No sheep ‘til Rhinebeck 2011 (or how I became a fleece whore)

Yesterday, I was searching in my yarn closet for one lone skein of Debbie Bliss Alpalca silk to finish a pair of gloves.  As so often happens when I enter my yarn closet, a big pile of beautiful colorful yarn came crashing down on me.

“Not in the sock yarns, not mixed in with my sweaters, not in the baskets by my dresser, not in my fiber stash.” 

It took me 45 minutes to find the skein, and I found a lot of really nice yarn that I should be knitting with, while I was looking for it.  Does this scene sound familiar to you?

The very first thing I want to say here is that I LOOOOOOVVVEEE my stash. I don’t have stash guilt or feel the need to apologize to any of my loved ones about how much yarn/ fiber I have (the dogs don’t seem to care, and DH has his own hoarding issues).  I do, however, have a rather small apartment, and I am starting to realize that even if I stop buying yarn and fiber today, I still could not knit through what I have in this lifetime.

I also have a dirty little secret, I would much rather have storage room for this:

(I bought 3 1/2 fleeces, this was the smallest of the three, and I hope(!) the dirtiest)
than for this:

 (this was it what my friend Laura got- Hmm, as I look at the two pix back to back even I have to admit I may need some sort of yarn therarpy)

I love yarn, but I find the smell of dirty, smelly sheep intoxicating.  I spent yesterday washing up the dirty little Jacob and it made me insanely happy.  Today, I am working on my Romney.

This year at Rhinebeck I spent hours walking through the sheep stalls high as a kite and thrilled to spend time looking at various breeds and learning about them. 

 (this is what the Jacob looks like when a sheep is wearing it)

I think this addiction  desire  interest desire  (who am I kidding) NEED was fueled by finishing my owls sweater.

(SUPER CUTE!!! If I do say so myself. )

I started carding the sweater last winter, and worked on spinning and carding throughout this past year, but when the weather changed in September I decided to finish spinning the last few bobbins and once I started knitting this sweater it was like any other addiction I have encountered (weed, oreos, red wine, or reading Charlaine Harris), I couldn’t stop.  I finished the sweater in about a week and a half. 

As usual, when I am writing I digress.....

If you are reading this you probably want to see some more pictures of Rhinebeck.  Hell, if you are like me you have already scrolled down to the bottom.  However before you do, scroll down, please note: I would like to publicly state that my goal for the next 11 months, 2 weeks, and 5 days is to knit only from stash.

My DF, knotmydayjob has stated that she will also join me in this endeavor, minus two exceptions:

Cashmere that is 40% off and her AVFKW fiber club.  Will we be able to pull it off?  Would you like to join us in this challenge?

Thanks for be patient, and as promised, here are some pictures from Rhinebeck:

(This table was full, until me and the girsl hit it).

 

(Yah, that's right we wiped out the fleece sale!)

(this guy is my hero)

(Hmm, on the on hand I would love, love, love to get my hands on this guys fleece, because you know it's CLEAN.  On the other hand, maybe it's worth picking through some of the crap to work with a fleece that isn't in full Burqa)

 

(seriously, I think they laced the apple cider)

 

Comments

[sara]

You called me out on it, so now I HAVE to do it. :) Maybe we should get one of those count down clocks for our blogs.