Close to my Heart: Fiber Feast

Since purchasing my spinning wheel at the beginning of April, I've spun through most of the small fiber stash I already had. Spinning on a wheel is SO much quicker than on a spindle. As a result, I've been on a mission to acquire some pretty fiber to spin up. This past week, a few pretty numbers came to live in our house, so thought I'd show them to you today. First, while on business trip this past week, I stopped at an LYS that I rarely get to, in the hopes of finding fiber. I came home with some lovely Fleece Artist sliver in an alpaca/merino blend:

This picture really does not do this lovely fiber justice unfortunately, you'll just have to trust me that it is a lovely vibrant pink.

I did not really enjoy being away from home this past week. I was on a course that was somewhat in the middle of nowhere, and it also resulted in being away from Joe for our 14th anniversary. We've never been apart for our anniversary before. I was glad to return home to Joe and the kitties (and my spinning wheel!), and also to find more fiber in the mailbox. This was waiting for me when I returned:

Beautiful soft and squooshy fiber,it's 100% merino and is from Etsy seller TheYoYo. She very nicely included this beautiful sample for me to spin as well:

And the day after I arrived home, after a day off that included a work phone call, emails, vacuuming and washing the floor, I opened the mailbox to find my package from another Etsy seller, one that I had previously purchased from, CopperPot. I selected two different items from her:

This merino is called "GoodnPlenty." The second fiber in this package was Apple Blossom, a merino tencel blend:

I must admit though, I'm not so sure how to spin these up when they so obviously have big strips of colour, and I'm still at the stage of pre-drafting everything. Any advice? Hopefully I won't make a mess of things!

My biggest question though, is what should I spin up next? I can't even say that I have a favourite, all of these items are lovely. Oh, and I must admit, I did more online fiber shopping yesterday (gotta love Etsy) so stay tuned for more new arrivals at Chez Close to my Heart!