Serendipity and Sock Yarn Giveaway!

Are you in the mood for candy eggs and chocolate bunnies? New to the Phat Fiber family this month is Serendipity. This yarn pictured above was dyed by Emily of Serendipity, and it really reminds me of Easter candy! Just looking at Emily's shop gets my mouth watering- so many foodie inspired colorways!

This particular yarn is quite soft and I can picture just a really delicious pair of comfy socks knitted with it! I read in her profile that Emily's kids help name her yarn for her- this one is called "Love A Lot" was there a Care Bear named that? Anyway, it's got all those feel-goody pinks, purples and blues in there!

We're giving away this scrumptious skein to a lucky commenter! Just visit Serendipity, find something you like and write about it in the comments section below. Please help us get the word out about Emily's shop! We're going to count your extra twittering/facebooking and other social networking as extra entries to show our appreciation.

Thank you Emily for sharing this Love A lot yarn with us! We love it a lot!

Giveaways ending...

Hey all!
I'm feeling really under the weather today- slept 13 hours last night and I'll be going back to bed after I remind you all of a few things ;)

Tomorrow at Midnight our March "Buy Phat" incentive will be expiring! Get those purchases you made from March Phat Fiber participants listed to be counted in the giant superbox giveaway!
http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/phat-fiber-sampler-box/1050217/1-25


I am also going to close the "what's on your ipod" box giveaway tomorrow- let me know what you're listening to and your name will be thrown in the pot for a Phat Fiber box giveaway!
http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/phat-fiber-sampler-box/1065224/1-25


Will be back to our regularly scheduled fun asap!

Fiber Fancy "Earthy" Giveaway!

Ahh I've been eager to feature this on the blog!! Diana from Fiber Fancy has sent in a biggie version of her "Earthy" roving for a giveaway! I really adore this fiber alpaca/wool/tencel blend!
It has a really glossy sheen to it, and a bit of 'density' (for lack of a better descriptive!) to it when spun. It's quite drapey as well, and you know I love drape ;) The colors of this particular braid are pretty much perfect- when spun it darkens up quite a bit and really does look "earthy".

Pssst!!! Diana is having some really awesome sales right now in her shop. I am eagerly awaiting my shipment of her Goddess SAL (spin along) to see what surprise she has cooked up for me! With this SAL we got to choose which Greek Goddess we wanted her to card up for us- I took one of those silly online quizzes and came up with Hera and Hestia - can you tell I'm excited!?

Please check out Fiber Fancy today and find something that you love. I'll pick a random commenter this week to give away this beautiful earthy braid to. You can gain extra entries by simply tweeting/facebooking/ravelating about this contest to your friends.

Mink Yarn Winner!

Alyrenee !!

Please email me your address phatfiber at yahoo dot com !

Thank you everyone who commented!!

Of course, we'll have more giveaways this week! One coming up very soon ;)

Mink Yarn Giveaway!

I had not planned another giveaway for this weekend, but a really nice Phat Fiber Phan has asked me to do her a favor and I had no problem obliging. She recently discovered a new yarn and was so smitten that she sent in a skein for me to give away to one of you lucky people!
This yarn is quite unique, there is only one global distributor, and staying true to the Phat Fiber spirit, this company is owned and operated by a sole person, a "little guy" so-to-speak.

This yarn is made of Mink (yes those ferret looking creatures with luxurious coats who unfortunately are still killed for their pelts) 70% and Cashmere 30%. The minks are sheared once a year (much like some sheep, I suppose!) as opposed to killing them, which makes this yarn something to take notice of.

I feel there are a few reasons I should go ahead and feature this company/yarn even though they are not technically "Phat". Perhaps you, like me, are not one for fancy upscale accessories like gold watches and mink stoles but, perhaps you know someone who is. Sometimes it's hard to give hand knitted gifts to people like this, but imagine when you tell them that this knitted/crochet stole was made from ethically harvested Mink. Perhaps you are a person that is very adventurous when it comes to trying new fiber types and are curious about how this yarn knits up. Whatever the reason, here is your chance to explore this new yarn/company and let me know what you think.

Please visit Great Northern Yarns and let me know what you like about what Craig has to offer. You need to hurry as this is just a weekend giveaway!

Winners this week!!

I've got to hurry and get to the winners because I have a really interesting giveaway for this weekend for you all!!


Congrats to:

Goddess Tea winner: Dawning Dreams !!

Garilynn winner: Chris (woodbury)

WCMercantile winner: Urn

Serendipitous Ewe sock yarn winner: Kat


Thanks everyone for the b-day wishes and for commenting!!

Phat Fiber Box Giveaway!

Hop on over to the Ravelry group and let me know what's on your iPod or other audio listening device: http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/phat-fiber-sampler-box/1065224/1-25

You'll be thrown in the pot for a Phat Fiber box giveaway!

Serendipitous Ewe Chance Sock Giveaway!

Recently, I made a shawl using Serendipitous Ewe Fate Fingering in Angela's "Estuary" colorway and I have gotten the most compliments on it than anything else I've knit thus far! I'm convinced it is the yarn and not my astounding knitting skills though! When Angela sent samples in of that yarn in December, I knew I must have it!

It's pretty easy to order a custom colorway from Serendipitous Ewe, I went to the website, clicked on the custom dyed yarn button and processed my order. I was contacted by Angela and made arrangements for yarn to be dyed and before I knew it, I was taking pictures of my lovely shawl. Angela processed my order as soon as she could, despite dealing with "snowmageddon".

Custom colors are great, but so are what Serendipitous Ewe has to offer on site!
Today we're giving away a beautiful skein of Chance Sock in "Jungle" which is a subtle striping fingering weight yarn. Please visit Serendipitous Ewe, find something that catches your eye, then report back to us here on the blog. We'll be drawing for winners tomorrow, so please hurry! Make sure you use twitter, facebook, your blog and ravelry to get extra entries- help us spread the Serendipitous Ewe word!

WC Mercantile Silky Giveaway!

Today is my birthday! We're gonna have a good time!

Stephanie from WC mercantile sent me a lovely few oz of this drum carded sari silk to spin. It's really bright, beautiful stuff! There are so many possibilities with spinning it, I find myself with deer-in-headlight stance when I start thinking about it. I could spin funky chunky singles, spin it really thin laceweight singles, I could ply it with another single, but then what color?!
I think this is part of the reason I like to spin, it's the thinking about spinning that's as much fun as doing it!

Another thought occurred.. perhaps I could just buy more and try it all different ways, LOL! One of the lovely things about WCMercantile, is you can spend some of your B-day money there and maybe have a little left over to buy a cupcake and a coffee.

We're giving away 4 oz of this beautiful drum carded sari silk to a lucky commenter! Just visit WCMercantile, find something you like, and write about it in the comments section below! We'll be drawing for a winner in a couple of days, so hurry! Make sure you use your facebook and twitter superpowers to help spread the word about WCMercantile- we'll count your extra efforts as second entries!

Garilynn and Giveaway!

Perhaps while you'll need an oven mitt to take the kettle off of the stove when you're done boiling your tea...

Have you visited Garilynn yet? Gari is a most clever designer, always coming up with new ideas and implementing them! She came up with the Knit Stitch Graph Paper- now you don't have to try and visualize what those squares will look like knitted up! She also invented the skein snake- a unique and tidy way to wash your yarn! Her patterns have a wonderful simplicity about them. I really love both Bernard and the Elementary hat- how classic!

We're giving away this knitted oven mitt and pattern today! Just visit Garilynn and find something you love. Write about it in the comments section below and we'll draw for a winner later in the week. Make sure you use facebook and twitter so we can spread the word about Garilynn!

Goddess Tea Giveaway!

The past couple of day's weather has been just nasty! Cold and rainy here at HQ - (I am grateful it's not snow though!) and my drink of choice during these dim days is warm tea- and lots of it!
Yes, recipe for a good rainy day- Lots of hot Goddess tea in pretty teapot, favorite podcast/album playing, alone time with your spinning wheel or current knitting/crochet project. Sounds good, eh?

Currently in my teapot is "Krishna" a spicy, rosey warm sip of India mmmmm. Today we're giving away "Durga" which is a Rooibos tea and similar to Krishna but here is what Dani has written about it:

This spicy and floral blend features naturally sweet rooibos tea, rose buds and leaves, cardamom, star anise, licorice root, ginger root and cinnamon. The anise and cinnamon make this tea both spicy and sweet, this tea needs little else added to it but hot water for an entirely enjoyable (and caffeine free) cup.

Yum.

Please visit Goddess Tea, find something you like, write about it in the comments section below and we'll draw for a winner later in the week! We love it when you help spread the word about our phatties, so we grant extra entries to those of you who do extra tweets, facebook updates etc about the giveaways. Just let us know you did it!

Dani, thank you so much for sharing your delicious tea with us!

Winners this Week and Chester IL

I'm strong to the finish 'cause I eats me spinach!

Hey kids Here is the Mississippi River....

Forget the river, Mom. Look a train!!

You can pick your friends, you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose.
Excuse the fresh ketchup stains ;)

Pulling Meriwether Lewis' finger... not so educational. Better read the historical marker sign ;)

Well, Yesterday I was a bad blogger! I got all wrapped up in Fiber Friday in our Rav group (soo amazing this week!) and then one thing let to another and on a sunny, 70 degree day that happens to be a Friday, things do tend to lead to one another and I soon found myself and the kids wandering our countryside and ended up in Chester, IL - a quaint river town. After eating some catfish at a local cafe, we went in search of the famous bronze Popeye statue and had fun with the Lewis and Clark cut outs only feet away. Somehow I don't think Lewis and Clark were all dapper with shiny buttons, pressed suits and huge Napoleon hats when they passed through ;)

Enough silliness... on to the winners!!!

Critter Ranch sand and sea batt- zombiequeen !!

Play at life fiber arts yarn- Andrea !!

Bitsy Knits handspun- Ruhammie !!

Ambrosia and Bliss - TuttleDB !!!

Please email me with your addresses and I'll mail them out asap!

More giveaways to come!

Ambrosia and Bliss Giveaway!

As soon as I'm done with this post, I'm going to load up my shopping cart at Ambrosia and Bliss. I am participating in a swap and I think my person might really enjoy some of Rebecca's Rambouillet or some of the beautiful soft batts that she sent in for this month's Phat Fiber Box.

Speaking of those samples.. boy were they delicious! So soft, so delicate looking and the colors pretty much perfect! I think my favorite was the fire, though I rarely spin anything that looks like that color-wise, I can see it spun and knit up! Ahh creative vision/inspiration! It would be really neat to have that collection and incorporate all of the elemental colors into one project- a scarf, mittens a double dose might make a s shawl hmmm....

We're giving away this beautiful 4 oz braid of merino in a delicious blue raspberry colorway! Just visit Ambrosia and Bliss and find something you love. Post about it in the comments section below and we'll draw for a winner (probably tomorrow!!) be quick and make sure you use twitter/facebook to help spread the word!

Thanks so much Rebecca, for creating these lovelies for us, and for the charity work you've done with your shop ;)

Bitsy Knits and Giveaway!

Happy St. Paddy's Day! How about a little something green today?
We're giving away this beautiful fine handspun from Bitsy Knits! Bitsy sent in a few different items this month- she so creative! she included spinner's earrings, yarn and beautiful green fiber. Her shop is just full of delicious laces, worsted weight yarn in special blends and lovely fiber! And guess what? She's now a distributor for Spinolution wheels and spindles!

I know you must be jumping to tell us your favorites, so take a minute and visit Bitsy Knits, find something you like, and write about it in the comments section below. We'll be drawing for a winner later in the week, so be sure and get extra entries by using facebook, twitter, ravelry or your own blog!

Thanks so much for sharing this beautiful handspun with us, Bitsy!

Play at Life Fiber Arts and Giveaway!

I love introducing new Phat Fiber Contributors to you all! Play at Life Fiber Arts debuted in the March box with beautiful samples of her "Boundless sport" and very special reclaimed "Maki" yarns. What you can't see from the first picture, is that the Maki yarns are dyed in very long repeats making for beautiful, smooth color transitions when knitting. It's really hard to believe the yarn is reclaimed- it all looks so perfect and beautiful!

Chrystee the dye goddess behind Play at Life Fiber Arts, is also a freelance writer/illustrator and that means she already has a great sense of color and when you visit her shop, you'll see some really beautiful and fresh new color combos! I really think I might need that "cinnamon jelly" silk/cashmere lace-weight yum!

Play at Life Fiber Arts is giving away this beautiful skein of "boundless sport" in the very earthy colorway "By the spoonful" Just visit Play at Life Fiber arts, find something you like, and write about it in the comments section below. We'll be drawing for a winner later in the week, so be sure and gain extra entries by twittering/facebooking about this giveaway!

Thank you Chrystee for sending in such amazing samples this month and sharing your artistry with us!

The Critter Ranch Sand and Sea Giveaway!

Mondays are bad. Mondays when you lose an hour of sleep due to daylight savings time changes are worse. I don't know about you, but I'd much rather be relaxing on some beach somewhere than in front of a computer right now. Enter The Critter Ranch March samples! Sue's interpretation of 'sand and sea' was truly amazing! Waves crashing upon the surf, I'd be afraid to spin it to destroy this piece of art... almost ;)

There are a ton of spring-like goodies in The Critter Ranch farm store today- I especially love the 'adopt a Momma Llama' listings! I hear she only has few of these left, so if you want one, now would be your chance! Also, if you must have some Sand and Sea for yourself- just convo Sue and see what she can do for you!

Sue has generously provided a beatutiful Sand and Sea batt to be given away to one of you! Just visit The Critter Ranch, find something you like, and write about it in the comments section below. We'll draw for a winner later in the week so you can use this as a visual aid when daydreaming ;)

Thanks so much Sue for taking us away a little!

Winners this week!

Hooray! I've got some winners to announce!


Gales Art Jar of butterflies- Deb from H.A.Y!

Sheeps of Egyptian Cotton alpaca handspun- Kim R. !!!

Spindle Designs polymer clay spindles: Skudge !!!!

Congratulations everyone!

I'll be posting some really delicious giveaways next week!

March Video Sneak Peek!

Warning! Marcus has a bit of a potty mouth ( S-word ) in the second video. He said he would bleep it, and it turns out he didnt!

Phat Fiber Box giveaway!

I'll be working on a video today featuring the March Phat Fiber artists- I'm telling you, this month is astounding me! So while I'm tinkering in the background, please hop on over to the Ravelry group and post your favorite Element in this thread: http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/phat-fiber-sampler-box/1043826/1-25 and we'll draw for a winner next week.

Thanks for joining in the fun!

Galia Spindle Designs and Giveaway!

I have been just itching to tell you all about a new Phattie we have this month! Galia hails from Israel and makes the most beautiful polymer clay spindles!

Galia's craftswomanship is in a word: exquisite. She's sent in a beautiful spindle for us to giveaway here on the blog and if I didn't already know it was made from polymer clay, I would have puzzled myself wondering how she carved a spindle out of stone!

In this month's box, I'm excited to be able to include some adorable polymer clay buttons, handcrafted by Galia, so you can get a taste of her amazing abilities.

As for the spindle itself, it has a delicate appearance, but has a substantialness (I think I just made that word up!) about it in hand- perfect for spinning on the go!

As mentioned before, we're giving away this gorgeous "Horizon" spindle from Spindle Designs. All you need do is visit Spindle Designs, find something you love, write about it in the comments section, and we'll draw for a winner later this week. Be sure and use twitter/facebook/plurk/ravelry to gain extra entries!

Thank you, Galia for sharing your beautiful work with us!

Sheeps of Egyptian Cotton Giveaway!

For the February Box, Betty of Sheeps of Egyptian Cotton sent in some amazing mini facial scrubbies in her Isis Cotton.

I love Betty's shop! She's always coming up with new ways to make yarn. I'm especially intrigued by the "Sheep's Clothing" yarns. She takes pre-loved sweaters and hand-plies the threads to create new, unique, earth friendly yarns.

We're giving away this beautiful handspun hank of alpaca (128 yds 3 ply) spun by Betty to a lucky commenter. Just visit Sheeps of Egyptian Cotton, find something you like, and write about it in the comments section below. We'll draw for a winner later in the week. Remember, I like to award extra entries to those of you who plurk, twitter, facebook etc about this giveaway!

Betty, thank you for going above and beyond with your samples in February!

Gale's Art Butterflies giveaway!

I simply couldn't wait to show you what Gale's Art has cooked up for the March box! Her element of choice was "air" and being the creative person she is, made butterflies! Silk ones!

In the month of March, every $10 you spend at Gales Art will get you a silk hankie butterfly!
You know you wanted to get some of her BFL swirl roving anyway, so go ahead and indulge and snag some of these ethereal samples while you're at it!

We're giving away a delightful jar of butterfly hankies to a lucky commenter here on the blog. Just visit Gale's Art, find something you like, and write about it in the comments section below.
Extra entries will be allotted to those of you who make the extra effort and twitter, facebook, plurk and ravelate about this giveaway.

Thank you so much Gale, for amazing us with your creativity again!

Craft Cultre Podcast Interview

So, I mentioned I had a fun evening recording a podcast interview with Daniella Cortez of the Craft Culture podcast.
I want to first apologize for saying "Like" and "Ya know" 10000 times. I do that when I'm a little nervous (my first podcast interview!) and I promise I get better ( I hope!) as the podcast goes on. What you couldn't see was Marcus (the husband) gesticulating in the background with whatever agenda he had going on and so I hereby publicly blame him for the long pauses I took to collect my thoughts. Next time, he'll be locked in a room somewhere or I'll do it with my eyes closed or something.

Ok enough self abasement and finger pointing- the podcast! It's about an hour long, so grab some knitting/spinning while you listen.


http://craftculture.danido.com/episode-5-phat-fiber-love/



Thanks Dani!

Winners this week, and Fiber Friday!

Congratulations winners!

The Critter Ranch- ED

Rocky Horror Desert Garden Batt- Perennial Girl

Fleecemakers Fibers Romney- Aria

Please email me your addresses and I'll mail them out to you!
phatfiber at yahoo dot com

I wanted to mention that every Friday in the Rav group we have a Fiber Friday thread where you can show off your fibery creations every week. Come join us!

I've had a fun evening recording a podcast with Phat Fiber contributor Daniella Cortez of Goddess Tea/DanidoCrafty fame. I had such a good time talking with her, I hope she asks me to come back on her show! I'll be posting the podcast as soon as it's available for you to listen to.

More fantastic giveaways too! Have a wonderful day!

2 Superboxes, 2 Videos, 2 winners!!

Fleecemakers Fibers and Giveaway!

New to the box is Fleecemakers Fibers! This month, Liz sent in some really beautifully dyed Romney fiber in deep jewel tones. Now, I don't usually automatically think soft and Romney go together, but this stuff is pretty nice! Maybe it's all the tender loving care the Romney lambs get from Liz!

Fleecemakers Fibers has an abundant shop full of fiber for the tasting! I think I must have some of the "melon patch" Romney roving- the colors just look delightful! And the locks! How cute!

We're giving away this richly dyed Romney roving to a lucky commenter on the blog. Just visit Fleecemakers Fibers and find something you like, write about it in the comments section below, and we'll draw for a name later in the week. Be sure and twitter, facebook and ravelate about it for extra entries!

Thanks Liz, for sharing your beautiful fiber with us!

Rocky Horror Batt Giveaway and I've named the wheel

Recently spun "tumbleweed batt" Fly Agaric

Congrats Saskia! She named my new wheel "Meadow" and I think it fits her really well!

I had Jennifer at Desert Garden create some wonderful batts for the Phat shop recently. If you haven't had a chance to spin her "tumbleweed" batts, you really should! The resulting yarns always come out so textural and earthy. I just adore her batts.

We're doing something a little different today. You can find go window shopping at either the Phat Shop where several of the Desert Garden Batts are, or you can pop on over to Desert Garden and tell me what you like over there.

Mention the giveaway on twitter, facebook, plurk or ravelry and we'll give you an extra entry.
We'll draw for the winner later in the week, so let's get shopping!

The Critter Ranch and Giveaway!

Sue from the Critter Ranch is always cooking up creativity in her shop. February, she sent in this gorgeous Llama, Alpaca, linen and bamboo braid based on one o her favorite paintings. It's so delicate and beautiful! If you missed it in your box, there is some listed in her shop right now.

While you're in The Critter Ranch Etsy shop, you might notice a new listing for a "Llama momma" adoption! How cute is that?! You can adopt a pregnant Llama mother and follow her through until her baby is born, getting pictures and during shearing time, 6 oz of raw fleece!

We're giving away 2oz of this beautiful "Cradle" fiber to a lucky commenter! Just visit The Critter Ranch, find something you like, and write about it in the comments section below, twitter, facebook about the contest and we'll draw for a winner later in the week!

Thank you so much, Sue for sharing your artistry with us!