Spending my children's inheritance

I've been trying to limit my weaving experiments to stashed yarn because I have a shitload lot of it. BUT I am such a newbie that I find myself wanting to just follow a pattern instead of experimenting. Toward that end, I purchased a couple more books on weaving (Weaving Made Easy, by Liz Gipson, and The Weaver's Idea Book, by Jane Patrick) and some YARN.

What we have here are two spools of Cotton Clouds Aurora Earth 8/2 unmercerized cotton ('Copen' and 'Light Turk'), and two skeins of three colors of Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton ('Blue Ice' which looks like a prefect match for 'Dusty Sky Blue' which is what the pattern calls for, 'Grape', and 'Tropical Breeze').

I won't sample these yarns since I am working from a pattern with the yarns and colors called for, BUT for when I do want to sample or experiment, I now have an Ashford Samplet loom.

And two Kromski pickup sticks. I know some people make their own pickup sticks, but I am too impatient, especially when it comes to working with wood. I do feel bad that I am "tainting" my weaving equipment with something non-Ashford but these were what the shop had on hand. (JOKE)

To give you a perspective on the size difference between the Ashford 24" and the Samplet, here is a pic of them together.

Quite a difference! So besides having something smaller to sample and experiment on, I also have a lap-sized portable loom. Huzzah!