The Wollmeise Yarn Cult

Wollmeise.  I has it.

This is the Vincent colorway.  The photo is from their website.  The husband is still sleeping and I don't want to wake him up by digging through my yarn stash.  I bought it from a Raveler who was destashing; I wanted to see what the big deal is.

I still really don't know what the big deal is.  It's pretty, but so is a lot of other yarn I have. Maybe if I knit with it, I'll get it.

Regardless of my opinion, this yarn is highly desired among knitters.  It's the big thing right now.  Knitters will stay up for as long as it takes to constantly refresh sites like The Loopy Ewe just hoping for a chance that Wollmeise becomes available for sale.  If they get that far, the knitters go into a frenzy.  There is a mad dash to throw as much Wollmeise as they can into shopping carts and buy it before someone else does.  The stock only lasts for minutes.

It reminds me of the Socks That Rock frenzy at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival a few years ago. One year, I was able to visit The Fold booth without standing in line.  They had a nice stock of Socks That Rock in various colorways.  I took my time and picked out a few I liked, paid for them, and went on my way. Next year, there was a line clear out of the barn for the stuff.  I entered the barn on the opposite side and didn't realize there was a line. When I peeked in the booth, I got a slew of dirty looks from knitters at the front of line.  I imagine they had been standing there for hours; their looks could kill.

I hate it when people show their true colors.  People are so shocked when a shawl is stolen or money is taken at knitting shops or fiber festivals.  'Knitters wouldnt do that!' people say.

What a load of BS.  Anyway, I digress!

The Loopy Ewe decided to limit Wollmese purchases to one colorway per order.  Naturally, this leads to some snarkiness that has forced a thread about the subject to be locked on Ravelry.  People who missed the update and didn't get any yarn just can't help but feel a little frustrated at the one person who posts her excitement about scoring TEN skeins of the stuff.

I think this has become less about the quality of the yarn (though the colors are very pretty) and more about a desire for it because it's so difficult to get.  Getting Wollmeise, especially from an e-tailer, illicits some kind of emotional response and bragging rights.  I'm pretty sure people get high off the entire experience, from stalking websites to the rush of actually buying the stuff.  The most amusing part of it all is that many knitters are afraid to actually knit with it.  What if they can't get any more? The yarn they worked so hard on getting just sits in a box somewhere.

I feel neutral about the whole thing.  If you have the time and patience to constantly refresh your browser at bizarre hours in the hopes of getting some Wollmeise, go for it!  It's your time and money.  I wouldn't do it, but I'm not going to whine about missing the updates either.

If I happen to be online when an update goes up, I'd still try to get one though.  I'm way too broke for Wollmeise anyway.  I need to go through some of the tubs of sock yarn I have already.

Oh yeah, I'm going to cast on the other Licorice Sock this weekend.  I meant to last week, but I was waylaid by quizzes in all of my classes this week.  Argh.