Good mail

Yesterday was one of the first real wintery days we've had - rainy, chilly, grey and windy. Let's hear it for London winters! But I arrived home with two whiny children in tow to find a very large package waiting for me. Inside the package was a metric buttload of pretty fiber.

First there was a pound of this:

HYFC Timber Romney, September 2010. I was so taken with the photos of this fiber online that I ordered four more bags before mine even arrived. I have visions of handspun garter stitch sweater in my head.

Then there was October's fiber club:

HYFC Burrows Rambouillet, October 2010 offering. This fiber is so gorgeous, and it reminds me of the sea on a stormy fall day. Greys, pale green, pale blue, dark grey, brown. It is stunning. I still haven't spun up my first Rambouillet, which was also a fiber club installment. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this but it is incredibly soft and cushy, even in top form.

Then there was the big deal - my Shelburne Falls Hat was randomly selected for a prize in the 4! Oz! Challenge spin/knit-along this fall, and my prize came in this big bag.

One bump each from Adrian, Amy and David. Let's take a closer look...

First up is Corriedale in the colorway Twenty Ten from Spunky Eclectic.

Lots of oranges and pink, with some darker blue and brown thrown in. Totally not colors I would have picked out for myself, but totally amazing.

Next is Happy Dance Shetland from Hello Yarn.

Happy Dance indeed! I love shetland, and I can't wait to spin up these gorgeous colors. Dev might even go for this yarn - she can not get enough pink. Still (as an aside, I know she's my daughter because I distinctly remember her arrival, and I'm pretty sure they didn't switch her at the hospital, but where did this pink thing come from? Or is it just a little girl thing? Will it pass eventually? Please?).

Last, but certainly not least is the Southern Cross Fibre offering: Cairns Polwarth.

I'm not sure where to begin except to say that David could not have picked a colorway I would adore more if he'd known me from birth (the colors are much better in the first picture of all three). And Polwarth! Excuse me while I go have a little lie down until the blood returns to my brain.

I want to thank all of the people involved in the whole Challenge - the dyers for doing what they do so well, and the moderators Stacie and Maryse for organizing the whole thing. It was such a fun experience to spin with a design in mind and actually see it through to the finished project. I can't wait for next year!