting socks.]
this fiber is not blended thoroughly (if you squint a bit, you may notice that it is two different shades of white), so i will run it through the drum carder a few times to blend it thoroughly when it is time to spin.
then there is this gorgeous stuff.
i got two-and-a-half pounds of criminally-soft 100% merino. i usually avoid wool when making stuff for myself, but this fiber is so soft that i should be able to wear it. i got a generous amount in the charcoal color, and it is already earmarked to be something special for me... once i get around to spinning it... eventually.
there was a friend of the vendor's who helped me go through the bag to find all the thinner pieces, which will save me a lot of time when it comes time for this spin. commercially-prepared fiber is usually sold as long ropes about the thickness of a child's wrist that are referred to as either roving or combed top (depending on how it was processed). the white stuff on the left is some combed top from my stash.
the fiber i just purchased (the charcoal-grey stuff on the right) is a thinner form of combed top that is referred to as "pencil" roving/top on account of the relatively thin diameter of the ropes of fiber.
[fun fact: the thinner "pencil" rope is an earlier stage in most commercial fiber preparation, and the thicker rope is usually just made up of several pencil ropes bundled together. if you spread apart a bit of the thicker rope, you can still see the spaces between the thinner pencil bits.]
so, now i have a whole lot of spinning to look forward to... on top of the long queue of things i want to make... and i keep buying fabric so i can get back to sewing one of these days. at the current rate, i will have to live to be at least a-hundred-and-fifty to get even half of that done. that—some may say—is half the fun of the thing.
oh, and i met a guy who i already pre-warned that he will be hearing more from "that crazy lady from Brooklyn"... but i will save that bit for tomorrow.
love the basket. I'm only 5'1" and slowly diminishing, so that thing would probably hit me just under the chin. Oh, the things you can put in that. The cats will love it. (ducking)
ReplyDeleteyou are right to duck after that one. i really want to use it to hold my roving as i spin, but i can already hear the claws being sharpened in anticipation. it is on top of the shelving unit that holds my craft books for now. clearly i did not think this out before making that purchase.
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