New Toy

When I woke up at 5am yesterday, I didn't think I'd be doing much with the day. During breakfast I remembered that this is the weekend of the Massachusetts Sheep & Woolcraft Fair, and suddenly the day had purpose. At 7:30 I hopped in the car and headed for Cummington.

Almost as soon as I arrived I knew that I had a mission: buy a spindle. I laid eyes on a Forrester spindle very much like this one at The Wheel Thing, but promised myself that I wouldn't spend any money until after lunch, just so I had a chance to look at everything and make an informed decision.

Not ten minutes later I'd fallen in love with a Butterfly Girl spindle at Spunky Eclectic. I then spent almost three hours trying to make up my mind. Luckily I hooked up with Jenny and Deb, spinners both, who helped me make my decision.



Beautiful, innnit? Miss Spunky herself actually rummaged around in the back of her van to find this particular spindle because I was being a Goldilocks with the ones she had on display. Once I'd picked out the spindle, I needed fiber. You understand, right? I have half a dozen fleeces ready to spin at home, but they're nowhere near nice enough for this spindle... no, this spindle needed something special.



I think Tussah is special, don't you? This is Spunky's handpainted Tussah silk top in "Emerald Isle" (no longer on her site). She also threw in a fistful of random wool that I spun up as soon as I got home.



I'm still not hooked on spindling (the stop-and-go rhythm frustrates me), but at least I have something beautiful to look at while I work on it.

Sheep pictures coming soon!