12 Days Of Christmas – Spinning Style

In late fall, I was deep in the feels and I purchased a 12 days of Christmas fiber package from Knit Spin Farms. I knew based on my performance with the other fiber advent calendar I knew I couldn’t manage to keep up with this either. So I saved for the doldrums of winter!

They did the best job wrapping and organizing the whole thing. I opened the full box in one shot. I got some great saturated colors and a variety of fiber content, including two bags of stellina to add to other fiber.

I have so many other spinning goals that all of this went into the VERY full fiber bin after it was logged in Ravelry. They will be pretties for another day even though I hear other spinners RAVE about Joanna’s fiber. Perhaps I will use spinning some of this as a reward for making other other goals?

Happy Spinning!!

Finishing Up Advent Fiber

I have opened every single day in my 2024 Knits and Pearls fiber advent calendar!

These last few days included some neon, speckles and definitely stellina. I am worried that day 22 is a little compacted and felted. I will have to see how it spins. The final braid came with an ornament and has a RAINBOW of colors. It does a really great job of incorporating a lot of the colors from the other 24 days.

I am stating my intention to finish this spin in February 2025. I need my wheel to be able to start spinning some of stash down. I pulled some of the fiber I purchased at SSK 2024 to start working on because I AM GOING AGAIN IN 2025 and I am very excited.

Happy Crafting!!

Catching Up Advent Fiber

I completely flamed out on my 2024 advent spinning. But I did finally open up the rest of the days to see all the pretties!

There were a lot of purples and greens in this run. And one mini had a teeny Christmas light stitch marker. I don’t trust my memory so I put these back in the numbered bags for when I finally get around to spinning. I think finishing this spin will be one of my February craft goals?

Tomorrow I will wrap up this calendar and show the full braid that came for day 25! Happy Spinning!!

More Advent Fiber

Up next in my advent spin are some really neat colors! I think this is day 8 -12? I have kind of lost track since I am not diligently spinning these every night. I opened them all before Christmas to peek at them but now I’m spinning leisurely.

I am excited to get these on the wheel and I may decide to mess with the color order to suit the yarn I want. Also, its very clear that I will need to put 12 days on one bobbin and move to a new bobbin for the second half of the calendar. I have a few days off for the new year and perhaps I can make some progress!!

Happy Spinning!

Advent Spinning 4-7

I batch spun my next few little fiber nests! This is my 2024 Knitz And Pearlz advent calendar.

I started the top portion before I snagged a photo, but it first a NEON yellow solid color. And that was followed by a nice mix of pinks and blues with white to unify those two. Next up, on the bottom left, was a pink and orange mix. And lastly, on the bottom right, was some solid pink.

The solid pink was slightly felted on one end and not the funnest to spin. I flipped the roving over and it did spin better from that direction but it only delayed the inevitable of the felted bits. My bobbin is filling up nicely and fairly certain I would only be fit 12 or 13 days on this bobbin.

Oh! And the pink fiber came with a Christmas bobble stitch marker. There are little green stars inside that you can shake up!

Happy Spinning!!

Advent Spinning

I am not spinning my fiber advent calendar in real time. I am opening each day on the day to get a little dopamine boost. But I decided to set aside some time to work up the first three days.

The little nests are not labeled with fiber type. But they are about 1/4 ounce of something. This was not the most organized or polished advent I have ever received but it’s still pretty. I can tell that this fiber has some factor of silk content based on the feel and sheen.

The first day was some springy colors, followed by blues and then pinks/purples. I sat down and spun these end to end onto my bobbin. I am using Ashford Kiwi 3 and I feel a bit rusty after non spinning since summer time.

Hopefully this advent warms up my muscles! Happy Friday and Happy Spinning!!

2024 Adventing

I decided this year to try a spinning advent calendar and I couldn’t resist the Cozy Knitter annual self striping sock advent.

The fiber advent is from KnitzAndPearls shop. It’s 24 mini fiber packages and a 4 ounce package to open on Christmas. I have not peaked but I did organize this advent into a bag that is roughly in order of days. I did get duplicates of at least two days and missing those other numbers. But I got 24 minis in all so I am going to roll with it.

This was my best attempt to hold back and not open this. Kid and work life in December is HARD so I need to catch up but at least after this photo, I got the mini skein wound and the toes cast on. I am working two socks in tandem on 9 inch circs. The daily time needed really isn’t that much so I should catch up soon.

Happy Adventing!!

Caution: Wool Fumes Ahead

Okay, even for me…..this was unprecedented. I fell victim to the wool fumes and blew past my budget. I am aware this is a privilege and I am incredibly grateful. I just was surrounded by so many great SSK vendors that I had to support them all. Now I have a lot of crafting to do to spend this down….

I focused on adding to my spinning fiber inventory and one sweater’s quantity. After I achieved those items I added to my single skein stash for worsted and DK. I don’t believe I had yarn from any of these dyers except for maybe Miss Babs?

  • Oink Pigments
  • Old Rusted Chair
  • Geektastic fibers
  • Miss Babs
  • Urban Girl Yarns
  • Republica Unicornia
  • Sweet Tea Yarns
  • Another Crafty Girl
  • HipStrings

It is my intention to talk more about these skeins as I use them. I also grabbed some Tuft Woolens restock of hand lotion and wool soap. I had just run out earlier this year so it was nice timing.

Happy Yarn Fumes!!

SSK Fiber Mini Swap

I’ve been home from Super Summer Knitogether (SSK) for several days now and I have SO MUCH to share. For my own sanity I’m going to break all the goodness into a blog series.

I drove 10 hours to Nashville TN and made registration just in time for opening ceremony and the fiber mini swap. This is where you bring fiber and break into minis and make fiber soup. Then you leave with as many ounces as you came with…..just in chaos style.

The pool was hard to mix and I definitely got some of the same braids but I was very happy with the colors I received. Of course I have zero clue what fiber content is but that is okay. I am just looking forward to this spinning!

Shetland Spinning

I have had this ball of Shetland fiber from my Summer Spin In prize just sitting on my desk. I decided that since my wheel was empty I would throw this on here.

This fiber is very nicely prepped into skinny roving like bands. I am finding it spinning very fine and with very little vegetable matter. Just spinning on a whim and all this fiber will go straight onto one bobbin. I may wind it off into two bobbins and 2-ply or I may chain ply into a 3-ply. That is a future Rachelle problem!

For now I am just relaxing and letting the fiber do the things it wants to do. I don’t fully feel the spinning mojo back but it is nice to do something different than knit or crochet.

Happy Spinning!!