Sometimes I find myself bogged down in the day-to-day of everything. Things become overwhelming, I start feeling impatient, and nothing I do seems to work out as planned. I don’t have any answers for how to feel better about all of that stuff, but I do know that coming home to a bunch of yarn-y goodies is a quick way to snap out of a funk.

Indie Untangled Summer of Love Swap

I participated in the Indie Untangled Summer of Love swap and my package arrived on exactly the right afternoon. My swap partner went with a beach-y theme and gave me delightfully beach-scented wax tarts and soap, beach reading material, and frozen drink mix. She also included some tasty healthy snacks and beautiful little fish box. She added some yarn from her stash as well as this gorgeous skein from Canon Hand Dyes:

Custom-dyed Canon Hand Dyes yarn!

My swap partner had Amy custom dye a skein of yarn in all of my favorite colors, and she totally nailed it! I hear this special Indie Untangled colorway will be available at the pre-Rhinebeck Trunk Show. I’m super psyched about this yarn. I’ve been wanting to try the self-striping Canon Hand Dyes yarn for a long time and have been stalking destashes to no avail. I can’t wait to knit this skein up.

BMFA Rockin’ Whorl Club Ecru Merino/Black Tussah Silk

I had another surprise waiting for me yesterday, as well: the August shipment of the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin’ Whorl Club. This fiber is 80% ecru Merino / 20% black Tussah silk and it is just lovely. Tina dyed jewel tones interspersed with the naturally salt-and-pepper fiber. She named it Nanu Nanu in honor of Robin Williams. I love it. She told a story in her dyer’s notes about how her mother used to say things along the lines of “you are only as bored or as happy as you want to be” and she mentioned how spinning is her way of slowing down time and grabbing at that happiness. It was a little nugget of wisdom that I really needed to hear.

Spinning some BFL dyed by Three Waters Farm.

So I dusted off my wheel (literally) and sat down to deliberately spin for the first time all summer. I took some of my favorite fiber and about 30 minutes to just enjoy myself. I highly recommend fiber therapy.

Nature therapy.

I also recommend nature therapy. Over the long weekend I went camping with the Fiasco and a couple of friends and it was glorious. We unplugged from our computers and phones and just enjoyed each other’s company. We went to a Renn Faire, biked through the woods, swam in a pond, and ate s’mores to our hearts’ content. It was an excellent way to wind down the summer and it was something my soul really needed.

How do you de-funk-ify yourself, when needed?