September Phat Fiber Box – Grimm’s Fairy Tales

I’m really excited to be in the September Phat Fiber Box. I haven’t been able to get samples into the boxes since May (I even missed one of my favorite themes last month) so I was extra determined to make it this time around.
This month’s theme is Grimm’s Fairy Tales – think dark and mysterious forests, old and sacred but creepy at the same time. Think of German fairytales, like Cinderella with the stepsisters getting their eyes picked out, or Sleeping Beauty asleep for 100 years behind dark thorny thickets, the dust settling over her thickly in waves of time. I even watched the Grimm Brothers movie with Heath Ledger, which is set during the French occupation of parts of Germany in the late 18th century. While it is ridiculously fictional, is a great opportunity to immerse yourself in an historical time period that isn’t French or English (Do you notice that? It seems like the only Hollywood blockbuster historical movies that are pre-20th century that are produced are English, French and occasionally Scottish, even though German ancestry is the largest in the US.
Anyways, as you all may know, I have an ongoing Fairy Tales collection of stitch markers in the shop, and naturally I was thrilled to be able to use this theme to inspire me into making more designs. I submitted three of my favorite German-based sets – Snow White, Cinderella and The Frog Prince – and then I created two new sets of stitch markers to add to those three. Meet Sleeping Beauty and Red Riding Hood!

Sleeping Beauty

Red Riding Hood

As usual, the Phat Fiber people put together selection of videos showing off the contents of this month’s boxes, and mine were featured! I’m happy to say that I’ve even figured out how to queue the video to the right moment, so all you’ll need to do is press play to watch Jessie talk about my samples. To see all of the videos, check them out here. Enjoy!

The box goes on sale this weekend at two different times, and it flies off of the shelves like hotcakes. The box comes in a couple of different formats – Stitches (yarn) for the knitters, Fluff (fiber) for the spinners, and Mixed for those who like the effect of both. If you want all of the secret deets, send me a message via email or on Ravelry and I’ll forward you the email notification I received.

Don’t forget, if you purchase anything in my store from September 1 – October 18 you are eligible for the Phat Fiber Superbox Giveaway! The Phat Fiber team will be giving away the contents of the Grimm’s Fairy Tales  Superbox, as seen in the preview video, AND s $150 Amazon Gift Certificate to a randomly drawn poster!. To enter, please list any purchases you’ve made from Exchanging Fire in this thread on Ravelry.

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Orphans of the Empire – April Phat Fiber Sampler

My Tea Party themed stitch markers arrived in the Phat Fiber headquarters yesterday, so I feel pretty confident about unveiling these now. Meet Orphans of the Empire, my ode to the bygone era of the British Empire when the sun never set and teatime was de rigueur.

When I was a small child I found, buried in a flower bed in my front yard, a small shard of porcelain from an English teacup. I was enchanted, convinced there was some unknown story behind this lost and forgotten piece of the past. When I saw these beads it took me right back to that time, and I knew that it was the perfect way to celebrate my own love of tea with all of you.

Remember! Any purchases you make this month in my shop, ExchangingFire.com makes you eligible to win the contents of the April Video (aka The Superbox) AND AN EXTENSIVE NATURAL DYES KIT AND 1LB OF ORGANIC MERINO! to a randomly drawn poster in the Phat Fiber group thread on Ravelry. Don’t delay because you could win big!

I bless the rains down in Africa

So I promised all of you a sneak peek of my Africa-themed stitch markers, and now that it’s August and these have been sent in, I’m thrilled to reveal them to you! If you remember, my inspiration this month was the song Africa, by the 80s hair band Toto. It’s got a catchy chorus with just one line that everyone remembers and sings overandoverandoverandover again until they’ve gone mad. Fortunately for me, I listened to this song long enough while I was making these stitch markers that I now know all of the words. And yes, I even watched the Lion King version of this song.

These African-themed markers are inspired by that single line in the song we all know – “I bless the rains down in Africa.” I thought there was something very poetic about the concept of Africa’s heat and suffering juxtaposed with the cool blessing of rain, which during the wet season washes it all away. Refreshing and beautiful, like a terrific storm occurring when a cold front meets the hot, unforgiving August weather we experience here in the Northern Hemisphere.

These stitch markers feature gorgeous vintage garnets and fire topaz Czech glass drops. I love the garnets because they look like a dusky reddish brown when they are lying in your hand but the moment you put them up to the sunlight they gleam with this inner purple light. The topaz glass beads are shaped like raindrops, and the iridescent fire polish to them creates a subtle rainbow effect in the light.

I Bless The Rains Down in Africa

I have several of these limited edition sock-sized stitch marker sets available in the shop. They are there for the month of August in conjunction with the Phat Fiber box. I thought it would be nice that if someone received a sample in their box they could then pick up a full set.

I’m becoming a phatty

A Phat Fiber participant, that is. I’ve joined up for the August 2010 Phat Fiber Sampler box, which means that my stitch markers will soon be winging their way to dozens of households all over the country. I know, cool, right? Inside each sampler box are TONS of samples of indie yarns and fiber, stitch markers, patterns, special insider coupons, bookmarks, and God knows what other sort of goodies. Basically, receiving a box is akin to going into yarny coma.

A Yarny Coma, courtesy Phat Fiber

The idea came into being after one woman grew tired of spending oodles of money on indie goods only to receive something she wasn’t quite pleased with, or that looked like a totally different color than the picture, etc. She wanted more of a “try-before-you-buy” approach and dreamed up the Phat Fiber Box. Etsy and ArtFire sellers send her their goodies once a month and get a chance to get promoted. Potential buyers, likewise, get a chance to try out a ton of stuff. The Phat Fiber box is sold through Etsy, and it is rather a big hairy deal in some corners of the Interwebz. Every month there are hundreds of people all fighting to purchase a sampler box, or two, without being “cartjacked” by another. There are fandoms helping with checkout tutorials and emails sending out the secret time the boxes go live and I’m sure someone has a special handshake in there as well.

Just kidding. Kind of. Anyways, I’ve heard about it for the past year or so, but only recently decided to explore it a little further. After reading up about it on Ravelry, I checked out a few videos on YouTube, where the husband-and-wife team who run the Phat Fiber program give monthly “sneak peeks” of what will be in the next box. I have to say, I think it was the videos that sold me – they were engaging and humorous and made me want to be a part of the whole crazy mess too.

I’m very excited to have my name “up in lights” as it were on their website, and I’ve got great ideas brewing for their August theme, which is “Africa.” Seriously, for days after I found out what the theme was I went around the house humming or singing “I bless the rains down in Ah-af-ri-ca…” For the record, when the only lines of a song that you know is one, it gets a little tedious. Though I was more amused that, when I finally did look up the song on YouTube, I discovered that the only really memorable lines are those. Anyways, in August, after I’ve sent my goodies in, I’ll give everyone a little look-see at what I’m contributing to the box.