I’ve always been a skill collector. The more things I knew how to do, the more things I would not have to pay others to do for me – and the less money I’d need to earn, leaving me more time to do those things! This viewpoint does have drawbacks – since I conceivably could crochet rugs for my floors, I cannot justify buying them and thus have had bare floors for many years longer than necessary – but in general I enjoy living this way. It keeps my hands occupied, some older skills in practice and my obscure trivia championships well-defended.

I feel part of a grand tradition – while I wasn’t around for the big back to the land movement in the 60’s, a core of homesteaders steadfastly preserve these sorts of skills until the next time society comes around to join them. To celebrate Y2K I threw a Survival Skills Fair in college including a spinner with a great wheel, but at that time her work seemed so mysterious that I didn’t even think about trying to learn. I had discovered the magic of turning string into fabric when I was fifteen, working 12” granny squares on each leg of my bus ride, but it took until last year, teaching myself to knit and joining Ravelry before I determined that spinning was next on my list.  (Incidentally, I am totally amused that pop culture did not forget Y2K but instead converted it to the Coming Zombie Apocalypse. What skills will you contribute to the group fleeing the ravenous hordes?? I am convinced clothing ability is worthy of trading for shotgun protection, especially in my latitude.)

I started off with a Spindolyn, but did not practice enough to really get the hang of it – things only clicked this April when I got my Clemes Modern wheel and took a class with the local spinning group. That moment was amazing – I pulled out a few “motivational braids” I couldn’t resist from last year, and never looked back. Sorry overdue baby blanket whose owner was born in March – spinning is just so much more fun! Sorry permaculture group – there’s no way I’m waiting for garden season to end! If I’m not spinning, I’m thinking about spinning. Driving home from the North Country Fiber Fair two weeks ago, the night sky was made of fleece and I found myself coveting the colorway. I am in fact so entranced with spinning that I have not yet actually knitted with any of my handspun – but I hope to break that pattern with the Halloween sampler batts I’m currently working on.

I don’t paint, so this new experience – holding clouds of pure color in my hands that I can make into anything at all – has been just amazing. I definitely go for the bright colors, things that make me happy when I see them. This cool rainy spring was all about orange and green! I am very pleased that my skills have advanced to the point of being able to focus on color effects instead of merely consistency – the subtly striping blue-and-tan Finn wool from Gnomespun.etsy.com was the first project where I set out to achieve a specific goal. I plan to use this as either mitts or sleeves to show off the stripes. This was only my 7th skein, and it picked up a 1st place in the Medium-weight category at NCFF!

I have amassed a library of different breeds that I intend to try out – squooshy lofty Finn is my current favorite, over even Merino – but Intertwined has inspired me to move past my fave indie-dyer variegated tops to collect and combine my own materials. The joys of chunky batts! Of realizing that it’s ok to be not absolutely smooth and even, but in fact desirable! Of seeing that yarns can actually do or say something beyond just being pretty!

I am currently collecting materials for:

• Pink Lemonade – a stash indie-dyer variegated pink braid livened up with cottonwood-, goldenrod-, cochineal- and madder-dyed carded wool and yellow mohair locks.

• Brock Sampson – golden mohair locks, shredded denim and strips of tshirt, combined with plenty of blood-red Corriedale. Embellished with some crumpled monarch butterflies dipped in red paint.

• Mad Science – immaculate white merino, shiny metallic chrome lab fixtures, firestar explosions and neon green bursts of radiation leading to giant spiders, glow-in-the-dark ants, blood and decaying moldy green zombie flesh. I hope someday soon I’ll be able to express a concept without irony!

Editor’s Notes:

You can find more of Becky here:

Website: http://rosehip.wordpress.com

Ravelry: vortenjou