# What kind of fiber Christmas did you have?



## romysbaskets (Aug 29, 2009)

My Fiber Gift giving was:

A Mohair scarf for my son's girlfriend
A hand woven rug out of my handspun yarn for my older daughter
A hand woven rug out of my handspun yarn for my younger daughter
4 Skeins of my handspun Black and silver yarn with a note for hubby to pick his project I will make!

Fiber related Gifts I received:

A yarn swift umbrella style
A yarn ball winder...Yay! 
Both gifts were from hubby.

*What gifts did you give made of fiber this Christmas?*

*What gifts did you receive that were fiber related?*


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## LittleMrsAdams (Aug 31, 2014)

I didn't do any fiber gifts for Christmas this year:teehee:, but I made a nice red shawl for my GMa's 80th birthday and a blue and white blanket for DH's birthday.


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## romysbaskets (Aug 29, 2009)

LittleMrsAdams said:


> I didn't do any fiber gifts for Christmas this year:teehee:, but I made a nice red shawl for my GMa's 80th birthday and a blue and white blanket for DH's birthday.


What thoughtful and sweet gifts you gave for the birthdays!


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## rosalind (Oct 6, 2014)

As gifts, I gave water bottle carriers (using pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bishi) and cast iron pot handle covers (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/iron-skillet-felted-handle-mitt)

I was given (to take care of and maybe buy down the road from a lady that's moving) two spinning wheels: an Ashford Country Spinner and a Fricke with woolee winder - both fun to try. She gave me a bunch of fiber in roving to work with too!


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

I needed a fiber Christmas. My stash is getting low and I'm finding myself uninspired.  I started a pair of baby socks in minion yellow with the hope they'll cause some inspiration.


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## romysbaskets (Aug 29, 2009)

rosalind said:


> As gifts, I gave water bottle carriers (using pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bishi) and cast iron pot handle covers (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/iron-skillet-felted-handle-mitt)
> 
> I was given (to take care of and maybe buy down the road from a lady that's moving) two spinning wheels: an Ashford Country Spinner and a Fricke with woolee winder - both fun to try. She gave me a bunch of fiber in roving to work with too!


What a blessing! You can help the lady who is moving and get hooked on fiber at the same time..yay!


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## romysbaskets (Aug 29, 2009)

wr said:


> I needed a fiber Christmas. My stash is getting low and I'm finding myself uninspired. I started a pair of baby socks in minion yellow with the hope they'll cause some inspiration.


In 4 months early Spring to early Summer time, I handspun over 200 skeins of Icelandic and Mohair yarns with a spindle. It wasn't til the Summer I got a Spinning wheel working..not sure on date...then began to spin my Happy stash even more so again...I am now trying to destash by making projects! All my acrylic yarn is about gone, sold it....

Where do you normally get your yarn from WR?


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

romysbaskets said:


> In 4 months early Spring to early Summer time, I handspun over 200 skeins of Icelandic and Mohair yarns with a spindle. It wasn't til the Summer I got a Spinning wheel working..not sure on date...then began to spin my Happy stash even more so again...I am now trying to destash by making projects! All my acrylic yarn is about gone, sold it....
> 
> Where do you normally get your yarn from WR?


Calgary actually has a fantastic little shop in the downtown area that handles some really nice commercial yarns but they're pretty high end and can be expensive. There used to be another wonderful little shop in the city that sold amazing products from a fairly large guild and I was sorry to hear they recently closed down. 

A family friend started spinning several years ago and started a little shop on her farm and I do buy from her but it can be a bit of a crapshoot. I just knit a pair of socks for the big guy from yarn one of her group spun and I don't think it was as well cleaned as it could have been. I picked a lot of twigs, thistles and burrs out of it as I knit. His feet are warm but he still finds the odd thistle once in a while. Their prices are reasonable and I keep telling myself that the less experienced will gain skill if somebody buys their product. 

I was self taught and the lady at the first shop I mentioned had a wonderful attitude and instead of telling me that something wasn't intended for socks, she'd say, 'give it a try and let me know how it works' so I've knit socks out of everything from recycled crab shells, cashmere, silk, soya based yarns and everything in between.


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## romysbaskets (Aug 29, 2009)

wr said:


> Calgary actually has a fantastic little shop in the downtown area that handles some really nice commercial yarns but they're pretty high end and can be expensive. There used to be another wonderful little shop in the city that sold amazing products from a fairly large guild and I was sorry to hear they recently closed down.
> 
> A family friend started spinning several years ago and started a little shop on her farm and I do buy from her but it can be a bit of a crapshoot. I just knit a pair of socks for the big guy from yarn one of her group spun and I don't think it was as well cleaned as it could have been. I picked a lot of twigs, thistles and burrs out of it as I knit. His feet are warm but he still finds the odd thistle once in a while. Their prices are reasonable and I keep telling myself that the less experienced will gain skill if somebody buys their product.
> 
> I was self taught and the lady at the first shop I mentioned had a wonderful attitude and instead of telling me that something wasn't intended for socks, she'd say, 'give it a try and let me know how it works' so I've knit socks out of everything from recycled crab shells, cashmere, silk, soya based yarns and everything in between.


You are going to have trouble believing this...but I have been to that little cute expensive shop in Calgary last summer!! My sister in law bought silk mohair that I made a special scarf out of for her! She is a successful Caterer there....I will pm you her name..you may know her!!!!! I go to a lot of trouble hand picking my fleeces I get prior to washing to ensure the yarns I spin don't have vm left in them, then hand carding prior to spinning. I don't have a picker or carding machine...just my two hands, finally wool carders and my 1880 Pearl and 1860 Tilley spinning wheels I repaired myself. It is not so easy to get everything out of some fleece but burrs, thistles and twigs are something I have not had trouble with.... You are absolutely right, the more they sell and spin..the better it will be!


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

romysbaskets said:


> You are going to have trouble believing this...but I have been to that little cute expensive shop in Calgary last summer!! My sister in law bought silk mohair that I made a special scarf out of for her! She is a successful Caterer there....I will pm you her name..you may know her!!!!! I go to a lot of trouble hand picking my fleeces I get prior to washing to ensure the yarns I spin don't have vm left in them, then hand carding prior to spinning. I don't have a picker or carding machine...just my two hands, finally wool carders and my 1880 Pearl and 1860 Tilley spinning wheels I repaired myself. It is not so easy to get everything out of some fleece but burrs, thistles and twigs are something I have not had trouble with.... You are absolutely right, the more they sell and spin..the better it will be!


Pudding Yarn? Sharon is amazing and I love the fact that she believes knitting should be fun. The mean lady with the shop further south has been known to refuse to sell me yarn intended for socks unless it is designated sock yarn which resulted in a fairly big disagreement at one time. 

There was another in the city that was associated with a large guild and they were wonderful but lost their lease. The lady that owned it was wonderful as well because I got the great idea to take a knitting class with them and while they did kick me out of school because I knit really wrong, she did offer me a name for my condition (mirror image knitting) and helped me with some concepts that others find fairly simple.


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## romysbaskets (Aug 29, 2009)

wr said:


> Pudding Yarn? Sharon is amazing and I love the fact that she believes knitting should be fun. The mean lady with the shop further south has been known to refuse to sell me yarn intended for socks unless it is designated sock yarn which resulted in a fairly big disagreement at one time.
> 
> There was another in the city that was associated with a large guild and they were wonderful but lost their lease. The lady that owned it was wonderful as well because I got the great idea to take a knitting class with them and while they did kick me out of school because I knit really wrong, she did offer me a name for my condition (mirror image knitting) and helped me with some concepts that others find fairly simple.


No one should insist you use only sock yarn! I have a pair of socks my hubby bought me for our anniversary in October, they are 100 Alpaca! So when I got some more Alpaca fiber, I knit both an ankle length and then a knee high length pair out of it..I did not add any other fiber. I have made socks out of all kinds of fibers including 100% cotton ones....My alpaca ones are my favorites! I know they do say you get more stretch by adding other fibers like nylon. However, I am self taught on most things and really do things my own way too~!


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

romysbaskets said:


> No one should insist you use only sock yarn! I have a pair of socks my hubby bought me for our anniversary in October, they are 100 Alpaca! So when I got some more Alpaca fiber, I knit both an ankle length and then a knee high length pair out of it..I did not add any other fiber. I have made socks out of all kinds of fibers including 100% cotton ones....My alpaca ones are my favorites! I know they do say you get more stretch by adding other fibers like nylon. However, I am self taught on most things and really do things my own way too~!


My belief is that socks were made out of fibers before stretchy stuff was blended in and studies have shown that natural fibers are much warmer than synthetics so I can see no reason why I need to buy yarn with a synthetic blend just because it has a picture of a pair of socks on the band. 

I'm currently not feeling the love for baby socks because a lot of my leftover bits are patterned in some way. Thus far, one turned out with a mottled blue on one side and gray on the other, short striped yarns were a bust because they develop an odd zigzag blotch at the gusset and long stripe yarn works but you waste a lot when you start the second one in the same color range. At this rate, the cute little newborn is going to be in college before I finish a few pair :rotfl:


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## romysbaskets (Aug 29, 2009)

wr said:


> My belief is that socks were made out of fibers before stretchy stuff was blended in and studies have shown that natural fibers are much warmer than synthetics so I can see no reason why I need to buy yarn with a synthetic blend just because it has a picture of a pair of socks on the band.
> 
> I'm currently not feeling the love for baby socks because a lot of my leftover bits are patterned in some way. Thus far, one turned out with a mottled blue on one side and gray on the other, short striped yarns were a bust because they develop an odd zigzag blotch at the gusset and long stripe yarn works but you waste a lot when you start the second one in the same color range. At this rate, the cute little newborn is going to be in college before I finish a few pair :rotfl:


That is exactly how I feel! I do think there is beautiful sock yarn but the only ones I have ever gotten was from the thrift store. To spend up to $25 on sock yarn to make a pair of socks...eek! That is beyond my pocket book. When I got the bin full of yarn from the Senior thrift store for $10, I got a few sock yarns. I looked up the Wild Horse one and it was retail $25?!!! I prefer natural fiber socks myself and they are...cheaper to make then using a sock yarn...with the picture on the label. 

I like to use one yarn for socks at this point due to that issue and the bits of yarn I have of different colors are used for trims or toe sections or heel sections. Have you tried that WR? Are you low on yarns?


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

romysbaskets said:


> I like to use one yarn for socks at this point due to that issue and the bits of yarn I have of different colors are used for trims or toe sections or heel sections. Have you tried that WR? Are you low on yarns?



I'm technically not low on yarn. I'm knitting newborn socks and for some reason, the only leftover yarn I have right now that's soft enough is patterned. What patterns on adult sized socks gets interesting when you pare a pattern down that much.


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## romysbaskets (Aug 29, 2009)

wr said:


> I'm technically not low on yarn. I'm knitting newborn socks and for some reason, the only leftover yarn I have right now that's soft enough is patterned. What patterns on adult sized socks gets interesting when you pare a pattern down that much.


I have so many singles that when I want to do socks, I always have enough to then use the patterned for the heels or trims on the cuff. I know what you mean on small yarn scraps. I never toss em! I have my "sets of yarn" which are for larger projects and then my singles so I am never short on options, oh my. Then I also spin what I need as I go on projects. That in and of itself is quite a convenient way to go. My knee high alpaca socks I knit, I had to stop to spin the rest of the yarn I needed. The small amount of Llama I found cheap, is what I spun for trims for my own alpaca sock projects..

I want to see the pics of your baby socks! I haven't made them yet with knitting, only crocheted ones.


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## COSunflower (Dec 4, 2006)

Goodness!!!! You girls are amazing!!!! I made one afghan - twin bed size - for one granddaughter's Dec. birthday (6 years old) and then made another regular sized afghan for a teenage granddaughter for Christmas. I'm starting sooner though for NEXT Christmas and have 2 new afghans going right now.  Just using regular acrylic Red Heart yarn.


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## romysbaskets (Aug 29, 2009)

COSunflower said:


> Goodness!!!! You girls are amazing!!!! I made one afghan - twin bed size - for one granddaughter's Dec. birthday (6 years old) and then made another regular sized afghan for a teenage granddaughter for Christmas. I'm starting sooner though for NEXT Christmas and have 2 new afghans going right now.  Just using regular acrylic Red Heart yarn.


You are amazing! Wow, you made those afghans and nice sized ones to boot!:clap::clap::clap:


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