a singular knitter

Today, I officially have a fiber stash.  An enormous fiber stash considering I only have drop spindles to spin with.  Though I plan to invest in a spinning wheel, I’m far away from saving enough to make the financial plunge.  But this didn’t stop me from buying at the Uniquities Fiber Farmers’ Market in Vienna today.  Not a bit.  Instead, I purchased another spindle to convince myself that this fiber could all be spun.

However, the longer I look at the POUND AND A HALF of Romney/Bamboo blend, the more it sinks in that I will have to find a way to store this until I have a spinning wheel.

1.5 lbs of magenta Romney/Bamboo from Wool N' Quilts Triple 'R' Farm

I placed my hand in the shot to give some perspective on how much fiber this really is, but I have a feeling that the love seat behind it may also hint at how large of a pile of bright magenta fluff I now have.  But I couldn’t walk away.  Even my mother stopped in awe of its beauty.  Oh, and it’s soooooooooo soft.  I fought the urge to roll around in it after taking its glamour shots.

The event, as a whole, was quite intimidating. As we waited a half an hour to get in… do to some miscommunications within the family about what time we were to arrive, the lobby of the community center slowly filled with spinners, many with their wheels for the spinning circle.  This was my parents’ first exposure to a mass of spinners and the fiber world in general.  It was clear that M was the only one in our group who wasn’t a bit overwhelmed.  But I went in with a plan.  I needed a new, larger spindle, some fiber wash, to walk around and soak in the fibery goodness and maybe walk out with a braid of fiber.  I certainly accomplished this… plus an extra braid, bag of pencil roving and clear trash bag of 1.5 pounds of fiber.

We made our way around the room to give everything a once-over before approaching any booths.  My father brought M to the bake sale table to encourage her sweet tooth and to support the local high schools crew team while my mother and I started digging in.  The first thing that caught our attention was the previously mentioned (and mentioned a lot) Romney/Bamboo fiber blend.  We then made our way back to the Uniquities booth to purchase the spindle and fiber wash.  As you may note in the picture below, I have already started spinning some previously-purchased Shetland fiber I’ve been dying to spin…

Drop Spindle with sheep heads stamped on the top of the whorl.

At this point, my father had taken M outside to eat her cookies, come back inside, washed her up and passed her along to my mother.  I returned to the other side of the room, promising that this booth would be my last stop as I had seen some extraordinary colors when making my first pass through the room.  It was at Wild Hare Fiber Studio that I purchased two braids of “Faux Cashmere” and one bag of “Sparkle Roving”.

2 - 4 oz braids of "Faux Cashmere" (Microfiber Nylon) in the Rose Petal colorway.

4 ozs of 63% superwash merino 20% silk, 15% nylon, 2% silver poly in the Evening Star colorway.

The photos, despite leaving the fiber in their bags, do depict the colors well.  The Rose Petal colorway is full of pinks, touches of red and a bit of coral.  While the Evening Star is royal blue melting into black with silver sparkle throughout.

Luckily, I do plan to replace my falling-apart bookcases with one very large bookcase from IKEA which should provide more storage for the smaller packages of fiber… however I may have to buy the largest plastic tub on the market to store my pound and a half.  Totally worth it.  I may avoid other fiber events this year, or at least until I have my wheel.  But Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival is only two months away……