Guest Blogger- Knit Circus Editor Jaala Spiro! And giveaways!

Wow, the last stop on the tour! Thanks so much for hosting, Jessie.

Today, for a change, let's have an interview with you rather than me! This profile of one of our favorite fiber businesses originally ran in Knitcircus Issue #6(link: http://www.knitcircus.com/issue6.html).

Phat Fiber

How did you get the idea for Phat Fiber?

In the summer of 2008, my husband and I both came down with Mononucleosis. If you've ever had it, you know that your entire body is wracked with pain and accomplishing simple everyday tasks become near impossiblities because of it. During my convalescence, I picked up some knitting needles and yarn after a long hiatus from needlecrafts and was amazed at how my pain seemingly melted away. At the time, gas was over $4.00 a gallon and I was still in a great deal of discomfort, so making more than a once monthly trip to my LYS (30+ miles away) was pretty much out of the question. I began shopping online for my yarn and was absolutely amazed at the plethora of gorgeous yarn and fiber from independent businesses available to me. I made several purchases, some I was thrilled with, others I was almost angry with disappointment about. Wishing there was a better way to shop for something as tactile as yarn and fiber, the mental seeds of Phat Fiber began to sprout and grow. After months of preparation, our first box was released January 15th 2009.

What's the philosophy behind it?

Phat Fiber's goal is to bridge the gap between the products and services of talented independent fiber artists and companies and today's conscious yarn consumers. We all want to support independent businesses as well as treat ourselves to incredible goods. Phat Fiber makes it easier for both indie yarnies to market their wares and for the rest of us to experience, swatch, fondle the fiber while planning larger purchases.

How has the service been received by crafters/customers?

I think both parties are extremely pleased so far. We have only done 2 boxes (Jan and Feb) and both have sold out immediately and much of the feedback has been incredibly enthusiastic from both the customers and the artisans Phat Fiber represents. We have an amazing group of contributors who are extremely supportive of each other. The comraderie displayed within the group of participants makes me very proud to be considered a part of this endeavor.

Nuts and bolts-how can people find you, how often are boxes sent out, how much do they cost?

Our Main site is www.phatfiber.com there you will find links to most all of our contributors and more information about the boxes.

The boxes go on sale once monthly (mid month) in our Phat Fiber Etsy shop here: http://www.phatfiber.etsy.com

To be notified of the exact time of sale, sign up for the Phat Fiber newsletter here: http://www.phatfiber.com/notifyme.htm

The boxes are $33.00 USD which includes domestic shipping.

We have a group on Ravelry, as well as our own forum which can be found here: http://www.phatfiber.com/phatforum We love to share pictures of our boxes, what we've done with our samples, and larger purchases made from discoveries found in the box.

We also profile the contributors to the box and host many giveaways on our blog here: http://www.phatfiber.blogspot.com

What's next for Phat Fiber?

More boxes! We are currently creating special pages full of discount coupons, patterns and articles just for our newsletter subscribers. Many of our contributors have suggested a Phat Fiber gathering of sorts. That would be amazing and I hope it happens.

Tell us your favorite Phat Fiber story.

Oh, there are many!! One of our customers wrote on our forum that she felt like she was a part of a movement and she had never felt that way about anything before. That really touched me and made me want to work even harder for our wonderful artists/contributors. I also love that every month I get excited emails from participants letting us know about new orders that were generated from the box. It's very rewarding!

--JS, Knitcircus #6

For the Grand Finale of our Blog Tour, let's do something really grand--like giving away three Grand Slam collections of Knitcircus! Please leave a blog comment, and three lucky winners will receive all of the available back issues of the print magazine (Issues 3-8) plus a free pdf download of the Spring Pattern Collection for Issue #9. Phat Fiber will keep the contest open until Sunday evening then we’ll let you know if you’ve won and your collection will go out in the mail Monday morning.

This has been a blast, Jessie; since Team Knitcircus joined up with Team PhatFiber for the Ravelympics, it’s going to be a fun couple of weeks with lots of knitting for everyone!

Keep doing the great work bringing fiber lovers and independent businesses together and rock on.

Jaala

KnitCircus is now an online publication! On the web at http://www.knitcircus.com