Phat Fiber Box -Take Me to the Fair!

My Phat Fiber Sampler Box came last weekend, but I am just now getting a few minutes to post about it. As excited as I am to get it, I should be WAY quicker to show off a little, but back-to-school can be a busy time here at the world headquarters of Smoky Mountain Fibers.

Just opening the box is always fun & Jessie always packages it so that you really feel like you are getting a lovely present. Note the coupon pack - a popcorn bag in keeping with the Take Me to the Fair theme.

I love seeing how different fiber artists interpret the theme. I admit that I think about color more than packaging, but the more creative types really do a fine job. The box was chock full of fiber and, yarn and patterns as well as a number of other goodies, so as I worked through each layer I was delighted, surprised and sometimes a bit puzzled!

The item that drew my eye first was the charming cone of pink Cotton Candy. From Spincerely Yours, it is a sweet mini-batt of superwash merino with tencel, inego (corn fiber) and a bit of nylon. Spincerely is a fine dyer - I admire her work very much.

The Black 'cupcake' is called Midway Magic, also superwash merino & bamboo, this time with angelina for a bit of sparkle. It's hard to see the teal & fuchsia in the photo, but its very exciting! It's from eXtreme Spinning - I've been hoping for her samples in earlier boxes, so I'm particularly excited to get this.

Another fair staple, the taffy is a bit blue and gold bamboo fiber, hand dyed by bananamigraine - more spinning fun for me! The purple supreme champion rosette is a two-tone purple blend of llama, alpaca, mohair & Border Leicester wool and perhaps a bit of angelina - It has a great sparkle! Clever packaging - Why didn't I think of that?

Tucked in its little brown bag, is a wool/silk blend from FromEweToYou - Just delightful!

Mmmm...Caramel Corn! but even better than that sticky treat (at least in the calorie count department) is caramel colored superwash merino hand dyed in yummy multi-dimensional colors by Jela's Fibers. In the interest of connecting this post to the picture, I'll proceed in a clockwise direction. The natural bag contains ginned cotton from Plum Crazy Llama Ranch.

It's a Colorful Life sent a black sparkly batt called Tarmac that's a blend of merino, alpaca, kid mohair, carbonized bamboo, rambouillet and angora. Can't wait to spin this one.

Gift wrapped in an organza bag is a wee pink batt of BFL from After the Sheep. At 6 o'clock you'll see another puff of deeper pink Border Leicester locks from FarmGirlChic,in her colorway, Pink Lemonade.

Rocket Yarn sent another black sparkly batt, this one called 'Black Hole', a blend of superwash merino, angelina, firestar. I am loving the black & pink rovings. These colors are really calling out to me. Not my usual choices, this is one of the reasons that I love the Phat Fiber box. It really challenges me to move out of my comfort zone and try approaches that I may not do on my own.

In the next picture you'll see a puff of honey colored fiber from Hands and Notions. In the colorway Jubilee, these are lamb locks - soft and lovely. Just 3 skeins of yarn this time.

As much as I love yarn, I much prefer getting fiber samples. Sock yarn samples will end up in socks, other yarns become stripes in hats or mittens. All in all, these are quite beautiful. The dark brown/green hand spun yarn is aptly named 'Mint Fudge' and comes all the way from Sheepshape Spinning the UK. Fabulous colors! The sweet variegated red sock yarn is called blue Ribbon Strawberry Pie from My8KidsMom and the dark green mini-skein of hand spun shetland is from Melissa's Kreations.

In the last group, you'll see patterns for a tinfoil hat (keeps the voices down!) & a corn dog puppet, a sweet apple stitch marker made of polymer clay, and a wee sample of bee balm from Clear Hill Honey.

The puzzling item is a zipper pull made of felt by Calizona Designs. But I can't tell what it is. Somebody? Anybody? Mr. Bueller?

I am looking forward to a weekend without travel, so I can card and spin and knit with my new fibers!