I may be only 37, but boy, I feel 370 lately! I've been laid up on the sofa with a wonderful mixture of phlebitis, (the drugs for which, in turn, triggered my angioedema) and now a liberal dose of the killer flu. If I were a horse, the knackers yard would have been called weeks ago. But I am part of the wonderful world of fibre and I may be falling to bits, but life is great.
Surprise packages have been arriving thick and fast.
1st came Jimbo's chophook. 
Jimbo is a guy living in the States, by Deadman's Crick, carving crochet hooks from the wood in his orchard and old chopsticks and selling them to fund the building of his cabin.
I came across Jimbo through ravelry and instantly fell in love with his handiwork, but on reading his blog, was also struck by this man's gentleness and generosity.
His friend's daughter has Friedreich's Ataxia, and wanting to raise awareness of the condition and the need for research into a cure, Jimbo decided to set up charitable auctions of his hooks online. Jimbo has also donated a travelling hook to the cause that will pass from fibre fiddler to fibre fiddler, creating crocheted wonders to auction and raise cash, whilst all the time being blogged about.
I've added my name to the list and eagerly await the travelling hook's arrival. Meantime, Jimbo sent me my very own chophook, with which I'm crocheting away. It's beautifully smooth and incredibly easy on the hands, as it's easy to hold. I'd also recommend it to people who maybe have problems holding smaller hooks. Go on! Get involved!
2nd came a bag of soda ash, from her Royal Highness, The Skein Queen.
She'd read about my dismal forays into banana fibre dyeing and suggested that I was using the wrong mordant. If this little bag enables me to create the sort of colourways she's selling on Etsy then I shall eternally grovel at her royally-slippered pieds.
3rd to arrive was a package all the way from Geneva.
Stuffed to the gills with squidgy balls of lurid and spangly acrylics perfect for the Coral Collective Hospital Project. Thank you Seamus!
Another day, another package. 4th came Ilidko's wonderful corals and their patterns. This woman is like yarn on acid! I asked her if she could see her way to helping me with a pattern or two for the Coral Collective Hospital Project.
She sent six! And they're SO beautiful. I'm indebted to her for her help. Visitors are going to love crocheting her designs.
And then there's Debi's package. Debi is over here in Norn Iron for a while and we're loving having her. She's always surrounded by a gaggle of women at the Guild meetings as she pulls Oak Hammock Farm fleece after fleece from her bags for us to ooh and ahh over.
I've dyed up some in luscious greens.
But as well as her lovely natural fleeces, she's like my cheap yarn pimp, bringing bulk buys of acrylic back from the States for me. This stuff is so nasty it could power a small town with its static. PERFECT for mad coral creations.
So now, all I have to do is clear the backlog of work that's sitting awaiting me after my desktop absence. Argh! There's never enough time to take in all the fabulousness of our fibre community. I need to duplicate myself.
Thanks to EVERYONE!
