Fibreshare 2017

Finally, I am sharing my fibreshare goodies with you. Fibreshare happens a few times a year. I took part at the start of 2016 for the first time and it seemed apt that I would join in the first one for 2017. I think once a year is a good number for me.

This year I was linked up with two people like me. They don't have a yarny business they just love yarn. Neither of them have blogs so I have no links for you (other than the fibreshare website).  A lovely lady called Sarah sent me the most amazing parcel. First of all it came in this fantastic box. Once I have emptied it out of all its yarn I will have to think of something nice to put in it. Too pretty not to use again.

Sarah really stuck to all my likes. First of all there is a pretty blue yarn from my lovely friend Lisa of For the Love of Yarn. There is a yarn in there that looks like cake sprinkles which I don't know the brand but it does knit up lovely. You've already seen the socks I made with it for my sister. The green is a Debbie Bliss sock yarn which are on the pins for my dad for Father's Day. I love the deep purple of the Ring a Rosie yarn. I have yet to decide whether to knit up socks with it using a pattern from one of my books for myself or for my sister. The Socks Yeah by Coop Knits. It is gorgeous. I don't think the photo does it justice. I am thinking of designing a pattern especially for it.

I also got a lot of non-yarn goodies. A beautiful unicorn crochet hook by For the Love of Yarn, a fab project bag by Coop Knits, Knitpro DPNs, a little pouch with stitch markers, cute scissors, little cotton labels, an enamel pin, hand cream, soap and body butter, oh and of course tea. I love it all! Sarah was very generous and I have already been working my way through this.

I got to send a package to another lovely lady called Lindsay. It was so fun making up a parcel for her. The detail she put into her profile made it easy. Plus we had a lot in common. I sent her a little more yarn than I had originally planned as I sent the parcel later than planned and I wanted to thank her for her patience. I noticed she had been knitting with a lot of greens of late and so I made sure there was some of that in there as well as some of her other favourite colours. I made sure to include some of my favourite indie dyers. I sent her yarn from For the Love of Yarn,  Owl About Yarn, Mothy & the Squid, Sara's Texture crafts (who is sadly no longer selling) and Rainbow Cloud.

I also sent some non-yarn goodies based on her likes. Thankfully she was pleased with her parcel even if it did arrive just before the deadline. 

May Socks - The Basic Sock

I said that this month was going to be another basic sock and this is why. I wanted to see the yarn and not the pattern. I always try to match a pattern to the yarn I am using so that they compliment each other. This was one of those times that I didn't care about the pattern I just wanted to see the yarn.
 

The yarn is by Mothy and the Squid (my fibreshare partner). As part of my research into picking out yarns for her I obviously looked at her own yarns. The fact that I waited until after she received my parcel before ordering says something about my will power. She is famous for her rainbow yarns and my favourites are the ones like this. A solid colour with a spectrum of rainbow. It looks a little like a prism. This colourway is called Stormy Seas Rainbow and it's a Merino/Nyon blend. Obviously I picked this one because the main colour just happens to be my favourite, teal.

It is beautiful to knit with. So soft and knits smoothly. When you get a yarn like that you don't mind that you are knitting up a pattern that you could probably do in your sleep (and sometimes those patterns are the most relaxing). Look at those little stripes of rainbow though. I loved the way that it was spread out. This is why I love this type. It's subtle and yet the fact that it's subtle draws attention to the little thread of rainbow. I love it!

I'll say one thing for a basic sock. They are comfy too. It's the one I always go back to. The one I use when I want to knit socks but don't have much time to spend on them. The one I use when (like now) I want to focus on the yarn.

Having said that I have a pattern planned for next month. This time I am going to use yarn I was set from my fibreshare partner Sarah. For more you will just have to wait and see.

Do you have a go to pattern? One that you turn to much like me? Would love to see it.

Fibreshare Friends - Jillian aka Mothy and the Squid

On Friday I showed you what my lovely swap partner, Sara of Sara's Texture Crafts, sent me. I am still drooling over the yarn and deciding on what I will do with it. I have also tried out the hand balm which smells lush (a word I never thought I would use and yet describes this balm well).

On Thursday I sent out my parcel to my swap partner Jillian of Mothy and the Squid. Well she got her parcel on Saturday which means I can now post what I sent. She seems to have loved her package and I am so happy about that. I did my best to pick out things which I thought she would like. I originally worried that I would be at a disadvantage because I wasn't a hand dyer or spinner like the majority of the participants (excluding weavers here). In the end I think it was the opposite as I got to send some of my favourite yarns based on what she liked. Which was pretty similar to my own taste. Lots of colour and sock yarn.

So here are the yarns I picked. I am going from left to right starting with my good friend. I would never send a package without sending some of Lisa's yarn. For the Love of Yarn introduced me to indie dyers and the wonders of hand dyed sock yarn. I had sent Lisa a message as to what she had in the way of rainbows and she responded with this rainbow sock blank. I can't wait to see it all knitted up. Jillian mentioned that her children and a fondness for orange and pink and so I sent the orange peel fungus (how fab is that name) by Orange Jellyfish Dream. I have two of her yarns in my own stash and so I had to share. Especially when I saw the gorgeous bright colour. You will probably recognise the third and fourth yarns. The third is Beach Huts by Owl About Yarn. You will recognise it because it featured on my February stash post. I really didn't intend to buy for myself but I saw this yarn and thought it would be perfect for Jillian because of the bright summery colours. It's just I also thought it would be perfect for my own stash. Lastly the last yarn came from my own stash. It's a Knitpicks yarn and it's beautifully soft. The colours are a little more muted than the yarns but still has that rainbow feel.

I then picked out some extras. You know how much I love my Doodlestop project book. I've barely begun using it and yet I have mentioned it countless times. The plan was to pick up one for Jillian. Then I saw that they did one specifically for hand dyers. As Jillian dyes her own yarn I got very excited about it and picked this up instead. I also got her some stitch markers. Again from Owl About Yarn. They are yarny/sewing related which I thought was fitting. The hand cream I picked up from Lush. Lush is my go to shop when I want a bit of pampering. I love it for it's scents, good products and business ethics. I knew they did a series of hand creams and the girl in the shop recommended this one because it absorbs very quickly. Which means smaller pauses between knitting.

Lastly I picked out a project bag. I saw Pink Hazel on instagram and spied this little bag with a sheep print. She is based in Netherlands but is attending Edinburgh Yarn Fest in a couple of weeks. She actually offered to send it when she was over to save me on postage which was very sweet. The bag is superbly made. Very sturdy. I might even treat myself to one.

As I said, Jillian seemed to love her parcel. If I am honest though I had so much fun putting it together. Plus it was nice to meet other sock knitters.

Fibreshare Friends - Sara's Texture Crafts

Mid January posted about a swap I was taking part in called Fibreshare. It was a way for spinners, dyers, knitters and people who just love yarns to share. I originally thought it was for those who dyed or spun their yarn only but happily I was wrong and signed up. We were all sent our partners a few weeks ago and I have been chatting to my two partners and getting ideas to send a good gift box. I sent to my partner yesterday and hopefully I will be able to show you what I sent next week.

Meanwhile, I arrived home on Wednesday to a fabulous parcel from Sara of Sara's Texture Crafts. Sara started life as a fashion and textile designer before falling in love with yarn. She has some lovely yarns in her shop (she's also a fellow sock knitter). I felt privileged to be sent a parcel from someone who knows her stuff. You can see from the image above that she spoiled me and clearly knows what I like.

First of all she sent me this gorgeous Rowan tweed yarn. It has an alpaca blend which sadly Sara is allergic to and so I get the benefits of that. I think this yarn may become this years winter woollies for my sister. It's a lovely shade of purple and I love working with tweed yarns.

This beautiful sock yarn is one of Sara's own. It's a colour block yarn all caked up and ready to use. I like the idea of striping it with a solid shade as Sara suggested. I will have to think about this. I have always admired patterns that stripe that way. I have a brioche cowl pattern that might be perfect for it.

This yarn is my favourite but sadly no matter where I took the photo the true colour didn't show. It's not purple. It's more of a greeny-blue. This yarn will most definitely be used for one of my monthly pairs of socks. I'll be using a pattern for it I think.

Lastly she also sent me a few extras. She sent me a fab colouring book which has lots of patterns that are just me (owls and leaves people). Can't wait to try it. She also sent me a hand cream that was made local to her. I love a hand cream and this smells yum. I love the fact that it was locally made too.

Thank you Sara, you spoiled me and I look forward to trying your yarns. This is what I love about the fibreshare. It's a way of sharing different talents. Head over to the fibreshare website if you want to learn more about it. They have a lovely yarny blog.