All The Pretty Fibers - Finest Handspun Yarns & Spinning/Felting Supply

House gnomes in spring

alltheprettyfibers — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 11:43:48 +0000

2 days ago these little fellows came by post from my felting colleague Michaela

They are called Valentin and Sammy (I didn’t give them their names, but” Sammy” is okay with me), and they are my new house gnomes. They will be watching me paint and spin my wools and make sure that I am doing a good job all around. Valentin (the guy with the red trousers) is very well natured and easy-going lad, while Sammy, according to Michaela, may sometimes go a little over the top. He is very frisky indeed but will behave if he is deprived of fresh strawberries. He has already decided that he wants to sit right by the fruit bowl, just to make sure nothing tasty gets nicked.

Valentin’s beard is made of some of my wensleydale fleece locks, and Sammy’s hair and beard is made of my Bluefaced Leicester fleece locks. Their clothes are needle felted 100% merino wool. I think they both look very dashing indeed. )

Spring has definitely arrived (THANK GOD!!!!!!!), and some new colourways have made it into my etsy store and my ebayUK store:

Everyone have a very lovely spring season and HAPPY FIBRE CRAFTING! )

Filed under: Fleeces and drum carded batts, Handpainted Rovings

Lace, superwash, and a good dog’s life

alltheprettyfibers — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 18:20:38 +0000

Long time no blog, I know, but March was a very stressful month for me. My dog Sam died at the age of 18. As he was deteriorating by the week he became pretty much a fulltime job. It broke my heart seeing him getting weaker and weaker simply due to his old age, though he still enjoyed our little walks, meeting the neighbours’ dogs and thoroughly enjoying his dinner and lots of cuddles. I think I can confidently say that he had a very long and a very happy life, he truly was my shadow, and now he is gone. Last month I did only the most important things for my website and my shops and took care of only the most pressing custom orders. What can I say, my Sam is gone, and the house seems very, very empty and quiet. I am keeping myself as busy as possible now, so I haven’t got the time to actually think about anything else but work. Today I have listed a new handspun and handpainted merino-silk lace yarn, “Auenland”, in my etsy store, and some new handpainted superwash rovings, and tomorrow I will be carding fresh merino-silk batts:

The lace yarn is very beautiful indeed, it will be perfect for weaving and lace knitting. More handpainted silk yarns to be painted shortly. Just bear with me while I am getting back into gear.

Filed under: Anything silky, Handpainted Rovings, Handspun & Handpainted Yarns

More snow for the forest woman

alltheprettyfibers — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 13:17:43 +0000

Somehow I have been hoping that we would get rid of the snow in between but it keeps snowing every night, and I am SO fed up with shovelling that stuff. But apart from that it’s also quite fun walking through the woods when everything is covered in pure white, especially when we get some sunshine for an hour or two. Last week we had a total of 0.9 hours of sunshine…ain’t that depressing. Well, for the past weeks I have been staying indoors where it’s warm, carding, spinning, painting and washing more fleece wool. That’s what the snowy winter weather is good for, you don’t really want to be outside for too long.

Okay, so here is the update: Fresh white wensleydale curly fleece wool will be available again in around 1 week, it’s currently boiling away in the tubs. Furthermore 1 new handspun lace yarn, “Monkshood”, and 1 new handpainted silk lace yarn, “Ivy”, have made it into my etsy store:

A very beautiful felt doll is now displayed in my online exhibition: My adorable little forest woman, custom made by Michaela, who also runs a store on DaWanda called Rattenschaf. The doll is made with Wensleydale curly fleece, Bluefaced Leicester curly fleece wool and carded batt wool from my stock. She is such a beauty, I am so proud of her, have a look:

Michaela has done a really great job, she is such a talented felting artist, I could not come close to that if I tried for the next 50 years.

More handspun and handpainted slub yarns and carded merino-silk batts have been restocked in my ebayUK store and my etsy store.

I am including some lovely winter photos to this blog, that little bit of sunshine felt really good today!! Old Sam and old Charly sure enjoyed it too. )

Filed under: Anything silky, Fleeces and drum carded batts, Handspun & Handpainted Yarns

Last blog 2012

alltheprettyfibers — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 17:24:47 +0000

Man, time really flies, and I admit that I have been neglecting my blog for the past weeks. Each year there is so much to do around Christmas time. I never stop packing orders, dyeing rovings and yarns and hopping to the post office. We had a lot of snow until last week (1 inch of snow fell per hour), and there have been problems on the roads, railways and at the airports, so I am really hoping that everyone will receive his/her order right on time for Christmas!

I am planning to take full advantage of the Christmas bank holidays! I want to do….absolutely nothing…..I want to sleep in, celebrate Christmas eve with my family, have a wonderful Christmas dinner, and take old Sam for a Christmas walk. That is all I want really. But until then there is still work to do. I washed the last of 5 white wensleydale shearling fleeces today and sorted another 2 batches of handpainted wensleydale fleece that are now displayed in my ebayUK store, one lot in vibrant magenta shades and the second lot in lemon+lime shades, beautiful, absolutely beautiful.

Apart from that several lots of handspun slub yarn have been stocked up in my ebay store, and new handpainted rovings made it into my etsy store and my DaWanda store as well, I just never had the time to announce them here on my blog, so sorry about that!

Everyone have a very happy and peaceful Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year 2013!! )

Filed under: Fleeces and drum carded batts, Handpainted Rovings, Handspun & Handpainted Yarns

Wensleydale handpainted curly fleece

alltheprettyfibers — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 13:13:23 +0000

5 new colourways of handpainted wensleydale shearling and regular curly fleece have made it into my ebayUK store. Please feel free to check them out. )

Filed under: Fleeces and drum carded batts

Want the ultimate softness?

alltheprettyfibers — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 12:59:35 +0000

A new blend is on the block! Luxuriously soft and ever so fine, my new cashmere-silk-merino roving (33/33/33), absolutely worth drooling over it. ;o) And because I did my back in quite badly last week (…yep, that’s what you get from schlepping tons of wet fleeces around all day long…) I took a break from sorting wensleydale fleeces and painted this lovely blend and some silk lace yarns instead.

These yummy babes are now displayed in my etsy store and in my DaWanda store. )

Filed under: Anything silky, Handpainted Rovings

Wensleydale update

alltheprettyfibers — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 19:54:13 +0000

The first 2 shearling fleeces are off the drying board. I have not displayed them in my etsy store nor in my ebay store yet because my list of requests is getting rather long now. Anyone still interested in being added to the list please do not wait too long, especially if you would like to order some of the natural black wensleydale champion shearling fleece. There will be some more white shearling fleece later on. Custom painted shearling fleece locks will take me around 1 week per order to finish:

Please note that the tape measure shows the length in cm. 2.5cm equal 1 inch.

Here is one lot of handpainted shearling fleece in a wonderful autumn brown (rusty brown) that will go to its new home in the US:

There are new batches of light blonde, autumn gold and fire red regular wensleydale curly fleece now displayed in my ebayUK store. Plus I painted another lot in mocha brown today, it will consist of larger and somewhat coarser locks, it’s still in the dyepot so I cannot really say much about it yet. Okay, I will finish up for tonight, it’s been a long woolly day. )

Everyone have a very good weekend and HAPPY FIBRE CRAFTING!

Filed under: Fleeces and drum carded batts

Wensleydale back on the block!!

alltheprettyfibers — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 16:53:11 +0000

Yeehaw!! My main bulk of fresh wensleydale fleeces has FINALLY arrived, and the first 8 lbs of raw fleece has already gone in the washtub. This year’s fleeces are such beauties, I am not exaggerating at all. I have got several award winning fleeces with very long curls in natural white and also in natural black, and of course several lots with locks of regular length. I will wash the next 10lbs of black shearling fleece tomorrow – please give me about 10 days for the first lots to get washed, sorted and dried. I am putting up a list this year for all of you who would like to get certain quantities reserved or custom painted. Prices will be going up a bit, especially for the award winning fleeces – they cost me half a kingdom but they are so worth it! You are very welcome to contact me either through my website, or through Etsy. )

Everyone have a very good weekend!

Filed under: Fleeces and drum carded batts

Superwash Rock

alltheprettyfibers — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:44:59 +0000

Here comes an update on my latest superwash merino lace yarns and merino rovings that I handpainted a few days ago. They are now displayed in my Etsy store and in my DaWanda store. The yarns and rovings are extraordinarily soft and squishy with super vibrant colours!

As you can see I was in the mood for autumn colours and VERY vibrant reds and pinks! ) The reds always make the camera go wild. It’s quite tricky catching these vibrant shades properly.

Filed under: Handpainted Rovings, Handspun & Handpainted Yarns

Autumn gold coming up!

alltheprettyfibers — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 11:49:05 +0000

There are now several new handspun/handpainted yarns, rovings and curly felting fibres out and displayed in my etsy store (All The Pretty Fibers), my DaWanda store (dieHandspinnerin) and my ebayUK store (Needlework’s Pleasure). Feel free to have a look! )

Below are some of the new beauties in splendid autumn and purple colours, including 2 new lots of handpainted wensleydale fleece locks for felting, handspinning and dolls hair in honey blonde and autumn gold-ocre:

Everyone have a very good weekend and a colourful autumn season. HAPPY FIBRE CRAFTING!

Filed under: Fleeces and drum carded batts, Handpainted Rovings, Handspun & Handpainted Yarns