So, I have a ton of wool. I have a ton of wool that's just squished up in a box, waiting to be spun, and no time to do it all. So what do I do? I buy more wool. I'm nothing if not totally pragmatic and logical.*
*Wool is considered an exception to the "must act reasonably" rule, and as such it is completely allowed, obligatory even, to increase the stash at any given opportunity.
The big arrival of the week was the Incense Smorgasbox from Nunoco - it was one of my resolutions for 2015 to manage to snag one of these, and I'm so glad I did. The Smorgasboxes are basically a large sample box of new batts and tops that will appear in the shop. It gives you a chance to try out all the new offerings, to see how the spin up and how the colours appear up close. Generally each box has a theme, and this one is based around incense and nice-smelling goodies.
There are five mini batts: Blue Cypress (merino and silk), Opium (merino, silk, firestar), Oudh (merino, silk, silk noil), Night Queen (merino, silk, firestar) and Musk (merino, firestar, silk noil). There are four large blended tops: Sandalwood (merino, bamboo), Amber (merino, bamboo), Patchouli (merino, bamboo, firestar) and Bakhoor (merino, bamboo), as well as three little ones: Japanese Plum (merino, mulberry silk), Smoke (merino, mulberry silk) and Oriental Rose (I can't find the makeup of this one but I'm guessing merino and some lovely extras). To top it all off, there's a mixed merino pack in Incense. Beautiful box, I've put it aside for now after my Secret Smorgling bonanza, and I'm just spinning up regular tops recently.
I also ordered two braids of Dogwood (that's the lovely first photo in this post), which is a gorgeous blend of pink and green merino, and a plum mulberry silk. It's beautifully soft, and I think it will make some great singles, though whether chunky or fine is yet to be determined.
And then! A total big boy whopper from the lovely Deb at Fondant Fibre. I went a little crazy and ended up receiving a box the size of a pillow.
I'd been eyeing up the Strut fuzzlings for a while - natural oatmeal BFL, coloured merino, and gold sparkle. A lovely pop of colour against natural wool. I also got a braid of superwash merino and nylon in Deep and Meaningful, which I'm spinning up into a sock yarn. It's wonderfully squishy, and the colours work so nicely together, that I'm sure I'll have a pair of gorgeous speckled handspun socks at some point in the future. To top it all off, some lux rolags in Toffee Pudding - Shetland moorit, baby alpaca, merino and silk - and some sock yarn in Shield Maiden Wannabe that photographed terribly the first time and I've been too lazy to have another go.
