What I Bought at Convergence

This is the small selection of items I purchased at Convergence. And I'm absolutely delighted with each lovely thing.

Bottom left - a skein of silk - color "ocean" - one of the items you could purchase with registration.

To the right of that - a neat little shuttle from John Marshall's booth. I believe it is designed for saganishiki weaving - I got it to try for brocade wefts with a regular loom. It's tiny, and very flat, with lovely shaped ends.

In the middle is an itomaki, also from John Marshall's booth. I've long been fascinated with these Japanese silk bobbins. They also sold some with a little silk on them already, but I wanted to see how it was constructed (yes, I'm going to see if I can design something and get Eldy to make some for me.)

To the right is a book on Chinese braiding, which I bought at the Braidershand booth. They make the most beautiful wooden equipment for braiding, and I was intrigued with a new attachment for the marudai to do this slightly different type of braiding. The book is wonderful - lots of great information and beautiful pictures.

On top - a basket case that should be perfect for carrying a project. (I laughed to realize I was attracted to a basketcase - like attracts like, eh?)  Last, but not least, I've coveted one of the African baskets, but this time, since we were driving, there was plenty of space to bring one home, so I bought this to keep by my spinning wheel. (Inside is a baggy of fluffy white Cormo - given to me by my friend Barbara as a reminder of a story I told her about fluffy white fleece.)

Oh, and the 2 other things - on the left is a coaster/trivet from a booth selling Mexican weaving - bought that for my boss. (She mentioned that I would be missing her birthday while I was gone. I told her I'd bring her a present. Voila) And next to that is a freebie I got at the Weavolution booth - very neat gizmo - looks like a nylon wallet, but when you open it, it becomes a nice sized tote bag. Very handy for future fiber shopping excursions.

Shopping was an interesting process this year. In past years, I've been in what I call the in breath phase - so many things I wanted to add to my stash! In recent years, due to being out of work for so long, my available funds were too paltry to purchase much. Well, now my stash is pretty full (and my available time pretty slim), and I've got the funds, so I don't feel compelled to buy much - only the things that truly delight me. That's a very good place to be.