I Love Packages!

Who doesn't love to come home from a trip to find a lovely package waiting?



Many thanks to Kaity, my wonderful secret pal! She sent 4 oz. of merino in "Fall Squall," blues with hints of brown. There's also a large bag of soysilk, which I'm very excited to dye and try spinning. Kaity even sent a beautiful skein of Claudia Hand Painted Yarns' merino fingering in "Just Plum," which I love. It's such a pretty colorway. Not pictured are the Reese's Bites, which my husband tore into last night, and a copy of Madge from Knittyspin. What a haul! I'm looking forward to trying the pattern and working with all that fiber.

I sent the package for my pal today. There's a picture on my blog, but maybe you don't want to spoil the surprise if you haven't received your package yet!

All packed up

My box is all packed up and will be on its way to my pal tomorrow. I hope he likes it!

Countdown-One Month Left

Hello!

We hope everyone is having fun! We're glad to see that packages are gradually making their way to their recipients. What wonderful packages they are! There's only about one month left before the mailing deadline of October 27th. This week would be a good time to start getting those online orders made since it will give you enough time to recieve them, and get your swap package out on time. We're so excited to see what everyone gets.

It came,it's here and it's all mine!!

I got my Parcel today!! And it is more then I could have imagined!! The roving is such a delicious color I love it and the Spindle...I don't know what to say about the spindle. I never seen anything like it. It I ceramic and blue (favourite color) and just awesome. I am so going to spin my heart out with that little beauty. The Magazine is terrific and i am drooling over everything in that as well. And thank you Beth for all the other little goodies as well!! Although not sure about the Witch...maybe you know me better then I think...lololo. She is very cute though. My Swap Partner was Beth and she surprised me and surpassed herself no end!!
I just hope my Swap girly will enjoy her gifty's as much as I do mine. She will have to wait a little while longer as i am getting her things on the weekend..so please be patient.
I will post pictures in my Blog later....www.fromthesheepsback.com...I have to come back down to earth first!!!!!!!!!

Three Cheers for Spinning Dervish!

I received my package today!

As teh mailman entered the building @ work, I knew the box in his hand was for me...I just KNEW it :) I started dancing around and got the box cutter out before he even got up to my desk! I think he thought I was a little...off...but I was just so excited to explore the fibery goodness I knew would be inside!

I got two different shades of luscious brown alpaca fiber and a bit of fawn colored suri-alpaca...the stuff is just HEAVENLY...I've been wanting to try spinning alpaca since I first started spinning and now I get the chance :) I just KNOW it's going to be like butter...the roving is so soft and easily pliable and just begs to be spun up.

Alas...all my spindles are in use! *gasp* I've been spinning my wool/opossum blend all night, trying to finish it off so I can get that off my favorite spindle, the Lionheart, and get some alpaca in the works....*drool*

I also got some stitch markers with beautiful beads on them, three patterns, some Wizard of Oz bookplates, tea, taffy and her son put a hacky sack in the package for my son :D It's just the box that keeps on giving for everyone in the family, lol.

I am working on my secret pal's box...never fear, secret pal! I haven't forgotten about you! I just want to make sure your box is a wonderful experience for you and you love it as much as I love the box I got :)

Thank you again, Spinning Dervish, you've made this swapper's week :)

Melinda

Swap partner are you out there?

I unfortunately have not heard from my swap partner yet. CJ and christina have been very helpful and say my partner has tried to contact me a few times without any luck. I haven't recieved any emails from her (yes, I've been checking my junk filter) . I haven't gotten any blog comments from her either. If you are my partner I'd really like to hear from you. Please comment in this entry so I know you are out there, Thank you!

My package is here!

I posted at my journal about the arrival of my roving package. Thanks, Coley! You did a beautiful job. I've never tried to dye using the crockpot before. How does that work?

I got my Package!!!

Thank you Cayli of Spin Yarn for Ewe, who was my pal for the lovely package. I love everything in it. The package actually arrived on Friday, but unfortunately no one was home to recieve it, and due to prior committments I could not pick it up on Saturday. So it spent the whole weekend at the Post Office alone, with no one to admire its fibery goodness. But all is well now and is being duly admired.

Its funny because I saw the blue fiber on you blog and immediately liked it. In fact I thought to myself that it had to be for me, because of what was said and that fact that I like the color blue. I don' t have any pictures yet but I am working on it. As for me my package is just about ready to be sent, probably by the end of the week. I enjoyed this swap!

Everybody have a great evening!

Swap box is on its way!

The box to my secret pal is officially on its way west. According to the PO, it should arrive Monday. Hope she has as much fun getting it as I had putting it together!

I received my package!

Thanks, Tamara, for the gorgeous wool top and other fun stuff. I can't wait to try a bit of the Ingeo that you sent too. The colors you chose are gorgeous, and the patterns look fun, especially the fingerless gloves. My office is so cold in the winter and I had already planned to make a pair to keep my poor fingers warm. Thanks for making my day!

The box for my sp is almost ready to go, I just have to get one more thing (like, the fiber, duh). Should go out next week!

Package Ready to Go!

I bought fiber this week from Detta's, my local provider of roving. I think my pal is going to love it! The package is all together, so it is just a question of making it to the post office in time to mail it.

I'm so excited to see my pal's reaction!!!

~Flan

loving it

I have to say that I love putting packages together. I have a few to do for a few swaps that I am in and tomorrow is my mail off day!! WOOT!!

There is something so cool about giving ...

Got it!

I got the roving for my partner yesterday....I think its really really nice and unique (hopefully my partner will think the same!). I bought it at a local fiber festival. Now I just need to get the pattern and pack it all up! I think I know the perfect pattern, so hopefully I'll get this out this week.

Roving sent out...

Someone has some luscious alpaca heading their way...
I sent out my roving box today - it's migrating south (from Alaska, there aren't many other directions to go!) as I type!

Package on the Way

My pal's package is on the way. According to the Post Office she should have it by Saturday. If you want a peek at what is in it you can see it here. I put some other fun stuff in there too but you will have to wait until she gets it to see it.

Excellent Spinning Blog

Hi Everyone -

Well, I've been very busily picking out the fibers for my Swap Partner. Along the way I've been visiting the blogs of some of the other members of this swap - what fun! Anyway - I've noticed how many participants here are very new to spinning and how many are ready to learn new things so I just want to share a link with you all. My spinning teacher from when I first learned to spin just started her own blog. Even in the first month since she has been posting she has an incredible amount of spinning information up and available for us all to read. It is like taking a class from your home! If you get a chance, click on over to Spinning Spider Jenny, and give her a read! You won't regret it! (Check out her spun silk on her September 12th entry, you'll start drooling!)

Have fun!
Tamara

Looking for a box...

My package contents are ready to go; they just need a package to go in. I'm excited to see how my spoilee feels about the items I chose for her, especially the pattern.

...now all I need is a pattern!

Wow! I had the most amazing experience today!
Took the kids with me and went to an alpaca ranch about 2 hours north of where I live... It was incredible! We got to pet the critters, the girls played with the ranch owner's daughters, and I bought some beautiful fiber to send to my pal! I even met the animals my pal's fiber was sheared from.
Here's just some of the haul.
The darkest brown came from a sweet girl named Clover, the champagne colored wool from another female named Chilly B., and the raw fiber is actually from the little guy in the photo below.

He was very friendly, and quite curious about the camera.
What an amazing opportunity we got to take advantage of! I wish my pal could have enjoyed it, but I'm sure the locally raised Alaskan alpaca wool will take some of the sting out of missing it...
I've got a few good patterns picked out; I just have to decide which to send, and I'll be ready to ship it out!
I'll be posting a lot more on my blog tomorrow.

A friendly reminder

Participants, please abide by the rules and contact the person you are sending to as soon as possible.

***If you are unwilling to participate in this swap due to a change in life circumstances, please let us know right away so we may have an angel assigned.***

Also, please send all swap related emails to spinroveswap AT yahoo DOT com, so both of us will be able to see your concerns and simplify our email traffic.

Thanks for your cooperation!

Please contact your match ...and another FAQ

Please contact the person you are sending a package to as soon as possible.

Some participants may have other responsibilities (or live in a different time zone), so please be patient if you haven't heard from the person sending to you right away.

If you don't hear from the person who is sending a package to you by Friday, please send us an email (spinroveswap AT yahoo DOT com) over the weekend so we can find out what's going on.

Here's another FAQ:

"What if I don't have a blog? If I don't know who is sending a package to me, where do I put my questionnaire answers?"

If you don't have your own blog, you're more than welcome to post your questionnaire answers here, if you're a member of this blog. We can send you an invitation to the blog if you'd like. Otherwise, the person sending to you will probably request that you email the questionnaire answers to them.

Matches have been sent out! ...and a FAQ

Just wanted to let you all know that all the matches have been sent out. Let us know if you haven't received your match and we'll resend the information.

Also, I wanted to answer a common question we've received recently.

"Is this a secret swap?"

As much as possible, you ought to keep your identity hidden until the package is sent out. There are various free email hosts where you can set up an anonymous email address for the swap, if you'd like. You may include a greeting card or note, revealing your identity, enclosed in the package you send. If you accidently reveal yourself before then, that's okay too. You could get to know your pal better through open correspondence as well.

Have fun everyone!

Rules Redux and Questionnaire

We'll be working hard on making the matches this weekend, and sending them out to you by Monday evening at the latest. I think we forgot to mention that this will be a round-robin type swap...meaning, that person A will send a package to person B and person B will send a package to person C, then person C will send a package to person A. In other words, the person to whom you are sending a package will not necessarily be the person you will be receiving from. Once again, thanks to everyone for signing up.

In the meantime, please review the swap rules.

Please post your answers to the following questionnaire on your blog, or send them to your pal via email by September 8th.

1) How long have you been spinning?

2) Are you a beginner, novice, or experienced spinner?

3) Do you spin on a drop spindle or wheel, or both?

4) What types and weights of drop spindles (or what type of spinning wheel(s) ) do you currently own?

5) What type of fibers have you spun with before?

6) What fibers do you prefer to spin with?

7) What fibers do you dislike?

8) Do you prefer natural colored fibers, or handpainted/dyed fiber?

9) Would you prefer all one type of roving or smaller amounts of different types to sample?

10) What are you favorite colors?

11) What colors do you dislike?

12) What would you like to do with your handspun yarn, or what do you plan to do with it? (pattern clarification here)

13) What spinning projects are you currently working on?

14) Do you have a wishlist?

15) What are your other favorite hobbies?

16) Do you have any allergies (pet, smoke, food, fiber,etc...)?

17) What is your preferred shipping method (USPS, UPS, FedEx)?

Hi from NJ

My name is Laura, and I'm a fiberholic. It all started with a black lace mohair sweater 17 years ago, and I started really knitting heavily about 8 years ago. At first it was just socially -- I'd knit a little when I got home from work, maybe some on the weekends. Then I started knitting on the way to and from work. Next thing you know, I'm weaving. It seemed like I could control it at the time. Then a friend introduced me to the drop spindle. I've been hooked on spinning since. I've even made a few spindles on my own in the basement. My husband got me a Babe spinning wheel two years ago (he's an enabler), and for a while I spun all the time. Then I got pregnant and had to quit because everything made me nauseous. But now that the baby's born I've taken up the habit again and I'm happy to be off the wagon. I'm looking forward to being someone's "dealer" -- I love both giving and receiving happy surprises.

Joining in...

Hi all,

Guess it's my turn to introduce myself. My fiber "journey" has been long and drawn-out. It began with wanting to learn to knit. Really, passionately wanting to learn to knit. I bought a book. I tried to figure it out. I tried to find someone to teach me. No luck. I was awkward, all thumbs and would give up in frustration. Years passed. I would try every once in awhile with the same results. More years passed. Then we moved and landed across the street from a weaver. A really good weaver. She taught me to weave, which I really enjoy, but it still wasn't knitting. However, she did introduce me to yarn shops!

So I signed up for knitting lessons and lo and behold, learned to knit! I found out that there is a whole different way to knit (picking) which turned out to be much easier for me to figure out! Finally, I learned to knit. There I blissfully stayed for three years, thinking to myself "why would anyone want to learn to spin?" Seemed like a waste of time to me, after all, you could be KNITTING.

Then, this spring, I went to Shepherd's Harvest, a fiber festival held every Mother's Day (what a great way to spend Mother's Day!!) and much to my surprise came away with an intense desire to learn to spin. So I found someone to teach me and have been spinning for a few months now. Last Saturday I finally ordered my own wheel and it arrived yesterday! I bought a Kromski Minstrel and love it. I was up 'til 1:30 last night putting the first stain coat on it and I love it even more. Hopefully by Monday I'll be able to spin something on it.

These days I knit, weave, spin, and dye and love every minute of it. This is my first swap and I'm really looking forward to it. Thanks to Christina and CJ for organizing it!

Sign-ups closed!

Sign-up for this swap is now officially closed.

Excited too...

Hi everyone!

My name is Lisa but you'll usually find me online under the name stitch-dom (as in kingdom, not "stitch-dominant" which didn't occur to me until later ;-) ). I have been spinning since April when I decided that not being able to get the colours I wanted comercially that it would be better to dye my own. I tried dying some commercial yarn but found the whole experience kind of lacking in satisfaction.

I realized that I'm a process rather than product person...I love getting the raw product and bringing it to the point of being yarn. If I'm really lucky (and on holidays) I actually get a finished knitted product!

I purchased a couple of cheap student spindles and was addicted pretty quickly. That led to the purchase of an Ashford Joy (single treadle...love it). I recently tried out a Majacraft Gem and...well...wow...now I'm doing that pingpong back and forth between really-want-it and don't-need-it and ouch-that's-expensive.

I'm in Ottawa, Ontario and this is my first fiber swap and I'm totally thrilled to have found this before it closed and I look forward to getting to know everyone as it goes along.

Thanks to the organizers for setting this up!

Happy spinning.

Lisa

Excited for my first swap!

Hello!,

I just thought I would take the time to introduce myself this morning. I'm Tamara from Spincerely Yours (and from Connecticut). I'm a very new blogger but not-so-new -anymore spinner. I've been spinning for about 4 years, I think? I learned to spin from my sister and from Jenny at Spinny Spider Jenny.

Since I started blogging a couple of months ago I have joined a few things like Sexy Knitters Club and Sock Wars, but I'm really excited to be joining something that has under 100 members! Maybe this way, I'll have a chance to remember who everyone is:) I also saw the link to this swap at Theresa's blog.

I learned to spin on a drop spindle, then on a borrowed Louet. I now own a Kromski Minstrel (and I noticed that I'm not the only one?). I really like her - she fits in our home just like a piece of furniture so I can leave her whereever and my husband doesn't complain:) I have one spinning claim to fame and that is that last summer at Adams Farm in Vermont I won the gold ribbon in the Spinning Olympics! That was fun!

For the new spinners out there - if you don't already subscribe to this online magazine, Spindlicity, check it out - the new issue that just came out is just for you!

I'm looking forward to trying to figure out what my swap partner will like and finding the right thing! What can be more fun that shopping for fiber?

Have a great weekend!

Hello from the UK

Hi I am Silvia. Although I already made one post I thought I better introduce myself propperly.
So far I seem to be the only UK member here. My Blog can me found here. I am a total novice at spinning, both on the spindle and the Wheel. I just got my wheel on wednesday but I am loving it. But I think I always will be a dropspindler at heart. I have not managed to spin any real thin Yarn as yet but do produce a consistent thickness . I love spinning with Wenslaydale it is so lush.
I am looking forward to seeing what others spin and finding out what Fleece they like or dislike.

Under the wire...

Whew, I just barely made it in the door, thanks to a post at Theresa's blog!
I live in Alaska, and I started spinning on a handspindle during the past spring ("breakup," we call it here - or Mud Season.) I carried the dang thing around so much, my husband decided I needed a wheel (I hadn't dared think that far) and he started bringing home information printed off the internet about various brands and styles of wheels! (Seems I have a wanna-be fiber-fiend on my hands...)
Anyway, "Tenar" arrived safely in mid-June, and there's been no looking back since. She is a sturdy little Kromski Minstrel, double treadled and set up for double-drive, and I couldn't ask for a better wheel (but I'm fairly certain I'll add a second one in a few years.)
So I'm still a wet-behind-the-ears spinner, almost entirely self-taught (I've seen two people spinning, and got to try a Babe wheel once.) Because I have spun thin, even yarn from the start, I've been called a "freak-of-nature spinner," and it's also been suggested I was a masterful spinner in a past lifetime...! Well, I don't know about all that, but I do find spinning to be a balm, and practicing is always a pleasure. I'm looking forward to this swap because I'm interested in what other spinners are doing, and what fibers they like best.

Hello from the Chicago 'Burbs

I guess Theresa is in Chicago proper. I live out in the suburbs, which puts me a lot closer drive to The Fold http://www.thefoldatmc.net/ a pretty cool store. A friend of mine who blogs as rocketsc1ent1st is responsible for my latest hobby. In July she came up from Texas to visit, only partially because she adopted a Cardigan Welsh Corgi from me.... the other reason was to go yarn and fiber shopping at The Fold!

I bought a Knundert spindle there, and have been addicted ever since. To dispose of the yarn I've made I have started loom knitting, because I intensely dislike knitting needles. I'm left-handed, and trying to figure out right-handed "how to knit" directions never worked, and it was just too frustrating. I tolerate crochet but never got into it in a large way either. The loom knitting is perfect for me. 4oz of my handspun fiber loom knits into the perfect length of scarf!

I'm also a hybrid of chemical and mechanical engineer and I've been fiddling with a couple of yarn winding inventions also. My boyfriend has the patience of a saint whenI have washers, nuts and bolts strewn about the family room floor. I may make my own spinning wheel in a completely unorthodox fashion, that's even wierder than the Babe's, but until I get it debugged I'm quite happy spindling.

Here are the sucessful projects I've done so far.... (I haven't taken pictures of the unsucessful ones!)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bannaoj/sets/72157594242083846/

A.J. a.k.a BannaOj a.k.a. Anna Jo

Saying Hello from Brooklyn, NY!

Hello everyone!

My name is Tawana. I'm checking in from Brooklyn , NY. My blog is Rooted in Knit-reality
I have been knitting now for almost 3 years (It will be 3 in January) and spinning for maybe 4 or 5 months? I am not sure, it seems like forever. I just bought my Lendrum DT wheel last week and I am loving it. I just finished spinning up 4 oz of Wool roving bought from Knitterly things in the color of Sweet and Low. I am looking forward to this swap and will enjoy shopping for my pal.