IndigoMuse Knits

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

I suffer from LOFAD*

Yes, I suffer from a disorder that thousands of fiber enthusiasts around the world have been recently diagnosed with - Lack of Fiber Anxiety Disorder* aka LOFAD. You know who you are. The worst afflicted are the ones who think that sock yarn doesn't count. It grips you when you least expect it, causing one to hemorrhage cash for no rational reason and hide fiber in boxes, under beds and in the dark corners of closets. To date, there is no cure.

Severe LOFAD sufferers usually have plenty of fiber in their lives. I give you exhibit A.

Flashin' my stash

This is most of the yarn and spinning fiber in my knitting room. Note the over abundance of fibers especially the spinning fiber on the bottom shelves.

More flashin' my stash

Check out the baskets that contain several pounds of washed fleece waiting to be carded. You can't even see that 5 lb bag of llama that is lost somewhere in the garage.

Baskets of washed fleece

And yet for some reason, I had a panic attack over some Finnsheep. A week or so ago, I thought that I'd washed the last of the fleece that I bought a couple of years ago. So I ordered some commercial Finn top thinking that it would be wonderful to just spin it without having to wash it, pick it, card it, yadda yadda yadda. I've waxed poetic about the wonders of Finn before and couldn't wait to just spin this ethereal stuff. But when the commercial Finn arrived, I realized quickly that all Finn is NOT created the same. Yes, its very nice stuff but its. not. the. same.

Panic set in. I started gasping for air. What would I do if I didn't have some flurfy Finn to spin this year? I immediately started combing the internets to see if I could locate a fleece. Ack! Most of the fleece for 2007 has already been claimed. It seems that everyone loves Finn as much as I do. It didn't matter that I don't NEED more fiber. I couldn't even get past the panic. A couple of hours later, I finally found some online and faster than Brangelina can adopt another child, I bought a Finn lamb fleece and its due to arrive any day. Crisis narrowly averted. All is right with the world again.

And then I found the rest of the Finn fleece that I thought was all gone.

Raw Finnsheep Fleece

And there's quite a bit left. Double crap in a can! This just illustrates how severe LOFAD can get the best of you. Now I have even more fleece coming and there aren't enough hours in the day to wash and spin all of this stuff. I know I need help and trust me, I'm trying to stop but its so hard. I've knit most everything I've shown you so far this year from the stash so I AM working through it.

In the meantime, my answer for LOFAD is to give some of my over abundance away. I gave a bunch away to Thing 1's class this week. They worked hard for it. I did a spinning demo for his class and then gave them CD spindles that King Thing and I made. And all nine of his 14 year old classmates learned how spin. ALL. OF. THEM. It brought tears to my eyes. How can you not give kids your fiber when they do something magical like that?

Here's what I've spun up so far this year and some of these kiddies (and many others who haven't even been spun yet) will find new homes with some of YOU!!!

Bowl of my handspun yarn

More detailed swag info will be revealed later this week (even if it kills me. I hate paperwork and that's what I'm working on right now related to this project).

And some of the fiber is intended for charitable endeavors. I can at least use my knitting and spinning powers to heal and not to harm, right?

*** ETA: BTW, I've suddenly lost the ability to reply directly to your comments. They come to me by email but your return email addy is "hidden". So please know that I read your comments and truly enjoy them but simply can't jot a quick note back to you. Hopefully Blogger will fix this bug sooner than later.

10 comments:

froggiemeanie said...

I'm drooling at the thought of owning some of that swag. Tell me what I've gotta do and I'm right there!

A fibre problem? Who? Me?

Amy Boogie said...

What a beautiful display of fiber and yarn you have!

Would it make you feel better if I flashed my stash (totally seperate from the business stuff, and scary big)

Birdsong said...

I love your handspun skeins, but what really captured my attention was all of your yarns arranged by color! I hang my clothes that way.... your display is just pure art.

Nana Sadie said...

I love love love your stash shots! How organized...and out in the open. I have this crazy idea that if I could get mine UP and OUT where I could see it, I'd stop forgetting I had so much and slow down my STASH building????
And sock yarn does NOT count! Please say it's so????
(Hi, My name is Knitnana and I'm a Yarnoholic...)
They say the first step to recovery is admitting the problem, right???
(((hugs)))

Robin said...

I SERIOUSLY need to organize my fiber room...your's looks GREAT!

cate said...

I completely understand the LOFAD. Got quite a bit of it myself. Can't wait to see the Finn Lamb fleece. See you tonight. catie

Mary said...

"Sock yarn doesn't count" -- Ha! I don't agree with that statement, either! Maybe only for people like WendyKnits, who knit a pair a week....

Your handspun is beautiful! Looking forward to finding out how to get my hands on some of it! ;-) I love how you have your stash organized -- so pretty against that wall color!

Oh, and the "bug" with not being able to reply to comments? That has NEVER worked with me, with old blogger, anyway. I've not yet switched to the new version -- did it ever work with new blogger?

Anonymous said...

It's okay, I have WAY more yarn than that. AND, after I gave away some boxes that I forgot about.

Kids enjoy spinning. They like the alchemy effect of turning something into something else.

And you will always need more fiber. Give in. If you spend, I'll spend. :)

Anonymous said...

You got nothin' kiddo! If I'd been wise, I would've invested in Rubbermaid stock! When you have to put your stash in your will, then you know you have a problem!!!
Now, I'm trying to schedule 3 fiber fests in the plans for 2007. I tell myself -- you can just go and look! Yeah, RIGHT!!!

Gryphon said...

Where did you get those cubbies?? Are they as easy to break down and transport as they look? They seem like the perfect thing for shows.