I won! I won!

My second shawl out of my own handspun (if you want to see pictures of my finished Swallowtail I posted progress pics of before, you'll have to go to my ravelry projects page) won the Phat Fiber Spring Competition. I was soooo excited, I bounced around the house like I was thirteen, giggling like an idiot.








This was fingering-ish weight singles I spun out of a Coopworth/Llama blend I got from Wild Hare Fiber Studios. This fiber practically spun itself and the singles came out so shiny! I literally finished the shawl and blocked it hours before the deadline. As soon as it was dry and the pins were out I presented it to a friend of mine who had been admiring it the whole time I was spinning/knitting it. She's so funny, she wanted to wear it that night but had to be prodded into it because it was supposed to rain and she was afraid of getting it wet.

One of my prizes arrived this week. A free Phat Fiber box! This was the main reason I was so excited I won, because I wasn't going to be able to afford one for the second month in a row and getting a box is just so much fun.



I'll try and write about everything, for the people who didn't get a box this month, or who maybe haven't been able to get one at all.

First off, the fiber:



(left to right, top to bottom)

-A generous 1/2 ounce Giffordables batt. This was the first time I've gotten a sample from this shop, although I ordered a few full size batts about a month ago. These batts are just giant! Even the sample is huge.

-Another generous sample, a full 1 oz Merino/Bamboo blend roving from Portland Fiber. I can't wait to spin this stuff up, its so soft and beautiful.

-A muslin bag full of washed, dyed, and precarded Texel Wool from Desert Garden Farms. The colors are fabulous and the little bag is adorable.

-A sparkly batt from BeesyBee. containing Wensleydale, Mohair, Suri Alpaca, and Angelina. Gorgeous shades of pinky purple.

-Merino Wool in shades of blue from Maude & Me. I have never seen such gorgeous shades of blue all in one piece of roving.

-A Merino sample from Feeling Sheepish, which is as usual, gorgeous. If you scroll down to my entry about my last box, you'll see this was the fiber my cat found absolutely irresistable. In fact I also won a gift certificate to the Phat shop of my choice, and this was the shop I picked. :)

-Hand Painted Organic Wool Top and felted flower from Wild Hare Fiber Studios. This super cute flower is destine to become a button on a cardigan one of these days.

Next up, the yarns:



-Handspun (? I think?) wool and nylon blend from Sheepshape Spinning. Very squooshy.

-Purple BFL from Snicklefritz Yarn Co. The colorway is Blueberry pie and as soon as I read that the yarn started looking yummy as well as beautiful.

-Sooper Squoosh (their title, not mine) Handspun and hand dyed Corriedale from Black Tie Fiber Arts. They named it right, there's a lot of squoosh in this skein.

-Dyed By Danido Ramboulliet Handspun. The colors are so beautiful in this yarn. She really has a talent for spinning thick and thin yarns, mine never look this good!

-Superwash Wool and Bamboo sock yarn from Polyartgirl Designs. The color saturation and softness is just awesome. Plus, I'm not quite sure why, but however she twisted her skeins, they look so perfect and almost braided. I'm going to hate to untwist this one!

-Chance sock yarn in "Tulip (verigated)" from Serendipitous Ewe. There's something about these colors that I'm so in love with. Maybe it's the retro avacado green.

-Last but definately not least, luxury handspun from Fiber Friendzy. This has merino/cashmere/CAMEL!/and silk noil in it. This yarn is shiny and soft beyond belief. Plus it's pink. 'Nuff said.

The miscellaneous:



-A beautiful needle case was holding all my business cards and coupons.

-Double Helix fingerless gloves pattern. I'm definitely going to be knitting a pair or two of these up for the fall.

-Small KIP bag from Rudawg. I'm totally fascinated by how a simple plastic pony bead works so well with the drawstring. (I'm so easily amused)

-Stitch markers from Black Tie Fiber Arts, Twice Sheared Sheep, Baby Dragon Jewelry, and Girl on the Rocks. All gorgeous and destined to be used with future projects.

Phew! I'm really tired now, so I'm going to be lazy and not link everyone's shops. Just google them. Maybe I'll fix it later, but right now I'm outta here.

Lots of pictures today! Partially because someone on ravelry taught me how to use the Macro setting on my camera, and partially because I can!

Yesterday I finished spinning singles for the Spunky Club SAL/KAL out of some beautiful Shetland I got from Spunky Eclectic in "Brain Freeze". The first 2 oz of singles were underspun, and had to go through the wheel twice, breaking a couple of times. I was annoyed and took it out on them with a vigorous hot/cold wash and whacked out my frustration on them. (Quite theraputic) The crazy picture at the top of the post is what the second 2 oz looked like after I took them off the niddy noddy and before their matching bath and beating.



I even took the obligatory picture with a penny (if you can see through the grime, it was the only one I could find) so you can see how thin it is. I'm calling it laceweight. (I really need to get a WPI guage, for now I'm just eyeballing things)


As soon as the singles were dry I cast on for my very first lace weight shawl:


I'm really loving the challenge. I've only knit a little bit using yarn this thin, and this is my own yarn! And I've done lace, but I've never done laaaaaaace, ya know? So this is all new and exciting and therefore taking extra long because I keep pausing every couple of rows to admire and giggle like I'm twelve.


This is what I made from my Christina Marie Potter corriedale fiber I got a few posts ago. I spun each of the colors seperately and plied them together in my very first 3 play. I estimate this to be about sport weight and was approx 230 yards before the wash. I'm hoping it's enough for socks, it's been awhile since I've knit socks out of yarn this thick so I'm not sure of yardage requirements. Toe-up is my friend. :)


And last but DEFINATELY not least is a semi-clear picture of the goodies I got in the mail today from North Star Alpacas that does not do justice to this beautiful fiber! I have 4 oz of handdyed Alpaca/Wool/Mohair and 2 oz of natural black alpaca. That's a pretty notecard at the bottom featuring one of the contributers of this black fiber that is so soft I just want to curl up and nap with (if I didn't think it would hurt the fiber either from smooshage or drool). Maple sends a lovely sachet that smels divine with all her packages and she sent me a little packet of un-washed alpaca (bottom, right corner) to try.

Let me tell you, I'm pretty sure those alpacas are cleaner (and smell better) than me! I can't believe this is UN-washed fiber! It's so soft! And fluffy! I can't wait to spin this up. There will definately be unwashed alpaca in my future, I can see (and smell! it.



And if you made it this far I am off to work on my shawl. Castle is on in twenty minutes and I must drool over my Nathan Fillion. *pets pretty Nathan and throws one more picture into the post before I go....*

Zebisis Designs


I seriously doubt there are many people out there who haven't heard of Zebesis Designs, but on the off chance that you haven't, this is the place to get some of the most beautiful spindles I have ever seen.

Example A:


Gorgeous, huh? As if that's not awesome enough, she also sells fiber. I was lucky enough to get a silk sample in my Phat Fiber box (see previous entry) and the stuff is amazingly soft. I haven't been able to stop petting it long enough to spin it.

If I hadn't just got my Joy I would be so tempted by the club too. She has a spindle and fiber club, which I think is the coolest idea.