What happened to April?

I swear I had no idea I went so long without an update. I did have a vacation somewhere in there, but it's been a busy month.

My April PhatFiber box arrived last week! I still have to do a write-up of all the goodies, but here's a preview. This month I got all fiber and no yarn. A few of the contributors got boxes like this instead of the usual mixed yarn/fiber style. I suppose it all depends on how many of each kind of sample show up. I don't mind since I've been a spinning maniac lately and haven't been knitting at all. I'd rather see the pretty yarn samples end up with people that may actually go on to purchase more from those talented sellers.



I haven't touched my box since opening it because I've been busy working on my May samples. I worked again with CJ at Extreme Spinning to develop a custom colorway for the "Flowers and Showers" theme. It's called "Crabapple" and is a lovely blend of pinks, green and brown inspired by spring-blooming crabapple trees. I'm getting it in several fibers, but the Suffolk/Hampshire sock roving arrived first. I've written before about how much I love this fiber. It's a dream to spin, especially with my new Jumbo Sliding Hook Flyer. I can get a LOT of yarn on a jumbo bobbin. They'll handle 4oz no problem and I'm working on filling one bobbin with as much as it will hold.

This fiber looks very bright in the roving, but it's more subtle when spun. I can't wait to see how it looks once it's plied. Green and pink is one of my favorite combinations.





I also had a wild, fiber-filled weekend. I went to the Great Midwest Alpaca Festival and volunteered to demonstrate drop spindle spinning. My cousin's wife and my new fiber co-addict came along to demonstrate needle felting. I met a bunch of women from the local spinning group and recruited several vendors to hopefully become future Phat Fiber contributors. I also fell in love with an alpaca and am keeping my fingers crossed that I can buy her fleece. After she's shorn in a couple of weeks, I should get notification on the weight and price of her fiber. It's lovely stuff and I hope I'll have some swoon-worthy pictures to share by late May. I LOVED being around alpacas again. I used to work with them as a vet tech and the first time I heard one hum yesterday, it brought it all back. I've also volunteered to help with a shearing day in May. I'm not sure yet if I'll be needed, but if I am, I'll get to see first hand how shearing works and I'll be able to refresh my alpaca handling skills.