Warning: Picture Heavy Post (It's YPF, after all)
Well, the holiday season is officially over. I know, you're thinking, "The holiday season was over weeks ago!", but in my world, the holiday season lasts through my birthday, which was Tuesday.
I thought I'd share with you the fiber-y, yarn-y gifts I received this holiday season for today's YPF. I know it's not FPF, but I'm hoping you'll be able to sit through the fiber pics :).
My MIL gave me a sweater, a nice red sweater. Unfortunately, it was a nice angora sweater, and I'm allergic to angora. On the plus side, she offered to return it and give me the money to spend on my outing to the Fold. One of the things I returned with was this 50/50 merino/silk from Blue Moon Fiber Arts in Henpecked.
The other thing I bought at the Fold was a pound of Border Leicester, which is nice and soft, but as it turns out, not that photogenic. Picture brown fluffy wool.
The birthday spoils are more yarn-y, I promise.
Last weekend, Spinnity and I had a little spinning get-together to give ourselves the birthday present of a little time to spend spinning with friends. This was a good time indeed -- great afternoon spent with good food, good friends, good wine, and the fiber arts. Need I say more? I have some pics in my Flickr Spinning Party set. I also was fortunate enough to get some birthday gifts from my knitting/spinning buddies.
Cookie gave me some of the sock yarn she dyed at Shelrdige Farms (same yarn, different lighting):
By the way, Cookie gave me fiber for Christmas, but it didn't get a photoshoot because she already did one.
Abigail gave me some gorgeous merino/silk/alpaca from Susan's Spinning Bunny in the Tamarack and Spruce colorway:
Margit gave me a gift certificate for some fiber from her shop. I'm waiting to see what silk comes out of her dyepot next before I make any decisions.
And then there were the presents I gave myself. Cookie and I did a bit of shopping last Saturday and Sunday (What? You don't go to a yarn store at least once a week?) and I got a little bit of cash for my birthday so I got two hanks of sock yarn.
One is Colinette Jitterbug in the Bright Charcoal colorway that I picked up at Purlescence Yarns:
This Colinette stuff is fabulous by the way.
The second is a hank of Fleece Artist sock yarn in Rainforest that I got from Full Thread Ahead. That's right, Bay Area folk, FTA is carrying Fleece Artist! Here's what I picked out:
Obviously I had an excellent holiday season and thanks again to all the kind family and friends who gifted me with yarn/fiber, and fiber-related gifts! A special thanks to Spinnity for hosting a lovely gathering and to the rest of the spinning/knitting gals for joining us. Maybe the title of this post should maybe be Spoiled instead of Spoils?
Happy Belated Birthday!
WOW! You got some very nice yarn and fiber! The Henpecked colors are amazing. I am eager to see how it all spins and knits up. I am especially curious as to how you like the Colinette yarn, as I have not yet knit with it.
Best wishes for the new year!
Posted by: Brenda at January 12, 2007 11:56 AMThat Henpecked is so shiny and fluffy, I almost licked my computer screen to see if it was really cotton candy!
And the sock yarn haul is very nice, looks like you'll have some fun knitting down the road :)
Posted by: Adam at January 12, 2007 12:16 PMWHAT?! Purlesence has the jitterbug... in bright charcoal???! Man. Man.
Man.
Posted by: aija at January 12, 2007 12:47 PMMmm, nice YP! Have you noticed that an unusually large percentage of us spinners seem to be Capricorns?
Posted by: Grace at January 12, 2007 12:49 PMooh, way to score! Love that rainforest colorway. I ended up getting Woodland instead, but this was before FTA got some in stock so maybe I'll splurge and pick up the rainforest too!!!
Posted by: Juls at January 12, 2007 1:34 PMWow, the henpecked is gorgeous!
I didn't know you were allergic to angora. How did I not know that? Good thing I got you an alpaca blend and not an angora blend! ;)
Posted by: Abigail at January 12, 2007 2:35 PMSusan (Spinning Bunny) is my country mile neighbor and one of the nicest people you'll ever meet.
Happy Birthday :)
WOW!! That yarn that cookie dyed for you...GORGEOUS!!! Seriously. Everything else is great as well but, that is the one that caught my eye! I want some!! ;) Happy Belated Birthday!!
Posted by: jupiterjessica at January 12, 2007 6:57 PMMy birthday was Sunday, and was the end of the holiday season for me. However, it always seems that others end their holiday seasons much earlier than I do, and my birthday is strangely under-celebrated compared to the other holidays of the season. What's up with that?
Posted by: Beth at January 12, 2007 6:58 PMwow! that is a great bunch of spoils for both the "extended" holiday season! You can really tell the color range you prefer - they are all so pretty! That new Collinette looks squishy soft - how does it compare to STR or Koigu?
Posted by: stacey at January 12, 2007 7:02 PMVery nice fiber gifties, there! You'll have some lovely stuff to knit with. Yay for folks who indulge our fiber desire on special days!
Posted by: Lazuli at January 13, 2007 9:19 AMI see I'm not alone among the commenters in drooling over that Henpecked merino/silk! Cookie did a wonderful job dyeing the Shelridge Farm yarn. I picked up a couple skeins of Colinette Jitterbug -- it was love at first sight -- but now I'm agonizing over what pattern to pick so I can get a pair out of each skein. I really dislike working toe up, so I'm probably going to knit top down and keep my fingers crossed the whole way...
P.S. Belated Happy Birthday!!
Posted by: Denise in Kent, WA at January 13, 2007 9:26 AMHappy Birthday! The yarn colors are great! Happy knitting.
Posted by: Sheila at January 13, 2007 10:49 AMHappy Belated Birthday!
All of that yarn and fiber has left me speechless!
Drool!
Happy Birthday! I just love your gifts, I wish I could train my family to buy yarn and fibre.
I have a skein of Colinette Jitterbug in Fruit Couli so I am looking forward to seeing what you make with it. I was a little worried about the yardage.
Did you and Cookie know by the way that Colinette currently have a competition to design a sock pattern in conjunction with Simply Knitting magazine? It ends 1st March and the prizes start with £200 worth of Colinette yarn.
Posted by: maylin at January 14, 2007 4:00 AMHappy belated birthday!! You got some awesome fiber and yarn presents! Now you'll have to decide which you want to play with first. That will be a tough one!
Posted by: Karen at January 14, 2007 10:33 AMHappy Belated Birthday Kristi! Not spoiled, just loved...
Posted by: Carol at January 14, 2007 11:02 AMYou are so lucky - you raked in the yarn/ fibery gifts for the holiday. Henpecked is just yummy.
Thanks
Holly
Ohmygosh what gorgeous stuff. I came over here to ask Cookie a question and was blindsided by y'all's eye candy. Anyway, can you please pass on to Cookie my burning question? How do you pronounce Pomatomus? I tried to find it in the dictionary and it only had "pomatem," pronounced "Puh MAHT em." So does that make Pomatomus "Puh MAHT eh mus"?
Wow, them colors are nice. I specially like the Tamrack and Spruce colors. Perhaps if I actually finish the blue wool, I could allow myself some Spinning Bunny as a replacement. I was really glad to have fiber buddies to celebrate birthday season with! One last Happy birthday to you!
Posted by: spinnity at January 19, 2007 12:27 AM