I am a......fiber addict

The Medical Definition of Fiber Addiction

The medical definition of addiction has seven criteria. This definition is based on the criteria of American Psychiatric Association and the World Health Organization

Answer the following seven "yes" or "no" questions. Most questions have more than one part, because everyone behaves differently in addiction. You only need to answer "yes" to one part for that question to count as a positive response.

1. Tolerance. Has your use of fiber increased over time?
2. Withdrawal. When you stop using fiber, have you ever experienced physical or emotional withdrawal?
   
3. Difficulty controlling your use. Do you sometimes use fiber more or for a longer time than you would like?
   
4. Negative consequences. Have you continued to use fiber even though there have been negative consequences?
5. Putting off or neglecting activities. Have you ever put off or reduced social, recreational, work, or household activities because of your fiber use?
6. Spending significant time or emotional energy. Have you spent a significant amount of time obtaining, using, concealing, planning, or recovering from your fiber use? Have you spend a lot of time thinking about fiber? Have you ever concealed or minimized your fiber? Have you ever thought of schemes to avoid getting caught bringing fiber into your home?
7. Desire to cut down. Have you sometimes thought about cutting down or controlling your use of fiber?
   

If you answered yes to at least 3 of these questions, then you meet the medical definition of addiction!

No surprise - I answered "yes" to almost ALL of the questions. I don't smoke, I don't drink alcohol, I don't drink coffee but I am surely addicted to all things fiber. After spending more than 2 weeks in Italy living "minimalistically" out of a backpack, I had an overwhelming urge to de-clutter and simplify when I returned home. I began with the fiber in my home office. The mission was two fold - get organized and provide some element of protection to the yarn from the moths and bugs that want to come visit when Rob leaves the windows and doors open on hot days and evenings. Some people buy postcards on vacation? I buy yarn. I have yarn from Canada, England, Scotland, France, Italy, Boston, Austin, Hawaii, Washington DC, South Dakota, California, Oregon, Illinois... and the list goes on. How silly can that be? Postcards are much easier to store and organize! Of course, I also buy yarn while not on vacation - which is why I pulled it out of over 70 various and sundry containers in my home office: plastic storage boxes, wire baskets, lidded boxes, drawers, wicker baskets, big jars and shelves filled with yarn of all weights, colors, fibers and quantities. Gathered up the yarn from the armoire in the master bedroom, the bottom drawer of the guest room dresser and the baskets in the media room. I'm sure I had great plans for each purchase, however, memories of such projects have long disappeared from my mind and I am left with... a significant amount of yarn. I found all sorts of great yarn that I completely forgot I had. Most of it is still alluring to me but there are some selections that are now destined for Goodwill or Freecycle. I made the mistake of telling Rob that I had more yarn than I could knit with in the next 10 years. He reminds me of that confession often! I hesitate to tell him the time frame is more likely 30 years... He came into the media room where I was sorting yarn and audibly gasped. He chuckled when he observed that he knew I had a lot of yarn but I had much more than he thought. I have much more yarn than I thought! Yes, I'm out in the open now. My fiber addiction is public. Yikes. I put skeins of like yarn into gallon zip lock freezer bags and then into a large bin. I have 18 bins that are 29 gallons in size so essentially 522 gallons of yarn. The 522 gallons does not include the expensive Prism skeins or the soft hand painted mohair or the vibrant Tillie Thomas or the luscious beaded Rhapsody I have in a large jar. Or the 4 containers of Tahki Cotton Classic in every color imaginable (how many beaded sachets or fair isle drawstring bags did I really think I was going to make?) Or the "single" balls of yarn or leftovers from completed projects quietly sequestered in 2 drawers in the closet. Long ago I started a Yarn Inventory system that included spreadsheets and yarn samples. That system was too arduous to keep current so I now plan to use the Stash Management tool on Ravelry. That way I can upload a photo of the yarn, sort according to fiber, weight, color or manufacturer and include notes on location and project plans. Easy to keep track of and easy to sell or trade any yarn in my stash should I so desire. Little by little over the winter months, I'll get it done. Then I'll focus my attention on organizing the books and beads in my home office... I haven't gotten much done for Nihon Vogue this week but looking at it from the bright side - at least I know what my yarn choices are for the next project!

Venice

Our last 36 hours in Italy was spent in Venice. I had low expectations given what I had been told about crowds, smell, expensive... but I found I really enjoyed the time spent in the city. The history, architecture and unusual geographic conditions make it like no other place on earth. I used my Starwood points for a stay at the Hotel Danieli. It is the most posh and sumptious hotel I have ever stayed at. They upgraded us to an executive suite which had a sitting room, king size bed with ultra fine Italian linens, walk in closet, marble filled bathroom with heated towel rack and everything else one could possible imagine needing. Rob and I are usually economically minded so it was a real treat to stay in a hotel that has hosted royalty and celebrities for centuries. St. Mark's, Murano, Doge Palace, Gondola ride...

More fashion trends seen in Italy

More fashion trends seen in Italy... Knitted garments were plentiful and I took pictures of the items that intrigued me most. In addition to what I posted previously, I also noticed trends in: garments knit side to side rather than bottom to top, collars and lapels are common (sometimes even exaggerated), ruffles are prominent as edging for collars or along button band, long or emphasized cuffs, organic or rounded shaping and knitted buttons. All of this gives me design inspiration for future Nihon Vogue projects!

The Dolomites

This area in Northern Italy is one that Rob went trekking through a few years ago and wanted to come back to. It has an interesting history in that at the end of World War 1, the region was ceded from Austria to Italy. Much of the culture and the most prominent language is German. We stayed in Bolzano which is a wonderful alpine city with the most helpful tourist office I have ever been to. It is a bicycle friendly town and we rented bikes for an entire day for a single euro. With the dismal exchange rate between the dollar and the euro, the bike rental was one of the best bargains we have encountered while in Italy. An annual festival with music, beer, bratwurst and strudel to honor Walther von der Vogelwiede was taking place over the weekend we happened to be here. It was fun to participate in an Oktoberfest like event which all of the locals as well as tourists enjoyed. I lit some candles in the Gothic Cathedral, we sampled fresh fruit and sun dried tomatoes at Piazza Erbe - an excellent open air marketplace, saw the actual corpse of the 5300 year old Otzi the Ice Man in the South Tirol Museum of Archaeology. Fascinating. One day Rob took a bus and then gondola up to Rosengarten Gruppe at the Dolomite spires and did a 6 hour hike in 3 hours. During that time I wandered around the city, looking at fashion trends, colors and jewelry. I was most excited when I found a .99 euro store and purchased 4mm and 5mm graph paper. I love how the paper in Europe is gridded. That is what I like to write best on and it is difficult to find graph paper any smaller than 1/4" in the USA. Rob is a good sport about carrying back paper for me. What I will need to figure out is how to smash the yarn I purchased into what little room I have left in my backpack. I stumbled upon two yarn stores while in Bolzano - one was a section in a domestics store. I was happy to find some needles in size 2.25 mm - that is a size that isn't sold in the USA. I bought some sock yarn and figured I was done when it came to all things fiber in Northern Italy. Wrong! The next day I literally stumbled upon Otto Von Aufschnaiter's store at Silbergasse 15/A. He has been in business since 1970 and sells only natural fibers. He had an endless selection of alpaca, wool, merino, cashmere, silk, cotton in every color imaginable! Best of all, he was set up to combine fibers into any combination desired. He helped me choose a selection of first cut alpaca and wool in 4 colors of aquamarine and lavender. He combined all 4 fibers in two 100 gram packages. I also purchased some Addi turbo needles, natural colored alpaca and some mohair-silk yarn that is screaming to be made into a shawl. Great memories of Balzano... indeed.

Cinque Terre

We are spending 3 days in the Cinque Terre region which is on the coast in Northwest Italy. 5 villages in the Italian Riviera with the clearest, bluest aquamarine water you have ever seen. We are staying in Riomaggiore hamlet in a 3 story walk up room with small kitchenette. The view from our terrace of the water and surrounding buildings is serene and very relaxing. We have gone to the small food markets every day to purchase delicious pasta, bread, juice, fresh fruits and vegetables. The sun dried tomatoes and pesto sauce are fabulous! For some reason I can't understand at all, Rob is especially attracted to anchovies. yeech! Rob left early to go on a cliff side hike between the 5 towns and I am going to spend time knitting, reading and giving my feet a bit of a break from the walking and endless stairs. This area of Italy is very beautiful - it is easy to unwind and feel rejuvenated quickly. Thursday, we take a long train ride to Bolzano in the Alps....
Happy Happy Happy Birthday to my mother today! xxoo

Florence

Florence, the home of the Renaissance, is a spellbinding city - it is easy to see why many people call it their favorite location in Italy. It is a walkable city and we have walked from one corner of it to the other... I have the blisters on my feet to prove it! Soon after arriving and getting settled in our hotel, we made our way to the Galleria dell'Accademia which houses Michelangelo's David. He was truly spectacular and words and pictures do not come close to describing that brilliant work of art! Of course, photo's were not allowed in the museum but I later took photo's of a replica of the statue in Piazza della Signoria. The process of sculpting out of massive blocks of marble was not as I had envisioned at all - some unfinished works by Michelangelo evidenced that since portions of a figure were complete and entire sections of stone hadn't been chiseled at all. Amazing. We then went to the Duomo Gothic cathedral and Baptistery and later stumbled upon an arts and crafts outdoor market. Sunday we went to the Uffizi Gallery which we were completely mesmerized by. There are astounding works of art in that museum and our minds were numb by the time we left 4 hours later. We went back to the Piazza and had lunch, listened to music, admired the statues and ignored the beggars. We followed Rick Steve's Renaissance walk, went along the Arno River to Ponte Vecchio. Firenze is a captivating city - I could definitely come back here!