Luck of the Draw
Published On: March 26, 2012

Having fortified ourselves with pancakes (to do otherwise would be bordering on irresponsibility), we headed out to the Black Swamp Spinner’s Guild Market Day.  This year, they started charging a tiny (one dollar) entrance fee.  Given what goes into organizing something like this, I think that’s totally reasonable, and we were happy to pay it.  After we handed over our entrance fee, they had us write our names on little raffle tickets and dropped them into a bin.  My natural inclination in such cases is to write something ridiculous like Isabella Imogen Perseverance Paddington, but this time I actually wrote my real name.  The formalities accomplished, we headed on into the market.

Not five minutes later, someone called out The Boy’s name.  Turns out he’d won one of the raffle prizes.  We went over to check out the prize table.  Alas, none of the prizes were things that appealed to The Boy.  He graciously ceded his prize rights to me.  I grabbed a lovely length of Briar Rose spinning fiber (3.5 oz of polworth) in shades of pink and green.  Pleased with our good fortune, we went back to our shopping.

First up, I found a new-to-me company called Happy Fuzzy Yarn.  They had a skein of a wool/tencel blend that accidentally leapt into my arms.  I don’t usually like tencel blends (too shiny for my tastes), but the colors on this one were too good to resist.  It’s all greens and grays and blues and looks like tiny mossy things growing on rocks by water.  Not, perhaps, the most appealing description, but they’re just the sort of colors that grab my attention.

Next, I completed a small quest.  I don’t usually go to markets with goals in mind (it’s more fun to just browse), but this time I wanted to be sure to try and find some more pencil roving.  I got my first round of pencil roving here last year, and hadn’t seen anything quite like it anywhere since.  The first one turned into the best hat ever (warm, very lightweight, totally styling, adorned by a tassel, what else could you ask for), and I wanted more.  The same booth was there this year, so I got some.  Two rounds this time, one a medium gray and one a light gray.  Now it’s only fair to say that I have no idea what I’ll do with them.  It’s not the sort of thing you’ll find a lot of patterns for, and there’s probably a limit to how many awesome hats I actually need.  But I’m smitten with it and now have it on hand should the muse strike.

While I was tucking the pencil roving in my bag, someone called out my name.  Turns out I’d won a raffle prize too.  I went up to the table and handed over my ticket and said that perhaps they should draw another number.  It didn’t seem fair to win twice.  They said they had lots and lots and lots of unclaimed tickets, and that they were really hoping to find homes for all the prizes, so it would actually be better if I took one off their hands.  I protested a few more times, but eventually gave in.  I picked up a lovely ball of spinning fiber from Midwest Fiber Company.  It’s an alpaca blend (super soft), and while it is blue, it’s an interesting blue that should look lovely spun up.

I bought one more thing (well, I bought dozens and dozens and dozens of one particular thing), but it will have to remain a secret for the moment.  I’ll just say that I didn’t have any idea such a thing existed, but as soon as I saw it I knew it was the perfect solution to an ongoing problem I was pondering.  Remind me some time in June and I’ll explain.  But this has grown long, so I will leave you with a picture of the loot (ooooooh, shiny) minus the mystery item and then come back tomorrow with the rest of the day.

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