Indulgence

Indulge:  yield freely; take pleasure freely
Indulgence:  privilege granted
                                                      (Concise OED)

Speaking of indulgences:

I ran into friends at Chapters yesterday, who pointed out this little kit, a steal at $2.  It's an indulgence, completely frivolous.  It made me smile.  So, home it came with me.

This is my selection for my April spinning challenge:

Isn't she pretty?  She's a top whorl "Deluxe" by Edward Tabachek, in Bird's Eye Maple with a Purpleheart shaft.  She weighs 44 grams.  Of all my spindles, she spun everything I tested-banana, cotton, qiviuq-as finely as I needed.  Her weight allows me to spin a range of yarns, including bulky and designer creations.

You can browse Ed's site at http://www.mts.net/~tabachek/  I've been buying spindles from Ed since he began making them.  Each spindle spins beautifully and brings me joy.  So do Ed and his wife, Joanne, who tests every spindle.  Ed's spindles can be a bit difficult to find these days, so I treasure mine.

I have a basket of stash fibres ready to go.  I'm not stuck on any particular yarn or fibre, but that bag of qiviuq/silk I blended in 1991 has probably mellowed long enough.  I haven't spun possum or banana; I have samples of both.  I have some lovely batts blended by Sharon at Golden Willow Natural Fiber.  They're calling out to become designer yarns.  It's a start.

Any self-imposed challenge deserves a rule exception or two.  After all, I don't want to become attached to non-attachment!  This is my meditation spindle:

I'll continue to use it for formal sitting meditation.  I'll also have to break my rule in spinning class, since we're moving to wheels this week.  At home and around, exploring the possibilities of one spindle will be the theme.

This is Morris on his walk down the lane yesterday:

He was sniffing for gophers.  Moments after this, we heard a squeak.  Morris was right-there are a few hardy critters out and about. 

Notice all the snow.  At this time last year, there wasn't a bit of snow to be found.  The ice was gone from Wascana Creek and the ducks were paddling around the shoreline.  Yesterday, this was the view across the park to the creek: