Buy yarn 'til you drop - Wollmeise confessions of a yarn addict!

It's a sombre Friday afternoon in the office, and everyone's busy working away at what they're meant to be doing. Then there's me; working on worky stuff on Ravelry, cracking out the knitting projects to sew some buttons on ready for photography, so i put on knitting TV to run in the background. 'Knitting TV?' I hear you ask, why yes friends, you've all watched it, it's the Ravelry Radar. The Ravelry radar scrolls recent posts as and when they happen, from anywhere in the world. You're reading what's being posted of the moment, like Twitter I guess.

If I'm being really indulgent I'll stick my headphones on and listen to Absolute Radio 60s, my new favourite station.

So with the world around me busying away, typing, whispered muttering in the distance, there's me with the darning needle out stitching away, lining up my buttons to buttonholes etc. Then it started: I glanced up, to see this for sale:

Now to any 'muggle' out there, these just look like two twisty things. To a basic knitter, it's 'probably yarn'. A more experienced knitter might describe this as 'very beautiful yarn'. Me, I go for screaming at the top of my lungs: 'IHAVETOHAVETHISNOWTHISISTHEBESTYARNINTHEWORLD!!!!!STOPEVERYTHING!!!!!' which in my mind sounded more like 'What beautiful skeins of Wollmeise Pure Merino, I rather like those'.

*cough*

...So let's all take a moment and think about why this is. When I described to co-workers what I had just seen jumping out of my computer screen at me (probably whilst dribbling), I got a look that definitely said 'YOU ARE CRAZY'. One described me as an 'impatient capricorn', which is a new one on me, I have to say!

In justifying my actions in buying said yarn immediately (now now now!), I was completely stuck!!!! How do I make non-knitters understand what this means to me? Why did I buy it? I think in the end, I eventually mumbled my way around to 'because they're rare as hen's teeth and sooo beautiful - I don't know when I'll get the chance to get one like this again'. But the feeling is much stronger than that, I'm really having trouble putting it into words and accurately conveying the hunger and urgency(!!!).

It was after this moment of reflectiont that Ravelry TV flashed this up on my screen, for sale from the same lady;

...I as good as fainted at this point. We're talking cartoon 'swoon' here. I had to have it, and for once I was 'on the Radar'. Any of you who have bought Wollmeise skeins will know that they disappear impossibly quickly brand new, and second-hand get snapped up pretty quick. But they're universally loved in the knitting world; a check just now (15 Jul 2014) showed 97,000+ stashed balls advertised on Ravelry. Just think about how many people don't bother taking photos and putting all the info out there. Thats A LOT.

£42 and three days later, they landed on my desk. Thud.

I'm the first to admit that I don't like Mondays, so much the same as having my lava lamp on my workdesk at home which MUST always be on when I'm working, I laid these guys next to each other just in the corner of my eye. The colours were soothing. I love colour.

It didn't take a second glance from the Friday doubters to identify 'that yarn'. One decided that the blue/ochre/purple skein was about to become a pair of socks for her for Christmas to which I smiled and nodded - it's a NO though! Another deeply mezmerized by the colours.

So that got me thinking even more - are there drugs in this yarn? Is it a sensory sensation which can and must be enjoyed by all? Who knows. But finding a common frame of reference about this stuff with non-knitters is impossible! If you have any suggestions, I'd like to hear 'em!