Are You Getting Phat?

This is probably one of the few times in life where the preferred answer to that question is a resounding "yes!" I'm not talking about putting on a few pounds (that's a whole other conversation). I'm talking about the amazing new Phat Fiber sample boxes.

I'm a little reluctant to share this secret, since there are a limited number of these boxes available each month (it's a bit like finding a store that sells cashmere at $2 a skein --- how many other people do you really want to know about that?). But, in the interest of helping a fiber-related business to grow, and just because I can't keep a bargain to myself... here you go.

Phat Fiber is a fabulous idea. It's actually hard to believe no one has thought of it before now. Jessie works with a variety of indie fiber artists to assemble a bunch of very generous samples each month and creates individual boxes on either a yarn or fiber theme. Each box is chock full of fiber samples (only in the fiber box, obviously), samples of handspun and/or hand dyed yarn, a bit of candy, a stitch marker or two, perhaps a fancy button or a shawl pin, a pattern or two, or maybe a complete back issue of a knitting magazine. All of this for just $33, including shipping!

In my February box, I had at least 6 or 7 samples of fiber (I forgot to count because I started spinning too fast!). They were all at least a quarter ounce (some more), and spun up to a skein of 20 - 30 yards. I also had a number of sample skeins of various yarns (some handspun), an indie knitting magazine, some fudge, a stick pin, a couple of stitch markers, a kit for making felted beads, a chocolate-coated spoon for my coffee, and a pattern for pasties (how did I survive until now without those!). It also comes with lots of discounts for the vendors who participated.

Once I spun everything up, I was unsure of what to do with all the mini-skeins I'd created. Finally I hit on the idea of making a ten-stitch blanket. It actually varies from 10 to 20 stitches, depending on the thickness of the yarn I'm using at the time. It does take a little adjustment of needles and numbers of stitches to accommodate the various weights of yarn, but nothing too challenging. And, since the colors in the February box were mostly Valentine-themed, it's easy to create pretty transitions from one to the other.

All of this would be much more interesting with some pictures, I know. Unfortunately, my camera is still with the police. I'm hopeful that we'll hear something this week. Slowly but surely, things are getting back to normal around here, although it's till a bit weird at times to think of a stranger going through all our personal things. Many thanks to all who posted and emailed your support. It really helped.