Fiber Friends « Guilty Pleasures

Feed on: Posts; Comments

Fiber Friends

May 2, 2008 by ~Kristie

Remember when Carole sent my that wonderful “welcome to spinning” package? Well, the welcome wagon has hit again and this time I received a package from Micki. I must confess I was half expecting to receive a package from her. She’d spun this beautiful pink, gold and white yarn and commented that she didn’t really like it. Of course I volunteered to take it off her hands and so she came up with a swap idea. If she sent me this yarn that she’d spun, then in the future I’d send her a skein of yarn I’d spun. It sounded like the perfect plan.

But when the package arrived, it was kind of fat. How could this only be one skein of yarn? Well, it wasn’t.

The first thing I found in the package was this beautiful fiber from Copperpot Woolies. It’s a fluffy and soft 4.2 ounces of merino and the colorway is called Beyond the Realm.

Next came another stunning fiber from PigeonRoof Studios. It’s got amazing color variations and is 4.1 ounces of corriedale in a colorway called Dovecote.

Last, and best of all, was Micki’s very own handspun, but this was not the handspun we’d agreed on for our swap. This handspun is made from fiber made at Crown Mountain Farms. This makes it especially precious because the Sock Hop Yarn from CMF is what started my interest in spinning. This is 360 yards of fingering weight 100% superwash merino (111 grams) in the colorway Good Vibrations.

Micki has only been spinning for about 6 months (if that) and this yarn is perfect. No, really it is. As soon as I can spin yarn that looks this good, then I’ll fulfill my end of the swap. Is a year or two too long?

In knitting news, I actually have been knitting. Unfortunately, I’ve been sample knitting for designers so I’m unable to share any photos until the patterns are released.

The one thing I have been madly working on since returning from vacation is this beautiful stole designed by my friend Laura. I’m honored to once again be asked to test-knit it (or did I *tell* her I was test knitting it?), but it was until yesterday that I noticed this:

When I put the two shawl ends together, one end of the shawl is much lighter in color than the other end. Obviously one skein of the Malabrigo got a lot more of the deep blue than the first skein I used. Drat. I’m not ripping back though. It’s going to be a design element.

Posted in Fiber Collecting, Knitting, Spinning | Tagged Copperpot Woolies, Crown Mountain Farms, fiber, friends, lace, PigeonRoof Studios, Spinning, stole | 18 Comments

18 Responses to “Fiber Friends”

on May 3, 2008 at 2:28 am1 jillian

Design element, absolutely right! And wow, what mail
on May 3, 2008 at 3:49 am2 lynda

Pretty shawl! - and that handspun is gorgeous!
on May 3, 2008 at 4:15 am3 flutter

That handspun is fabulous.
on May 3, 2008 at 5:32 am4 Laura

Wow. Look at all that fabulous wool you got! And the green handspun is gorgeous!

I love the different colors in your shawl, gf. It is *definitely* a design element.

Oh, and yeah, you did rather inform me that you were going to test knit this one, but that’s okay. I was going to ask, anyway. Just saved a step. ROTFL
on May 3, 2008 at 11:51 am5 Micki

Ack, I thought I had sent you the yarn we agreed upon! Off to check my old emails…
on May 3, 2008 at 3:04 pm6 Jodi

Micki rocks! Bummer about the Malabrigo coloring, but I think “design element” is the right way to go. The shawl looks gorgeous, BTW, and those shades of blue are heavenly.
on May 3, 2008 at 5:52 pm7 kathryn

The stole looks lovely and it’s a gorgeous colour even with its variation.

My Malabrigo had one skein very much lighter than the other two and I didn’t notice until I was well on the way so I continued by alternating the light and dark skein. It was a bit of a nuisance to say the least!
on May 3, 2008 at 7:10 pm8 Hege

Beautiful colors on that wool!
And I love the handspun.
Lovely shawl too!
on May 4, 2008 at 3:45 pm9 Sarah

That handspun is truly gorgeous! And lucky you, with all the fiber you keep getting in the mail! You’ve got some great fiber-pushing friends.
on May 4, 2008 at 5:27 pm10 Lain

Gorgeous stuff!
Maybe I will start spinning just so I can get fun packages — ahaha!
I’ve been sewing. Ack!
And scrapping.
And knitting some here and there…
xoxox
Lain
on May 5, 2008 at 10:22 am11 Julie

What a wonderful package Micki sent you!

I must get back to spinning; it’s been over a month!
on May 5, 2008 at 3:05 pm12 Hasbu

That handspun is beautiful! And the shawl is going to be gorgeous, the color is definitely a design element.
on May 5, 2008 at 8:05 pm13 kathy b

Here is to design features. Im with you on this allthe way. ANd it is a lovely knitup
on May 5, 2008 at 9:10 pm14 tiennie

Pretty fibers!

Bummer about the unmatching bits. I don’t think it’s that noticeable.
on May 6, 2008 at 5:06 pm15 samantha

wow, i love that firfst (and second… fiber!!! I really want to spin sock yarn, but I’m a little afraid because in the past, it’s like I think I have a bunch of yardage, but then it’s only about100 yards! grrr.
on May 12, 2008 at 1:39 pm16 abby

Did I tell you that I’m taking a drop spindle class this week? I’m excited to join the spinning club.

So interesting about the Malabrigo color changes. The lace looks lovely.
on May 12, 2008 at 10:41 pm17 Cathy

Goodness, what loveliness in that package! I have no doubt that you spinning will be just a beautiful in no time at all and as for the beautiful stole, the color differences will be just wonderful!
on June 2, 2008 at 8:44 am18 Judy

Are you OK? You haven’t posted for so long. Been thinking about you. (((hugs)))