I just knew that Phat Fiber Box would be nothing but trouble.
Witchy silk from Wooliebullie
Yes, I had to place an order from Wooliebullie. And let me tell you, that’s some niiiiiiice silk.
Oh yeah, and I finished another pair of socks before Socktoberfest was over.
Barcelona socks from Patchwork by Black Bunny Fibers
Love these. They feel so good and sproingy.
And I’ve started more socks. Surprise.
Hayrick socks from Knitspot in Fearless Fibers BFL
I think I’m jet-laggy from the time change.
Ramblin’s two favorite seasons are Halloween and deer. Here’s what happens when the two collide.
What’s a Phat Fiber Box? It’s the brainchild of Jessie at Phat Fiber – a collection of samples from Indie dyers brought right to your doorstep. And when your doorstep is a mere three hours from Phat HQ, it gets there really fast.
That was fast!
The “F” stands for ‘fluff’, which is all spinning samples. The “S” stands for ’stitches’, which is all yarn samples. There’s also a mixed sampler, which I could only guess would be “M”, but I didn’t go after that one. The super-secret date they go on sale is announced, and they are posted to Etsy two times that day. I wouldn’t recommend delaying 5 seconds, ’cause they are going to be gone. So Saturday, I was able to grab an F for me, and later an S for Ragged.
What’s in the box?
Box 'o Mystery
Mystery revealed
Well, allow me to introduce you. (sorry for some blurry pics – I was losing light fast)
“Oh Donna” BFL - Alisha Goes Around
“Passion” merino - It’s a Colorful Life
“Fagiano” Aus. merino, firestar, and angelina - Crystal City Fibers
“Harlequin” merino tencel (and the fun gold thread to ply it with) - Twiggi Knits!!
"Carnivale (light)” tussah silk - Wild Orchids Yarns and Fibers
“Cafe au lait” milk fiber - Feeling Sheepish
“Venetian Butterflies” mohair, alpaca, wool, and glitz - Silver Sun Alpacas
un-named rambo, bamboo and polypay - Desert Garden Farms I think I'll call it "Sweetheart's Masquerade"
“Masquerade” alpaca, mohair and angelina - Fiber Divisions
“Tangerine” merino - From Ewe to You
“Squash Blossom” organic merino from Natchwoolie and “Souron’s Flaming Eye” milk fiber from Dragonmaille in The Fiber Artist’s Paint Box from SpindiesFiber
“Queen of Hearts” bamboo - Polyartgirl
“Jareth” organic merino, silk, carbonized bamboo, and angelina - Ambrosia and Bliss
“The Fiber Unmasked” baby alpaca - Anzula Luxury Fibers
“A Silken Masque” sari silk fiber - eXtreme Spinning
“Venetian Mask” merino - Sheepy kitty
“Candy Mix” merino - Alaskan Sass
Oh but wait, you have to see the back of this:
Wicked Remedy
Topless Mittens pattern - Kira K Designs
So, the idea is that once you can see and fondle these mini bits of heaven, you will want to buy more. And that works really well. To feed that, many of the sellers give discounts to the Phat Fiber box buyers. Like you needed another excuse.
And since it’s Socktober, here’s a pair of socks.
Midsummer Nights Dream from Knitty in Knitting Notions Thyme
Here’s something else I can discuss for Socktoberfest (which, btw, is way better than Cacheslashfest) – the second shipment of the Fearless Fibers Sock Club.
September Fearless Fiber Sock Club
Up first is another squooshy skein of the Superwash Merino:
It feels as good as it looks
The other skein is Superwash BFL, the first of two skeins I will be receiving.
Blue Superwash BFL
My final shipment will be another skein of BFL and one of Tight Twist. I’ve been thrilled with the yarns so far, so even if the last shipment was completely off (and I don’t think Deb is capable of dyeing a bad color), it’s been a great experience.
Okay, so it’s four days into Socktoberfest. Even though I haven’t been posting here, rest assured I have been sock-knitting. (When am I not sock-knitting?)
Leaves of Thyme socks
These are Midsummer Night’s Dream using Knitting Notions’ Classic Merino Superwash Sock Yarn in Thyme. Yes, I am finally using the Sock Yarn Unclub pick from April. Since Socktoberfest has no rules, I decided a good goal would be to use the yarns Ragged and I have acquired in our un-club. Speaking of the Un-club, this month is Ragged’s pick.
And speaking of Ragged, we spent our weekend as guests of Ragged and Cynical, with Jenny from the Blog along for the ride. As detailed on Ramblin’s blog, it got off to a bumpy (clattery-bangy) start. But once we arrived, it was wonderful times that just never last long enough. And Mud Pie Mojo from Cold Stone Creamery is amazing.
The socks above are actually quite a bit further along, thanks to some opportune porch-knittin’. But I have to save some stuff for the rest of Socktoberfest.
Sorry to be gone for so long, but I just had to resurface to celebrate that greatest of months – the month of Halloween and socks! (not necessarily in that order)
Pictures of socks and stuff to follow.
I really hope this fall doesn’t fly past without me getting to enjoy it, but it seems to be threatening to do just that.
Something that has slowed me down a bit:
If you stare at it long enough, it looks like the Green Goblin
That is the aftermath of a broken blood vessel. What did I do to cause it? Absolutely nothing. We’re attributing it to that wonderful connective tissue disorder I have which manifestations include fragile blood vessels. Yay for that. We were standing in Rudy’s driveway, watching him apply woodstain to his coffin (what – your friends and family don’t do that?), and I felt an itchy-stingy pain on my lower leg. I actually thought I might have been stung by one of the hornets we had been discussing, because it felt like a swollen lump under my skin. The bruising has been getting darker, probably as the swelling has gone down. I’m trying to stay off of it as much as possible, and keeping the microwaveable heated bean-bag on it.
But you probably didn’t come here to look at hematomas, did you? (or maybe you did, who knows the whims of The Google) Anyway, let’s look at some knitting, shall we?
Nebula in Juliespins Grapelicious
I loved knitting these socks. I liked the pattern, but thought – oh, that’s going to be way fiddlely. Nope, it was just fine. I started these coming off the disappointment from failed Bayerisches. A good sock pattern to be sure, but I just didn’t have it in me at the time. Maybe I’ll tackle that one again some time.
Beautiful graceful spirals
And, beautiful as the pattern is, take a look at the yarn, which is a showstopper all on its own.
Juliespins artful colorwork
I also paid a visit to my currently-under-expansion local yarn shop, and found some yarn to start a project I’ve had in the queue for a while:
Berroco Comfort Sock
The pattern I will be using is this.
If you’re friends with Ramblin on Facebook, he mentioned washing 112 ducks. Here’s photographic evidence.
Copper and the ducks
And of course, Tugger had to see what was going on.
Tugger inspecting the troops
A sure sign that the Cache Slash Fest is almost upon us. Sigh.
Ooof.
And the bad part is – it’s hit both personally and professionally.
Professionally, I’ve never seen a fall semester like this. I’ve been through eight fall registration seasons, and when they say more people are going back to school, particularly at community college – they aren’t just whistlin’ Dixie. If we weren’t so far backed up with requests, we could probably have even more students enrolled.
Personally, this semester marks my last (Universe willing) as a grad student. Yes, just a mere 50-page paper, completely designed course, and eight hours of comprehensive exams stand between me and my degree. Tonight, it just dawned on me in order to have everything wrapped up in plenty of time, this should all be accomplished by early November. That’s two months away. The exams alone recommend spending 50-100 hours studying. I haven’t done the maths to see if there’s even 50-100 hours left after work, sleep, travel, and completing the paper and course. I imagine the answer would petrify me.
So, in light of all of this, what did I think would be a good idea?
Chaos topped with crazy, anyone?
Taking two computer classes. Sure, why not?
And in other news, I had a very good mail day last Monday.
Fearless Fibers sock club shipment #1, plus another FF skein that needed to come along, and fiber received for my ASU swap
I tried out a Ratatouille recipe.
Note to self: next time, use bigger baking dish
I spun some roving that wasn’t Parrots. (if you’ll recall from the last post, that bird is finally done)
ASU fiber in very non-Parroty colors
I finished some socks.
Impressionist socks in CTH African Grey
And started some more.
Nebula in Juliespins Grapelicious
And baked some Halloween cupcakes. In August. I’m getting a head start. (PS – they’re being consumed now, I’m not making anyone wait until October)
'Tis the season, sez me
So, I’m not entirely sure how the next few months will play out, trying to fit in work craziness, plus school craziness, plus fibery pursuits (because denying myself that will unleash a whole different brand of crazy), plus all the other necessary things of life. I think it’s appropriate to end this post as it began.
Ooof.
Well, let’s see – what’s happened?
We went to the Dairy Dee. (We went again since this picture, but I decided not to record that one for posterity.)
Spoils from the Dairy Dee
I got some mystery fiber for a spin-a-long that was not quite my colors. (And now that it’s already traded, I realize I should have spun it up and tempted Chris with it. Shoot. Avert your eyes, Chris, this is going to be painful for you.)
August spin-a-long merino/silk/bamboo fiber from All Spun Up (ASU)
And the same time I joined the mystery spin-a-long, I bought some fiber that was my colors.
ASU merino/silk fiber
And then, just so I didn’t miss out on the ASU merino/silk/bamboo experience, I bought some of that in my colors.
Yup, that's more like it
Hmmm, I might have a fiber addiction.
We also gave Copper a bath.
"You better sleep with one eye open!!!"
And . . . . .
Last little bit
Last bobbin
The Parrots roving is done!!!!!! (You know, that probably deserved it’s own post.)
plentiful piles of parroty polychromasia
Yes, I went to the thesaurus on that last one.
Now that it’s done, I’m back in love with it again. It is a truly beautiful monstrous bunch of yarn.
And it looks like the wheel is empty just in time . . . .
