my name is amy and i am a fiber ho.

and it's my birthday today, so i treated myself.

thanks to a recommendation on the knitty coffeeshop's new spinning forum, i went to The Bellwether and had a really nice AIM chat with the owner. I told her about my fiber-related peculiarities and that I want to spin silk. She's set me up with two spindles: the Cascade St. Helens' for spinning sportweight and a compact deluxe purpleheart/osage orange Tabachek for the thick/thin stuff I want to do in soy silk, etc. plus a cool little book on spinning silk with a drop spindle.

this is the beginning of a slippery slope, i am certain, and i'm not bothered a bit.

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we were up in the Port Perry area on the weekend and stumbled on the local spinners/weavers guild show. i met the nicest woman who spun for me on her double-treadle louet s10 [which looks to me to be a very amy kind of wheel]. we talked and she shared hints with me, the most important one being that i'll need to be relaxed to spin.

how did she know that would be an issue, after only speaking with me for 3 minutes? i say to you: snork. speak with me for 2 minutes and you'll know i've got hyper up the butt. i'm permanently pseudo-caffeinated. so this will be an interesting exercise. but watching her spin [she with her 30 years of experience] was so calming. like what knitting rows of stockinette used to do for me before i discovered the bliss of knitting charlottes and other simple lace patterns.*

i read last night, in my issue of spin off, that most men find the wheels fascinating. hub was there and was bored stiff, and he likes mechanical things. last night, he said to me, "just buy the yarn; why make it?" but he doesn't understand that the silk i want i can't find. and the soy silk i want i DEFINITELY have to make myself. he finds knitting amusing, but as i don't particularly care to spend hours with my eyeball stuck to the eyepiece of his huge telescope, i don't expect him to much notice the difference between the yarns i use. he's appreciative enough of the finished objects, which suits me fine.

*one realizes, i hope, that this is concrete proof that knitting is addictive, since i am now forced to move to stronger stuff to get my fix.