One of the things I love about going to a gathering of fiber enthusiasts is the sharing and inspiration that goes on. For example, I recently went to an Eastside Spinners meeting (held at Starbucks, because this is the Pacific Northwest) where a woman pulled out a gorgeous multcolored batt, filled with sparkly bits, recently hand carded so it was as light and fluffy as a cotton candy cloud.

I was instantly hit with an overwhelming wave of jealousy, because I’d been looking for months for exactly that kind of batt, with no joy on Etsy, online retailers, or my local yarn shop.  “Where,” I breathed, “Did you get that?”

“My children made it for me,” she replied, smiling proudly.  She went on to explain how one batt had been made by her son, another by her daughter.  It was an absolutely sweet story with stunning results. About half-way through the story, it hit me: I have a kid. I have uncarded fiber. I even have a rather impressive stash of sparkly Angelina fiber (enough to get me through any apocalypse, actually.)  Kai and I could card our own batts!

I rushed home after the meeting was over and proposed the idea to Kai. It involved sparkly things and dangerous tools, so he was all for it.

What started as a lark, grew into an obsession as he and I got into trying this color combination, then that one, then throwing some recycled sari silk bits in, then more Angelina, then some mohair locks….well, you get the idea.

I, lucky woman, ended up with fifteen basketball-sized bumps of roving in a variety of colorways and filled with enough glitter to satisfy my magpie soul.  Kai and I built memories (and he learned how to card and doff using a drum carder).  Best of all, I didn’t have to buy a thing, all the materials came from my stash; I felt virtuous converting bags of random uncarded fiber into exactly the kind of roving I’d been looking for.

A ruby-slipper day, for sure.