Exclusivity, the Internet, and the Urge to Collect

What is it about human beings that makes us behave like pack rats? Why do we love to have the complete set? Fundamentally we are all social creatures as well, so when we see something pretty that someone else got, we want to try and acquire some for ourselves! Knitters especially seem to go a bit nuts in this regard. It helps (or hurts, depending on your point of view) that for many of us, there's no such thing as bad yarn.

Of course, it helps when the yarn is beautiful. Since I wanted to amp up my spinning, I've been poking around looking for stash enablers. Uh... I mean vendors of beautiful spinning fiber. I recently hit a home run by making The Loopy Ewe my primary online source for sock yarn. Sheri, the lovely proprietress, helped my yarn stash bulk up a bit last year. I was also looking for a fiber club, similar to the Rockin' Sock Club put on by Blue Moon Fiber Arts which is now in its third (insanely) successful year.

When I found Hello Yarn, I knew this was my destiny. I *had* to get into the next round of her fiber club! But fate was working against me (read: I was a bit stupid at converting the time zones and missed the shop update) and I didn't get in. But I started following the shop a bit more closely, and got sucked into the fever of the Fiddlehead Mittens. If you only click on one link in this post, check that one out. It's worth it, and Adrian tells the story better than I could. To make a long story short, I managed to get one of these delicious mitten kits, and I'm casting on now. Like, I'm in the middle of the I-cord cast on (a new skill for me!) in between typing sentences. Getting this mitten kit in the mail was like getting an extra-large box of yummy chocolates at Christmas. I have more pictures up on my Flickr account, but I'll leave you with my favorite one. All the contrast colors are lined up in the order I'm going to use them, starting with the brightest red on the cuff, going through the red-browns to the darkest walnut black color, and ending the fingertips with that awesome sour-apple green. Seriously, I wanted to lick the box this is so good looking.

P.S. I might get to go to Germany at the end of the month. I love the Knitters Uncensored podcast, so even though things are not yet set in stone I'm already trying to think of a way we can sneak a trip to Munich into the plans...