MDSW Recap

Posted on | May 9, 2009 | 9 Comments

One of my favorite things about my local knitting and spinning guilds are the people that are a part of these groups. I had the opportunity to jump in with a few friends from the spinning guild at the last minute to join them in their trip to MDSW (Thanks again Kathryn, Frith & Heather!) last weekend. Where I was, as usual, excited & overwhelmed, (and still in need of a little decompression from our trip to NO) requiring much sleep to recover!

There was a stunning lack of photos on my part due to my failure to bring my camera from the hotel room on Saturday (What??!) and the weather, but some other folks have managed to document the days perfectly – just check out some of these great photos on Flickr. It was a great time with my friends, we ate some great food, and had good times – I wish I had documented it better!

I went with the intent of not purchasing much, perhaps some yarn for a sweater and a pretty spindle. Instead, I narrowly escaped charging the entire stock of the Cloverleaf Farms booth to my credit card before anyone else could get to it. Despite the fact that I haven’t done any significant spinning in nearly a year. Heart palpitations, sweaty palms. That shopping rush. Seriously. Many of you know what I’m talking about. I thought that I may have become immune after significantly cutting back on consumerist activity in recent years (but, no, clearly no). Thankfully reason prevailed and I left with *just* a few things that couldn’t have been pried from my desperate arms under any circumstances! I blame it at least in part on the excitement of having fortuitously bumped into Kirsten in that very same booth just prior to the incident – While eyeballing the merino/silk top, I spied a shawl that looked very familiar, and picked up my head to see Kirsten looking right back at me! Hey! It was SO great to finally meet you!

Cloverleaf Farms 50/50 Merino Silk

CloverLeaf Farms 100% Silk

I did make a few other purchases, and arrived home feeling a little guilty. Especially after going on to my friends about how I don’t have that much stash – boastful, boastful, and yes, unintentionally false. Liar! It’s all relative, I know, and compared with some, my stash might be considered small (you know, or not…) – but comparisons aren’t worth much and frankly, the fact is that when I was thinking about it, I was only envisioning about half of the stuff that I actually have! Stash to me seems to be all about what you are comfortable with (and can afford, purchasing values, etc. of course), and my forgetful brain tells me that I’m comfortable with significantly less than I have – the amount I thought I had is fine, the amount I actually have results in hyperventilation & sweaty palms – familiar, but without the shopping-high! I seem to have forgotten some things, as I found when I got home and viewed the room-that-is-my-stash (it doesn’t *actually* take up the whole room – it just kind of covers the surfaces – due to an explosion resulting from some search for something weeks ago), some of which have yet to be documented. I find the stash cataloging feature of Ravelry very useful – but seeing what I have without digging through the plastic bin & bags (and causing explosions!) only really works when I have listed what I have and it seems that I’m a bit behind. So I’ve come home determined to knit & spin down some of my stash before doing any more purchasing. Exceptions will be made only for design work or very specific gifting, and only when something suitable doesn’t already live in my stash. And the process begins with documenting the stash that has not yet been catalogued! And there it is – Another goal! I will knit at least 3 quantities of yarn and spin at least as many quantities of fiber or fleece before buying more, except under the above conditions.

All that said, I’m quite in love with what I bought, despite the purchasing guilt; in love with spinning again as a result of my new spindle;

Golding Ringspindle – Antiqued Rosette II – .6 oz.

eager to make some of the lovely fiber into yarn (it’s very hard not to catch the spinning excitement of my traveling companions, all very talented spinners, and especially at MDSW, the event that pushed me over the edge in wanting to spin in the first place!); and excited for these to become a cardigan.

Peace Fleece in Volgassippi Blue and buttons from Jennie the Potter

Also loving Knit Circus (I was so excited to find some copies, I picked up issue 5) – That Peace Fleece is actually thinking about becoming Elizabeth Morrison’s Kate’s Cardigan, if I’m not struck with other inspiration – great pattern, no?

Does everyone come home from festivals determined to knit & spin from their stash? Or do you stash with wild abandon?

P.S. I’m still catching up a bit from being in and out of town recently, and now being struck with the Spring Yuck (aka the common cold), if you have left me a comment or an email and have not yet heard back from me, replies are coming!

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Now playing: Metric – Gold Guns Girls
via FoxyTunes

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