Poor girl!

Do you know her?

Until yesterday, I had heard of her, but never seen her in person. I'm sure there are plenty of you thinking "God, I can't believe she didn't know that," but it really was new to me.

This is a Lazy Kate. I had heard of a Lazy Kate, but never saw one in person until yesterday. I walked over to Sophie's Yarns on my lunch break, and there was one sitting behind the sales counter. Now I'm not sure what I thought one would look like, but I was really amazed! (By the way, I received very kind permission to post this image from the folks at Wingham Wool Work, in South Yorkshire, UK: http://www.winghamwoolwork.co.uk/.)

I have since been trying to figure out where the name originated. For instance, is Lazy Kate the "bad one" in a set of twins, where the other one is known as Industrious Katherine or something? Is/was Kate really lazy, or just misunderstood? I know it is a spinning tool, and spinning seems like something that suffers if one is lazy. I'm going to keep looking, but in the meantime, whether she is really lazy or not, isn't she beautiful?

And this is where I get myself into trouble. I see something like this, and it appeals to me aesthetically. Which then makes me think that learning how/why to use it would be something I would really enjoy. Nothing wrong with that, I'm all for continuing to learn new things. I learned the very basics of using a drop spindle a few years back, and recently observed a workshop on the same topic, when I was helping out at Rosie's Yarn Cellar.* The people taking the workshop seemed to be having such a good time, it made me want to give it another try.

I told myself that if I managed to a) finish the gifts I was planning to make for some upcoming birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc., and b) made some progress on the many unfinished projects I have sitting around, I would let myself give the drop spindle another try. Which takes me back to the Lazy Kate, because if knew how to spin, then maybe I could get myself one, and ... well, you get the picture.

So with any luck, I'll see something shiny in the next few days, become completely distracted, and forget all about Lazy Kate and her ilk. Maybe that's why she is considered "lazy" - she just sits there and looks pretty, and doesn't have to do anything.

I'll bet Industrious Katherine really hates her.

*Philadelphia has an embarrassment of nice yarn stores, and Rosie's is up the street from home, while Sophie's is down the street from where I work! Am I lucky or what???