SABLE or HOARDER?

Earlier today, I read an article about hoarding yarn, fabric, etc.. One of the commenters said the following: 

“I told my husband there is a special place in heaven for men married to women who crochet (and collect yarn). He just rolled his eyes.”

I still have tears rolling down my face from laughing so hard I had to run for the bathroom!
That is so my husband! 

He grew up with a knitter/crocheter so he knows about SABLE ! Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy

I inherited his mom’s small collection of knitting and crocheting paraphernalia when she passed away in 2001. Thankfully, he along with my daughter and my best friend are enablers. 

One person called the various collections that we choose to ignore Elephants...

As for Elephants, oh yes, we have quite a few between the 2 of us.

Collections that he will never part with...

1. Assorted painted miniatures of fictional characters along with the supplies for painting such.
2. Enough books to start our own lending library (about 1/4 are mine) LOL
3. Computer parts, old monitors and ancient towers
4. Magic the Gathering decks from when he competed
5. Poker paraphernalia
6. Board games! lots of board games we never play anymore! : ( stored in MY bedroom/office/craft room. My bedroom is NOT THAT BIG!
7. Graphic Novel (Comic book) collection

Collections I will never part with...

1. stamp collection
2. yarn and yarn accessories: breakdown of yarn: 10 large rubbermaid bins, 4 large boxes, 3 under the bed type storage bags, 8 reusable shopping bags, 2 large fabric bags and a nylon laundry bag. Most of which is stored in my bedroom that also serves as the office. OH, and my daughter is bringing another bin’s worth of yarn. See above about enablers LOL My daughter found one of these vintage hinged velvet-lined carrying cases 2nd hand that has multiple storage boxes within. It’s packed with knitting/crochet paraphernalia.
3. 61 gigabytes of patterns, magazines, books, photos about knitting and crochet on a separate drive (computer has 2 hard drives and 2 external drives)
4. the 1/4 portion of books of which about 1/4 are about knitting and crochet
5. a plastic reusable shopping bag filled with fabric for lining hats, dresses, bags & purses
6. tiny wind up toys which my BFF enables me! :)
7. beading supplies stored in a 3-drawer bin on casters (could use one more)

We live in a small apartment and storage is at a premium. No storage locker so it all has to live with us. For most days, I can easily ignore the collections, but other days I would give anything to have an extra room that I could store everything in and not have to look at it all the time! Don't take me wrong, I love my yarn to bits! I just would like to not have it stare at me in the face wherever I turn LOL

There seems to be an afinity for nerds/geeks and fiber lovers to attract each other.
May be because we are hoarders at heart?
Don’t speak a normal language? and we understand each other on a cellular level?
Whatever it is, I love it!

Do you have one of those you share your life and living space with?

And the vote was yes!

Here he is snuggling up to my new yarn cakes! The one I'm using is on the other side of the pile but the yarn runs over his back which he seems to enjoy. Go figure LOL

Where did the week go!!??!!!

I don't know what it is but I always get caught by surprise that the week has simply flown by.

I had a lovely surprise last Tuesday after work. My daughter was in town and met me as I was coming out. We had a lovely supper at a local sushi restaurant to follow the unveiling of many many balls of yarn she brought for me. She hit a literal jackpot at one of the many secondhand stores she frequents in Mississauga. And I end up being the recipient of this veritable bonanza of yarn!

Such gorgeous yarns. I especially like the green skein, no clue what it is, but it feels nice. And the other yarn I really like is the Patons Nuance is shades of greens. It feels delectably soft, so does that one ball of red yarn in the foreground. Again, no clue what it is, but I like it. You may notice the two wee beasties in the yarn. Yes, I admit it, I collect Neopets. I am a Neopet addict. I have a lot of the little guys and I do mean "a lot"

I also reknit the Calorimetry hat. I didn't like how much the original one stretched so I did a new one with a different yarn. This one is definitely tighter but it keeps slipping off my ears. I can't seem to win at this! The yarn is a merino blend in brick red from Elite.

For anyone wondering about the drawings behind my new hat... I attended a Magic the Gathering competition 8 years ago in Toronto and met 4 of the artists. I had all 4 of them do a drawing on a single sheet of paper of Angels after my name. I absolutely adore the angels they drew. I also guess admitting this makes me a prime nerd since I also played the game.

More of that wonderful RAK

I finally took some individual photos of the gorgeous yarns Michiele sent to me.

The first one is a hand-dyed skein bought at a pottery festival in Sanford. It is 15% nylon and 85 % wool.I'm seriously thinking shawl for this one. I love the colors and how they blend into each other. I hope that it will do some gorgeous pooling when I finally use it.

The second yarn is 3 balls of Shibui knits. I absolutely love the blend of colors, reminds me of spring. I must think what would showcase those colors best. May not be socks though since I really don't want to practice making socks with this gorgeous yarn. I'd hate to ruin it.

The third yarn is 2 balls of Regia sock yarn 100% virgin wool. Again, love the colors! I'm waiting for it to tell me what it wants to become.

The fourth yarn is 2 balls of Caseria Copperbeach 100% merino. Feels more like silk to me than wool. Never thought that merino could feel so nice!

Presents

I know, several days have gone by since my last post. Blame it on the dead router.

But in the meantime, I have been RAK'ed with some very pretty items from my Ravelry friends..

In the mail yesterday I received a letter with some suspicious bulges. After further investigation, this is what I received!

A huge thank you goes to Angele for these really cute stitchmarkers. I adore them and will put them to very good use.

Then today, I get home from work and there's a package waiting for me. This is better than Christmas! It's so awesome to receive something you're not expecting.
I open it, and there in all it's splendor are several balls of superwash!

Thank you to Karen for these wonderfully soft balls of superwash merino. I love the colors. I'm closer to getting the Marie Grace Smith Darling jacket for my niece done. I'd never felt yarn so soft before today. Never thought wool could feel like silk.