Holy Flowers & Showers! It’s the May Phat Fiber Box!

This time around they had all fiber boxes!  I totally scored one.  It’s chock full of fibery goodness and beautiful colors.  As seen above, the theme this month was Flowers & Showers.  So let’s take a look at what I got:

Vendor:  The Yarn Side

Fiber:  Baby Alpaca/Merino

Color:  Lilac Skies

Weight:  0.1 oz

Thoughts:  Super soft, great color (although I’m not sure where the lilac part comes in), and really cute packaging!

 

Vendor: Girl on the Rocks

Thoughts:  These stitch markers are really cute, and functional! 

 

Vendor:  Fiber Gift Tags

Thoughts:  These are very well designed, and the icons she uses are adorable.  I’ve had plenty of times when I could have used these, and I’m really glad she’s got different tags for different crafts. 

Vendor:  Banana Migraine Designs

Thoughts:  Very cute marker, a little different than what I usually see.  That’s not a bad thing!

Vendor:  Fickle Knitter Design

Thoughts:  A really pretty stitch marker and the card it’s on is soooo sparkly!  Very eye-catching!

Vendor:  Greenwood Fiberworks (beware this link, while this bookmark is cute, there is some simply amazing fiber and yarn at her site.  No lie.)

Thoughts:  An adorable bookmarker with a hand painted yarn tassle.  It also came with a coupon for $5 off a $25 purchase!

Vendor:  Unknown

Thoughts:  Jessie of Phat Fiber had a local artisan make these needle rolls for her.  They’re very well made and the fabric is super soft!  Thanks Jessie!

Vendor:  Goodness Gracious

Thoughts:  A very useful little bag with a sheep batik.  The paint soaked through to the back, which kinda sucks, but I’m sure I’ll find a use for it anyway.

Vendor:  Calizona Designs

Fiber:  Merino

Color:  Spring Rainbow

Weight:  0.1 oz

Thoughts:  Great rainbow color, nice soft fiber, and it came with delicious smelling lip balm!  Great logo too, I love pin-up girls!

Vendor:  Beesy Bee (cute name and card!)

Fiber:  Wensleydale Wool/Local Mohair/Suri Alpaca/Angelina Fiber

Color:  No name given, but it goes from light pink to dark purple with bits of purple and green angelina

Weight:  0.33 oz

Thoughts:  I love the color of this.  The picture is lying, the color is much more vibrant!  It’s also very sparkly, which the picture doesn’t really show.  I can’t wait to spin this!

Vendor:  Giffordables

Fiber:  Silk Noil and Corriedale

Color:  Stepping Stones

Weight:  0.5 oz!

Thoughts:  I’ve seen these generous batts in others boxes before and always wanted one.  Finally!  I’m glad I got this color too, it’s not one I would have thought I’d like, but in person it’s really quite lovely.  I think the colors will blend nicely once it’s spun as well.  The link above will take you to her etsy listing where you can buy one of each .5 oz sample she sent in, 2 oz total for $5.50!  Not a bad deal and there’s different fibers for each sample.

Vendor:  Vines

Fiber:  Wool/Bamboo/Dash of nylon icicle

Color:  Fool in the Rain

Weight:  0.2 oz

Thoughts:  SOFT!  Great color too, this is one of my favorite samples!

Vendor:  Bohemian Knitter Chic

Fiber:  Romney Locks

Color:  No name given, but one is electric green and the other is purple and blue

Weight:  0.3 oz

Thoughts:  I’ve never spun locks before, they kind of scare me a little.  I may seek a little help with spinning this (either from you tube or a friend).  I love the colors though, very vibrant!

Vendor:  Silver Sun Alpacas

Fiber:  100% Alpaca

Color:  Both are un-dyed, cream and dark brown (with traces of lighter brown)

Weight:  Brown= 0.1 oz; Cream= 0.2 oz

Thoughts:  These natural colors are gorgeous, and the fibers are soooo soft!  They came in a really cute sachet too, which I will use for lavender after I spin these up.

Vendor:  Maude & Me

Fiber:  New Zealand Merino

Color:  Wellington’s Wednesdays

Weight:  0.6 oz!

Thoughts:  I LOVE blue.  And New Zealand.  And this fiber.  ‘Nuff said.  (p.s. Although this shop is in New Zealand, she has FREE SHIPPING!  Let’s help a Kiwi out!)

Vendor:  7 Yaks Design

Fiber:  100% $%&*ing CASHMERE!!!

Color:  No name given, it’s Hot Pink though!

Weight:  0.2 oz

Thoughts:  I’ve never had (let alone, spun) pure cashmere before.  I’m floored at the generous amount as well.  It came in an adorable, stickered bax too (box + bag= bax!).  I’m excited and scared by this sample.  I’ll have to pm the owner and ask her how I would go about preparing to spin this so I don’t ruin it.

Vendor:  H.A.Y. (Hampton Artistic Yarns)

Fiber:  BFL Wool

Color:  Salvia

Weight:  0.3 oz

Thoughts:  First, I love the logo!  Second, the orange in this roving is Blaze Orange, my camera didn’t get it bright enough.  I’ve never seen a salvia plant in bloom, but this sample reminds me of a pumpkin.  Maybe I’ll bake it! ;)

Vendor:  WC Mercantile

Fiber:  Superwash BFL

Color:  Flowers and Showers

Weight:  0.3 oz

Thoughts:  This batt had some hidden colors that were under the label.  Gorgeous blues and hidden greens and blacks!  Very dark, I love it!

Vendor:  All Twisted Up

Fiber:  Wool & Mohair

Color:  Neon Twist

Weight:  0.3 oz

Thoughts:  More black!  Yay!  This is a great little braid and these colors would look amazing plied back on themselves.  Will probably have to order some of this.

Vendor:  Infinity Yarn and Fiber

Fiber:  Merino/Mohair

Color:  New Growth

Weight:  0.333 oz (very precise)

Thoughts:  The colors in this really remind me of spring.  Buttery yellow, golden orange, and the green of a budding tree.  Well captured Infinity!

Vendor:  Desert Garden Farms

Fiber:  Homegrown Lincoln Lamb/Kid Mohair (animals Fancy and Ozzie are featured on the label. I’m pretty sure this is their fiber)  I also spy some angelina

Color:  Tiptoe through the Tulips (LOVE IT!)

Weight:  0.4 oz

Thoughts:  This Tumbleweed Batt (what a fun name!) is the perfect blend of pinkish-orange and greens.  I can tell this is going to be a quick spin and I’ll have to get some more to satisfy my fibery urge.

Vendor:  Mary Jane’s Attic

Fiber:  Corriedale

Color:  No name given, but as you can see, there’s purple, blue, yellow and green.  ;)

Weight:  0.3 oz (all colors together)

Thoughts:  They want me to make felt beads out of this, I’m not sure if I want to.  I don’t really have much use for felt beads, unless they become cat toys.  I’ll probably blend these with another sample.  The colors are very even and bright and the business card is cute too.

 

So, 17 fiber samples, plus stitch markers, bags, coupons, and a pattern (I forgot to take a picture of it, it’s for a knitted wristband).  Not too bad, Phatties!  After I get settled into the new place, I hope to acquire some more fiber from several vendors.  Off to bookmark!

Commencement, Pride, and Relocation

Oh Blog.  So much has happened since we last spoke.  Much of it was not visually documented, but will be remembered for at least the next month or until someone reminds me of it.  The ironic thing is that if I spoke to you more frequently, you would remember it for me for all time.  Alas.

I do have some picture to feed you share with you though.  It’s been busy around here and doesn’t seem to be getting any calmer over the next couple weeks. 

First, my darling, sweetie-pie Ray graduated from college (with high honors!) on Friday with an Associates Degree in IT-Computer Network Specialist!

See, look how happy he is!  He’s worked so hard these last two years (and technically still has 3 generals to finish, but will be taken care of soon), and I’m so proud of him!

My parents and our friends Matt, Janet, and Jen joined us for a very long, boring ceremony (except when Ray walked on stage and we all screamed like banshees)  *he said he never heard us up there :(*  They are truly great friends.

Ray didn’t really feel like going out after a long, people-filled day.  So instead he and his friend (and fellow graduate) Cary did this:

Who knew Mormons drank and played Guitar Hero? 

Sam partied too, in his own way.

This machine runs on Kitty Power!

Ahhhhh, anyway.  It was a good night and I think we’re all glad it’s over.

Moving on, I finally finished my Pride shawl from way back when.  It was my first all lace project and it was really fun.  I think it turned out pretty nice.  Here it is before blocking:

I really like the cabled edge, and of course all the holes.  I even didn’t mind the cleverly disguised bobbles, called nupps.

Most of all, I love how the color changes.  It’s the gradiance line from The Unique Sheep.  From gold and orange/red, to pink and purple.  Beautiful!

I’ll probably be blocking this later this week when I have a day off, that way I can make sure it doesn’t become a cat bed.

Not that I’ve been overly talkative on here as of late, but that trend won’t be changing anytime soon.  We’re moving in a couple weeks and we have an amazing amount of “stuff”.  And it all needs packing.  I’ll be sure to post pictures of our new place (a slightly larger apartment, with the added bonus of a private basement!  One that DOESN’T have black mold growing in it!).  We’re pretty excited to be moving into a quieter area and away from all the college nonsense.

So the next time you hear from me, I might not have much hair left, but I should be relocated!