Before I start, I know this is a pretty crummy photo but it was the best my phone could manage (the camera's battery is currently flat and I'm not sure where the charger is... darned moving house!)
Since learning to spin I've been following the Phat Fiber boxes/blogs/Ravelry postings with no small amount of envy. Each month they seem to post out little bundles of themed deliciousness but a) the chances of snagging a box are small and b) postage from the US can be long/expensive, so I thought I'd give the UK based Fiberholics a go instead. Now as I buy my fiber almost exclusively from indi-dyers based in the UK I had high hopes but I've been left feeling rather uninspired, which is really disappointing.
Ok first up colour. I was never expecting to get 5 out of 5 samples that I fell in love with, but a theme I suspect may have helped here. We've got the Sunflower sample from HilltopClouds clashing horribly with MandaCrafts fushia offering. The Crafty n Clothy braid is lovely but is made to look utterly washed out by the rest. It wasn't a great look as I opened the parcel, which is sad because colour-wise actually I really like 3 of the 5 and one falls into my "that's not bad even if I've no idea what I'll use it for" category.
Next up is the fiber content. Now my reason, and I suspect a lot of people's reason for buying samplers like this is just that, to sample new stuff be that colour or fiber. Out of these five we have:
So overall:
Since learning to spin I've been following the Phat Fiber boxes/blogs/Ravelry postings with no small amount of envy. Each month they seem to post out little bundles of themed deliciousness but a) the chances of snagging a box are small and b) postage from the US can be long/expensive, so I thought I'd give the UK based Fiberholics a go instead. Now as I buy my fiber almost exclusively from indi-dyers based in the UK I had high hopes but I've been left feeling rather uninspired, which is really disappointing.
Ok first up colour. I was never expecting to get 5 out of 5 samples that I fell in love with, but a theme I suspect may have helped here. We've got the Sunflower sample from HilltopClouds clashing horribly with MandaCrafts fushia offering. The Crafty n Clothy braid is lovely but is made to look utterly washed out by the rest. It wasn't a great look as I opened the parcel, which is sad because colour-wise actually I really like 3 of the 5 and one falls into my "that's not bad even if I've no idea what I'll use it for" category.
Next up is the fiber content. Now my reason, and I suspect a lot of people's reason for buying samplers like this is just that, to sample new stuff be that colour or fiber. Out of these five we have:
- 2 x 20g Falkland roving
- 20g Merino 64s roving
- 20g BFL roving
- and kudos to HilltopClouds 20g hackle blended BFL, Merino & Bamboo
So overall:
- its confirmed that I still love the stuff that Katie from HilltopClouds produces, even when its not in a colour I would ever have picked. I can't wait to spin up this sample but at the same time its one that has me really thinking how to get the best out of it. Perfect :)
- ok for £11 plus P&P it didn't break the bank and it has introduced me to 2 dyers I didn't know about before (Crafty and Clothy and Cariad Fiber Arts)
- on the downside though most of the samples were pretty uninspiring and as a whole they hung together really badly.
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