Ishkur, I am your Shala

Here is a story:

Once upon a time.  I drove to Astoria, OR.  Then I drove to Seattle, WA by way of Tacoma, WA.  Then I drove to Eugene, OR.  And at Eugene, OR I attended Black Sheep Gathering 2012.  And I met my best friend Sasha, of the Spin Doctor podcast.  And I shopped for fiber.  And I showed Sasha one of the fibers I purchased. 

It was this:

 Polwarth, 8oz, from Crown Mountain Farms in the colorway Ishkur.  I asked Klaus about “Ishkur”, and he told me that this is the name of a very old god.  And the god’s lady friend was named Shala.  So I said, “I will be Shala to this Ishkur” and bought it. 

I didn’t buy it because of the name or the story of a Mesopotamian god and his consort.  I bought it because the colorway attracted and repulsed me.  My first thought when I saw it was “uck”, but I kept circling back around the booth to pick it up again.  It was a scary colorway.  I had no idea how it would spin up or what I would do with yarn of such colors.  I bought it as a challenge. 

And then I brought it to my best friend Sasha and asked her to tell me how to spin it.  Sasha held and stroked and gazed at Ishkur in a way Shala did not appreciate.  But then she released the fiber and suggested a thick-and-thin singles.  I was game. 

Then one day I took my Ishkur to my spinning group and asked my best friend Theresa to show me how to spin a thick-and-thin singles.  She was happy to do this, and I was off and spinning.  Now I have these:

 Two Ishkurs. 

I’ve looked up more information about Ishkur.  He was a god of storms and rain.  Ah, I get it.  Lightning and thunder and walls of blowing dust and funnel clouds that pick up some houses and leave others standing.  Unpredictable, astonishing power.  Ishkur.