I posted on April 5 about Michelle Tom and NeedleFood in New Zealand. Well, now I get to post about her delicious yarn. Pun definitely intended as the green one is in the colorway "Eat Your Greens" and the reddish is "Espresso". Being a GRIT (girl raised in the south) from Georgia, eating my greens has never been a problem. I can hardly to wait get started using one of these (yes, I can only make one pair of socks at a time). They're both 80% Merino/20% Nylon. Super soft, hand dyed and inviting. So check out her stuff. Place an order with her and you may even get some of my stitch markers. LOL She's also starting a sock club in June, but her spaces are limited to 25, so hurry and write her.

http://www.needlefood.co.nz/Default.aspx

http://www.pumpkinmamma.etsy.com/ AKA Vines has some of the most gorgeous, softest looking rovings. However, I have fallen in love with her yarn Phoenix. It's black with red glitz and in my mind there is a pair of handknitted socks with a CC at the cuff. Check out her store and see if you don't agree.

Meredith Knitting

You have GOT to check out Meredith's baseball socks. Meredith contacted me several weeks ago about making a purchase from my Etsy store. And boy did she order. And impress me. OMG!!!!! This woman is amazing. You need to read her story at her regular website. She recently returned from a VACATION to watch baseball spring training in Arizona. How dedicated a fan is that??? The baseball socks she makes are incredible and won her a national competition. But go to her site and read her stuff or I'm gonna wind up putting it all right here.

meredithknitting.etsy.com
www.meredithknitting.com

April's Phatfiber Box

#1) Woohoo, April's box came. Look at all the neat stuff..... the theme was EcoGreen....

#2) Yarn, beautiful yarn.......

#3) Giffordables.etsy.com - way cool abstract/folk/novelty yarn called Green Piece. It's described at Fulled Dreadlocks in bfl/corriedale, ice-blue merino and tussah silk. Feels so neat and soft despite the fact that it looks like it may be rough.

In the top left is a mini skein from http://www.theuniquesheep.com/ called Evergreen. It's organic sheep wool in sport weight. There's a free mini sweater pattern on the site to make out of my mini skein. That's gonna be cool.

In the bottom left is a way cool sample from (HAHA) Coolclimates or Rachel at http://www.coolclimates.etsy.com/. The colorway is blues/green/purples called "the Lilac Festival" and it's mainly wool with small amounts of mohair and some synthetic thread and the sources for this nifty yarn are from trips to the Yarn Tree in Brooklyn, the Brooklyn General Store AND fiber stores in Iceland and Norway, Peace Fleece, Mielke Fiber Arts and some Etsy artisans. Now this is a diverse yarn.

#4) At the top is a pastel mini skein in fantastic Spring/Easter colors called 'Welcome Spring'. this yarn from http://www.my8kidsmom.etsy.com/ is 100% merino. Super soft.

In the middle is a really neat sample from http://www.katsarayarns.etsy.com/ in a pale earthtone colorway called "Palouse". It's organically grown bulky cotton yarn. Sofffffttttttttttt.

On the bottom is from http://www.twiceshearedsheep.etsy.com/. A mini skein of extra fine merino lace weight reclaimed/recycled yarn in a pale blue/gray. I'm thinking a crocheted blouse collar here.

#5) FIBERRRRRRRRRRRRS

#6) The top left is from http://www.natchwoolie.etsy.com/. A dreamy roving (in her words and I agree) of 90% wool and 10% mohair in the colorway PEEPS. And it does remind me of peeps.

At the top right is a sample from http://www.corgihillfarm.com/. Merino, silk and firestar in Green Eire colorway. It's got the neatest shimmer to it. Oh, and Anna sends the most delicious maple leaf shaped maple candies. I may have to try to get some of these.

The bottom left shows 2 samples of handspun from http://www.enchantedyarn.etsy.com/ These two are Sparkle Fiber samples in Sea Glass and Pink Grapefruit. Can ya tell which one is which? They shimmer like glass.

http://www.infinity.etsy.com/ in the bottom right. Random samples in blue/green/brown and steel gray/blue/mint green colors. Soft, soft, soft.

#7) Huge cushy soft 'Bronze Green' merino from http://www.smokymountainfibers.etsy.com/. It says it's about 1/2 oz. It's HUGE.

Below that is a roving from http://www.lotusjulie.etsy.com/ called Breeze. 80/20 Merino/Bamboo. Super soft and no splinters.

Off to the right is a sample from http://www.knit.etsy.com/. It's 50/50 Merino/Bamboo in colorway Tabbycat. It's in one of those neat little plastic envelope/boxes with a note on it suggesting it be used as a notions keeper for your knitting bag. Great idea.

#8) I must admit I was a little taken aback with this next sample. I opened the little brown bag from http://www.farmgirlchic.etsy.com/ and thought 'holy cow, I got a bag of trash'. But it's not. The colorway is Ticking, like a pillow, and it's called Spinning Fixins containing wool, mohair, vintage cotton. This is going to be FUUUUUUUUUN to play with.

#9) These are the extra goodies. The big brownish bag with the leaves on it is so neat. It's an envelope bag with http://www.phatfiber.com/ ironed onto the front bottom. Jessie commissioned a local girl in her area who is legally blind to make these. So impressive.

The pink bag is a KIP (knitting in progress) Bag from http://www.ruddawg.etsy.com/. It's lined on the inside with a drawstring at the top. Superduper. I'm a bag FANATIC so these 2 items are so perfect for me.

A heavenly smelling and very large sample of Peppermint Sea-You-Later Old-Fashioned Soap from www.hyenacart.com/smokymtnsapothecary. It also lists the ingredients so you'll know ahead of time what you're getting and won't have to worry about allergies, etc. Great item.

The yellow square to the bottom left of the pink bag is an Art Pendant from http://www.designsbytami.etsy.com/. I can see this now on my KIP bag or as a great stitch marker or the bottom dangly of a row counter.

A simply gorgeous stitch marker from http://www.dlynndesigns.artfire.com/. Even though I make stitch markers, I still love to get and use other folks' stuff. It's kind of like eating your own cooking all the time.... sometimes it's nice to do something different.

An absolutely marvelous button from http://www.wildharefiber.com/ that shows a pic of 'samples' for Phatfiber and says 'shop 'til you drop' 'www.phatfiber.com'

And last but not least the wonderful coupons from http://www.platformnine.etsy.com/, http://www.wooliebullie.etsy.com/, http://www.wcmercantile.etsy.com/, http://www.danidocrafty.etsy.com/, http://www.slvfest.etsy.com/.

I get more and more excited each month with the neat things in the box. So many talented folks in Phatfiber. I just love being part of it all.

I Did It

Well, I finally did it. I managed to knit a 2 yarn project. I had never knitted with 2 yarns before while carrying one yarn behind the other. It was a challenge but I got them done.

The pattern is called Under The Rose and is from Ganiggle Knits who can be found in PhatFiber.

The pink yarn is 100% silk that I reclaimed from a sweater I bought at a thrift shop. I got that idea from Jags at JagsFunkyFibers who can also be found in PhatFiber.

The bluish yarn is from fiber that I got in my first PhatFiber box called WasteNotWantNot2 from Misty at DesiredHavenFarm, also in PhatFiber. I spun the fiber into yarn on a drop spindle that I made from 2 CD.

This project was an experience and they may not be the greatest looking fingerless gloves, but I am very proud of them.

Drop Spinning

I WON!!!!! ZebIsisDesigns did a giveaway on Phatfiber and I WON. So, now I have one of her wonderfully delicious drop spindles and a HUGE amount of 100% silk roving that came with it. I've been spinning on it and my plan is to make a small doily for a couple getting married next month. With money tight, I don't think that I could find anything else that would have more of 'me' in it than a handspun, handcrocheted doily.

I'll post a pic after the project is completed.

Well, I've fallen a bit behind on my blog. Most of you know about the ice storm we endured in January/February 2009. I'm finally getting around to posting some pics from it.

Needle Food

Michelle Tom in Christchurch, New Zealand approached me thru my etsy store several months ago about purchasing stitch markers to give as tokens of appreciation with sales of her yarn. An activity of which I'm most grateful. Since then she's been able to get her site up and running and has GORGEOUS yarns for sale. She also has a free pattern or two and sock blockers. Her colorways are just beautiful and have some of the neatest names like Rosehips in Autumn........ Check out her site. Her shipping is very reasonable as we both found out shipping stitch markers over to her. She's a wonderful person and will get back to you ASAP if you have any questions. She also had an etsy store but her regular yarn business has taken off so well that she pretty much just goes thru her website now.

http://www.needlefood.co.nz/Default.aspx