12 Days of Yarn Christmas

Does anyone remember, very long ago, when I geeked out over those yarn advent calendars? And I said that I got one? I’d like to show you Loopy Ewe’s 12 Day of Indie Christmas!

I went with this calendar for a few reasons:

1. With 12 yarns instead of 24 or 25, it was much closer to the price range I wanted to spend on a yarn calendar.
2. I get terribly depressed after Christmas, so rather than building up to the holiday, 12 days of yarn gifts after the holiday helped stave off those post-holiday blues
3. I love to support indie dyers, and this gave me the opportunity to try 12 different dyers!

Here’s what I got!

1. Ethreal Fibers Nebula Sock in Light Saver
2. Gherkin’s Bucket Long Stride Sock in Royale
3. Hedgehog Fibres Sock in Banana Legs
4. Hue Loco Phyllis Sock in Sneaky Wombat
5. JulieSpins Euro Fingering 820 in Regimental
6. Knerd String Fingering in Creature
7. Leading Men Fiber Arts Show Stopper in Bean Stalk
8. Savvy Skeins Sensible Sock in Caprice
9. Seven Sisters Arts Meridian Fingering in Branwen
10. Spun Right Round Classic Sock in Walk Like a Cat, Talk Like a Fish
11. Wollmeise Pure in Blitz von Kitz
12. Woolen Boon Boon Classic in Heartpunch

You’ll see I got some fun notions as well! Three knitting humor luggage tags, a circular needle protector, Knitter’s Pride Super Darning Needles, and gauge pins! The last ones were new to me, but you pin the two sheep at either end of however many inches the gauge should be, and you use the heart to count stitches. Isn’t that a great idea?

The other thing I love about this yarn calendar is rather than including one pattern to tell you what to make with all these mini skeins, the Loopy elves gave suggestions as to what you can make with all 12, 6, 3 or 1 skein! Of course, I like a challenge, so I’m hoping to use all 12 in one project. I also see two distinct groups of six minis, color-wise (1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7) (4, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12), however, the Spun Right Round has flecks of the yellow and pink, so it would probably work to transition from one group to another.

Out of what they recommended for 12 skeins, my favorites are Mini Mazy, Epicenter, and Rocky Mountain Rainbow.

While fun picks, all of these ask for a coordinating, full skien of sock yarn. I’m not sure I could decide what color would coordinate with all of the minis. I could mess with the patterns to just be the minis, but if I’m messing with patterns anyway, what about these?

Archer’s Paradox, Ginsberg Shawl, Peru, and Incandiferous:

Or I can split it into those two groups and have two projects with six minis! Loopy Ewe recommended Mini Skein Infinity Scarf, Mini-Skein Madness Crochet Ripple Stitch Cowl, Sotil, and Tool Box Cowl:

What do you guys think? What would you do with these fun minis? Let me know in the comments!