Non-Club!

Hello fellow yarnies!

I have an announcement! I have a new "non-club" up in my shop right now. Its a non-club because its only one month. I call it the "customs non-club"... every skein of yarn I send out will be dyed TO SUIT YOUR LIKING. I will send out a survey to everyone who purcahses, and with those survey answers will put together a package based on stuff YOU like.

Check it out here! Help a sistah out. All proceeds are going to my wedding which is August 14th. We need all the help we can get right now to make it our very special day, so even if you can't order, spread the word. I promise you it will be worth it!

Also, use the code BLOGFREESHIP in your yarn club purchase in the notes to seller, and I will refund you the shipping cost for the order!

June Phat Fiber "Oceanic"

So, I'm on the ball this month (mostly because as I'm writing this, Ravelry is broken... you win some, you lose some!), BUT I got my June Phat Fiber box, and it was splendid! With Will back home, and someone to go through the box with, it made me enjoy my experience about one hundred-fold. Seriously!




So what would a box thats theme is "Oceanic" be without a treasure map and some booty? There was tons of booty to be had in this month's box, which you'll see below, but look at the wonderful treasure map and message in a bottle put together by Jessie! I have a closeup of the treausre map, also, that I'll post a bit later. I fear I may have gone overboard with the photos this month, but thats probably not a bad thing. There was a lot to show off this month, and everyone seems to keep out-doing themselves with the samples they are sending in. I know it was a rough month for Jessie herself, she fared some strong winds, but in true pirate style, she managed to wrangle together all of the boxes, and pull off another fantastic month.

As you can see in the above picture, I got a few patterns this month which I can't wait to try (save for the crocheted one, because I'm bound to just make a huge mess of that, but we'll see!). First there is a pattern for a beautiful bracelet called Sandy Bracelet from Katherine Vaughan Designs. According to the Phat Fiber blog post about Katherine Vaughan Designs, she also has a Ravelry shop too, which I can't see right now but hope that the link is correct because things are still a bit Shaky-Bob a the moment for Ravelry. I also got an adorable Crocheted Fish pattern from SunnieFairy who has a TON of cute amigurumi patterns in her shop (as well as other goodies), and a Phat Pacific Octopus pattern from Miss Becca Designs that I can't WAIT to knit up. I love sea life! This pattern is available for purchase in her shop right now, so don't hesitate to go buy it and knit one up for yourself!

I was very lucky to receive not one but BOTH of the stitch markers I coveted from the Phat Fiber June videos, I squeed like a little girl. First is another BEAUTIFUL freshwater pearl stitch marker from Twice Sheared Sheep, whose stuff I adore. I received another one of the same stitch marker a few months ago, and you may remember in earlier posts, I bought even MORE of her stitch markers (the black pearl mobius ones), so seriously. Go buy yourself a whole set NOW. They are awesome. The other stitch marker I got that I absolutely adore is a little skull and cross-bones from Designs by Tami. Seriously. What is cuter than that? Will and I had a little fun playing with the piratey themed things, we reunited the pirate with his treasure:


I told you we had fun with this box!

I didn't get a closeup of the yarns that I got, just one big group shot which I'll share shortly, but I got three mini skeins in this month's box, and love them all! First, a skein of Panda Sox (merino, nylon and bamboo!) from Flying Wright Farms (which is a sister store of WC Mercantile, in the colourway "Sea Glass". Its gorgeous, and super soft. Moonlight & Laughter sent in mini skeins of a merino, alpaca, and nylon blended sock yarn in bright pretty colours which didn't have a colour name but also reminded me of beach glass, or schools of fish. Also attached to this mini skein was 5 little rubber-washer stitch markers which are quite possibly some of my favourites, even though I keep losing them (so itty!). And my third skein I got was from Holiday Yarns that is beautiful and super squooshy, and I want about a hundred skeins of it! It was their Flock Sock base which is superwash merino and nylon, but really light and airy with a lot of plies and a high twist. Its gorgeous. I think I know whats on my wishlist now!



Last but not least, heres a picture of all my goodies from this month. I got a CRAPTON of fiber, not that I'm complaining, since I have a new (to me) drum carder I've been using (oh, did I spoil a surprise for a future blog post and potential new product in my shop!?) to card up a whole heap of lovely batts. So instead of making paragraphs and being all formal, I'll just throw down a list of all of the fiber that I got, because I do love to share the links and spread the indie love whenever I can. On with the list:

Corgi Hill Farms sent in some spectacular candies ("ginger zest" organic gluten-free lollipop from Yummy Earth, and two coffee & cream flavoured candies) along with a scrumptios batt of superwash merino, silk and firestar.

Sneaky Pig sent in a mini "skein" of 100% wool pencil roving in charcoal greys and purples that looks really fun to play with. Why, oh why can't I have a spinning wheel NOW?!

Hampton Artistic Yarns sent in an adorable mini "spinning bun" that contains: merino, BFL, corriedale, tussah silk, bamboo, milk fiber, angelia AND recycle sari silk! Oh my!

Dawning Dreams sent in a beautiful 1/4oz sample of "Murano Graphite" which is a blend of natural/undyed wool. It is a BEAUTIFUL graphite colour and to create this she used grey, black, white, and brown wool. Its very soft and VERY gorgeous!

Silver Sun Alpacas & I had a similar idea, since our samples shared the same colour name "Great Barrier Reef". Mine was laceweight yarn and theirs was a super soft and glitzy blend of mohair, bamboo, superwash wool & glitz that sparkles like diamonds!

Mad Angel Creations sent "Oceania", 1/4 oz batt with hand dyed wool, white silk noils and silver angelina, so very pretty!

Twisted Fiber sent in some superwash merino roving in deep purpley colours.

Goat Goat Sheep (who possibly has the best name ever in the history of time) sent in some painted mohair locks that are both soft, squooshy and VERY twisty.

Natchwoolie sent in a beautiful sample called "Blue Hawaii", which is a blend of silk milk and bamboo top dyed with natural plant dyes. I can't wait to card this in for a bit of softness!

Into The Whirled sent in some mystery roving. My package doesn't SAY what it was (if I had to venture a guess, I'd say its merino or superwash merino roving), in a colour called "Mercer's Pier" that is deep, saturated, and GORGEOUS.

Gale's Art sent in a sample called Black Blue Face Wool in a pretty colour called "Deep Blue Sea". It appears to be hand dyed BLACK BFL wool... the colours run deep in this one... blues, purples and greens, so gorgeous!

Last but not at all least, theres a big sample of Falkland wool roving hand dyed by Smoky Mountain Fibers in a pretty colourway called "Oceana".

Thats all, folks! Its definitely a lot this month, not that I'm complaining. HOWEVER, along with my samples, I got a big bag of alpacas from My Fair Bag Lady which may or may not be part of a future club shipment (you know, cos I wouldn't want to give any teasers), that Will and I had a lot of fun playing with. It seemed to take over my Phat Fiber booty:

Yarn "Non-Club"!

Hey all, I'm back with one quick announcement! I posted a new yarn club in my etsy shop.

Well, really, its a non-club, its only one month, but it'll be a LOT of fun! Ch-ch-ch-check it out!

Also check out Big Mouth Yarns, my friend Niseema's etsy shop. She's currently offering a yarn club also. If you end up joining, please let her know I referred you!

May Phat Fiber!

Phat Fiber box! Phat Fiber box! Phat Fiber box! Phat Fiber box! Okay, I'm not THAT excited, since I got the box nearly two weeks ago, but I can fake it for the blog post, right?

Okay, so I've been absolutely busy the last few weeks. Well, Will had also been gone back home to Scotland, so I was trying to fill my days with keeping busy. I managed to do that successfully, but whilst doing so, managed to ignore everything I actually meant to do. Like blog. And catch up on correspondence. And read. And relax! And, and, and... the list goes on. Instead, I went out for coffee far too much, didn't accomplish much knitting but pretended like I did, watched three whole seasons of Bones, and well, ignored the world.

So, getting the May box wasn't as exciting because I didn't have Will there to pick through it with me (that could be a plus. He wasn't there to STEAL anything either hehe. Did I mention he's started knitting socks and he's a phenomenal sock knitter?!), and no Blackie (R.I.P. little pup) to stick his nose in everything. It was rather uneventful to open the box alone, but I still felt like a kid at Christmas.

This month I'll start with NOTIONS! I got a mini bar of soap (What? Do I smell?) from Smoky Mtns Apothecary called Yuzu. Its old-fashioned soap, made with really cool ingredients (olive oil, coconut oil, soybean oil, palm oil, shea butter, lye, french rose lcay, and fragrance). The smell? Well it smells like a really strong soap, but a NICE soap. I like it. It hasn't been used yet but it will be added to the shower over the next few days. I also got a needle holder from Jessie of Phat Fiber fame (probably commissioned from someone, but I don't know the back story of this), a mini KIP bag from Ruddawg, stitch markers from the following shops: In Stitches, 4 Stitch Me Knot, Baby Dragon Jewelry, Crazy Cat Lady Mel, and Vickie's Knitted Things. I also got a cute bookmark from Greenwood Fiber Works.

Next up is FIBER! Lots of fiber this month which makes me happy because I JUST GOT A DRUM CARDER! Oh yes, a drum carder. More about that in a future post where I will feature my first EVER two art batts that I put together. Squee! Anyhow, on with the fiber show! I got a big poof of texel wool from Desert Garden Farms, a BEAUTIFUL purple batt with lots of sparkle from Beesy Bee that includes wensleydale wool, local mohair, suri alpaca, and angelina. 100% NZ merino called "Wellington's Wednesdays from Maude & Me. A generous 1oz braid of superwash merino and bamboo in a colour called "Midnight Tigerlilies" from Port Fiber. A small sample of SUPER SOFT milk fiber top hand dyed by Feeling Sheepish, this is the SOFTEST STUFF EVER. Seriously! And a small, but ADORABLE sample of handpainted organic wool top with a little felted flower on top from Wild Hare Fiber Studio.

Time to look at some YARNS! One of my favourite Phatties, Twice Sheared Sheep sent in some more of her wonderful recycled yarn, this time is it 100% silk COBWEB LACE. Yowza. People actually KNIT with this stuff!? Polyart Girl sent in a sample of bamboo and superwash wool in a pretty colour called "Cooling". Katsara Yarns sent in a super soft sample of beaded peruvian cotton in "Rose Mist" which makes me want more. Black Tie Fiber Arts sent in a pretty sample called "Summer Sky" of hand dyed and hand spun corriedale. Chimera sent in a pretty sample of hand spun 2-ply merino called "Orchid". i got a merino bamboo sample from Fiber Friendzy, a sample of handpsun from Sheep Shape SPinning called "Strawberry Patch", and last but not least, crazy coloured spun baby alpaca plied with rayon slub from Plum Crazy Ranch.

It was a good box indeed, and it brought much cheer to my Will-less day. Can you tell we're head over heels for each other? Speaking of which, we finally set a date for our wedding, and are working on planning that all out. Oh man. More about that in a later post as well. For now, signing off, as I have another blog post to write a bit later... maybe I'll save it for later this week since I'm on VACATION, despite having to dye up about 2 kilos of yarn for my first club shipment! EEEK! Well, I'm half done already. Just waiting on some goodies to be sent in, and I can start putting packages together!

Yarn & Tea!

Hey folks, for anyone interested in my yarn and tea clubs, there are TWO SPOTS LEFT to be filled. They've gone quickly, so you better hurry if you're still interested in joining up! I have one spot open in my laceweight club and one spot open in my sock club. If interested, check out my etsy shop - Odd-ish Creations. I have many goodies in store for club members and I am getting excited!

I have a real blog post to write tonight, but for now, at 5:20am, I must be off to my "real" (the boring!) job. Happy Wednesday everybody.