The 100m yarn project

The heat wave is finally over, and god I pray that it was the last one for this year!! A full 3 months without any proper rainfall, and roasting temperatures that made one want to just curl up and die…..The fields and forests are completely dried out, a lot of trees have died, and the dead leaves on the ground make you think you are in the wrong season – you can´t help but think that it may already be fall, it´s just sad, really really sad. Luckily we didn´t have any broad wildfires in the area.

Now that the air is fresh and cool again I can restock my etsy shop with handpainted fibers, plus I keep preparing for the october craft fair, spinning and painting yarns and fibers every day (yep, Sundays included). I am planning to spin the majority of yarns into chunky weights for the fair. The chunky yarns are perfect for quick knit or quick crochet projects, and 1 skein of 100m (111yds) will be sufficient e.g. for an adult size beanie hat, a chunky neckwarmer or buttoned collar scarf.

I crocheted a beanie hat with my chunky yarn “Slate” using an 8mm and 7mm hook, it turned out very lovely indeed.  Very soft, elastic, and I had about 4-5 yds of yarn left in the end. I will take it to the fair and wear it, for presentation purpose  :o)

The new yarn batches I spun last week are also mainly chunky weight, apart from one worsted merino yarn in stunning greens, prussian blue and burgundy. I have called it “Forest Troll”:

These are the chunky merino beauties “Nana´s Garden”, “Sea Monster” and “Cocktail”, available in my etsy store:

 

A new very soft corriedale lambswool roving of 24 micron has been added to my stock – a really good fiber also for beginners in handspinning and felting. It makes very soft and fluffy yarn. Along with some 20 micron super soft merino and merino/silk rovings a few of them have already made it out of the dyepot and into the etsy store:

 

And last but not least 2 batches of handpainted extra soft and extra fluffy british bluefaced leicester fleece are now available in corn blonde and dark brown. Perfect for miniature doll hair, felting and embellishing!

 

That´s all for now :o)

Everyone Happy Crafting!

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Tomato Soup and Dragonfly

My handspun extra soft merino yarn “Charybdis” is back in stock,

and 2 more repeatable colourways have made it into my etsy store, I have called them “Tomato Soup” and “Dragonfly”:

These yarns come with sufficient yardage for e.g. a buttoned scarf as seen in the photo below.

 

I am currently working on 2 large custom orders but I also managed to paint a new lot of extra soft merino roving in green and purple shades , I am very happy with the colourway :o)

There are a total of 3×4.6oz available in my etsy store.

Everyone have a very fine summer season, and enjoy your wool projects!

Thick and thin yarns, and new silk

A new shade of very high quality pure mulberry silk roving (combed top) is now available in my etsy store. It´s a rich and beautiful dark chocolate brown and gorgeously soft with great sheen. Perfect for silky doll hair, handspinning and adding to felting projects.

and the light powder pink shade is back in stock! Yippieh!

 

I finished a new batch of my handspun merino thick and thin yarn “Jungle”

The thick and thin yarns are available in 60yd skeins but also in mini skeins of 4.5yds (4m) per colourway. These small quantities are very suitable for embellishing and felting projects or for dreads/hairfalls and doll hair, where less yardage is required. Here´s a crochet slouchy hat that I finished last week. It includes 3yds of the thick and thin yarn “Savannah”:

 

For this wet felted scarf 2.5yds of  “Hogmanay” were incorporated

 

 

and 2x12yds of “Element” and “Hogmanay” were used for this lovely little doll:

 

 

The full range of 18 different colourways can be found in my etsy store:

 

 

Everyone, have a very lovely spring season! :o)

December treats

Towards the end of the year I have painted a last December batch of 50/50 merino/silk rovings that are now displayed in my etsy store and a new crochet slouchy hat has come to life from my handpainted extra soft merino yarn “Amber Forest”. I have also sorted several bags of natural grey and handpainted wensleydale curls, 4 lots of drum carded merino/silk batts, also available on etsy  ,

 

 

Okay, that´s all for the rest of the year :o) Let me get back into my kitchen and try a new round of handmade Christmas cake….the first one exploded in the oven….nice….the second lot never rose….and the third one better be a well behaved and well baked cake, or else! I will also prepare a chestnut-chocolate mousse for 3.Advent Sunday, that should be an easy task…I think. Though I can´t promise that it will indeed make it to the family table, it is ever so delicious!! :o)

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

 

September colours

Here are my first batches of handpainted bluefaced leicester and shetland wool rovings in wonderful heathered autumn colours, a total of 3 lbs. They are displayed in my etsy store :

 

 

There will be more batches of heathered colourways, and handpainted super soft merino roving will be coming up soon.

Everyone have a colourful autumn season!

 

 

wool rovings delight

Here comes my roving update before the end of the month, 2.2lbs of hand painted eco friendly wool beauties, mulesing free merino wool (21 micron) and 50/50 merino/silk rovings, now available in my etsy store :

 

Plus, all 49 colours of my 24 micron merino roving fiber are now back in stock and available through etsy :

 

Everyone, have a very good Summer season! :o)

Handspun merino and felt beauties

It´s been a pretty hot summer so far, not my favourite season really. I prefer to keep the doors and windows open all day, but when the air is simmering and you are having trouble breathing O2 off that “hairdryer” atmosphere, you best close the shutters….and think of something cool. I then like sitting behind my spinning wheel creating a beautiful yarn, or two, or three…well, until it´s turning cooler again. These are my latest super soft 18 micron handspun merino yarns, mulesing free of course, and available through my etsy store:

Last Saturday I didn´t feel like pedalling, it was so hot outside…again….but I didn´t want to put up my feet and do absolutely nothing either, that´s just not me. So what type of project could I do when I really didn´t want to leave the house and get roasted out there? Try a wet felting project, YES! Continuously sprinkling water over the fibers and working the wet wool is such a delight, trust me, it is awesome! I used my 20 micron merino rovings, handpainted bluefaced leicester curly fleece, and a touch of silk fiber, and voila:

All the fibers I used for my wet felting project are available in my etsy store.
The weather finally turned in the evening, the most promising thunderstorm ever rumbled towards us, bringing enormous dark clouds, heavy rain and a healthy fresh breeze. That´s when I put up my feet and enjoyed watching the cloud drama:

 

Everyone, have a beautiful summer season, and keep cool! :o)

The crocheted felting experiment

So I´ve tried a crocheted felting project. I never tried one before. I have been doing loads of wet and nuno felting, and many needle felting projects too. But crocheted felting? Okay, to keep this story short, I handspun a heavy worsted (aran) single yarn (2×3.5oz/110yds) from my 24 micron merino rovings, that can be found in my etsy store – I used several colours from my 9oz 20 colour mix, I picked the colours quite randomly really. I crocheted a pair of XXXL slippers, using an 8mm hook, and washed the slippers at 60 degrees Celsius for one cycle in my washing machine (the washing cycle took around 1 1/1 hours). And, ta taa……

I am wearing these lovely babies almost every day, they are wonderfully dense, strong and yet soft, I am quite surprised. I love them. :o)

I have increased my stock of handspun thick and thin merino yarns and added 3 new colours, vibrant orange, pansy purple, and opal blue, they can be found in my ebay listing on ebayUK:

And 2 new handspun yarns have made it into my etsy store, with great colour combinations, one perfect for knitted felting, and the second one an extra soft merino yarn, here they are:

 

Everyone, have a wonderful and creative summer season! Keep safe. :o)

Dear Spring, WELCOME!

Here comes my April/May update of fresh fibers and handspun merino and wensleydale yarns that are listed in my etsy store ,and handspun thick and thin merino yarn which can be found on ebayUK.

 

 

All 25 shades of my super soft 20 micron merino wool rovings are restocked in 3.5oz (100g) braids, including leaf green, berry red, and pitch black.

 

I drum carded 1lb of super fine 18 micron merino batts in pitch black, blended with stunning bronze mulberry silk….gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous.

All standard colourways of my handspun and handpainted merino thick and thin yarns are also restocked, including “Element”, “Reds” and “Savannah”. I made tons of these babies this month…I think I will take a serious thick and thin break for a while. :o)

Fleece wise I sorted several 1oz bags of lovely clean natural white long wensleydale curls, and hand painted long wensleydale curls in rich auburn-mahogany. The curls will make beautiful long dolls hair. They can also be tailspun, or incorporated into any felting project for extra texture.

 

Last but not least, 2 new shades of pure mulberry silk roving are listed in my etsy store, a light pink and a golden brown, both shades are stunning! The average staple length of my silk fiber is 6 inches (15cm), which makes it most suitable not just for handspinning and adding to felting material, but also for ultra soft and fine straight dolls hair.

 

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That´s all folks. Have a very good spring season and Happy Fiber Crafting!

Gradient colourway and spring greetings

Jean Aycock of FoxtrotFibers is a very lovely customer of mine. She purchased one of my handpainted merino rovings, handspun it into a plied yarn with a gradient colourway and used it for a weaving project. Have a look, the shifting colours are fantastic:

A space painted roving, like Jean´s lot, can be spun in many different ways, resulting in either a variegated, self striping or colour shifting (gradient) colourway, there really are no limits.
For example, the roving can be split lengthwise into as many thin and very long strands as necessary and then worsted spun that way, creating e.g. a single self striping yarn, or a variegated plied yarn (plied with 2 separate threads), or a self striping navajo plied yarn (3-plied) where the colours shift in short sequences.
For a controlled gradient colourway the roving can be pulled apart into short single colour chunks and then spun using the inch worm technique. This is a technique I personally prefer if I want certain colours to meet for a greater length within the yarn, once it has been plied. I usually place the colour chunks for two single threads in line next to each other and then wool spin them one by one, holding the short strand horizontally. Wool spinning makes the yarn fluffier and bouncier than worsted spinning. I like gradient yarns very much, though they require a bit more fiber preparation and a balanced spinning technique for a plied version. But they are so worth it and great fun indeed!!

Okay, since last month (sorry, no February blog due to a very bad cold…) I have been restocking my wool curls, thick and thin yarns and drum carded batts. There is also a new yarn and a new merino-silk batt available in my etsy store – I can´t resist the combination of purples and greens, they are perfect “fairy” colours. I just have to do them on a regular basis. ;o)

 

Speaking of fairies, Easter is drawing nearer, and there is no Easter without a spring fairy soap made of pure natural plant oils, cocoa butter, and a perfect scent of honey and spring blossoms:

These soap babies are currently curing but will be ready towards the end of the month.
Everybody have a wonderful and creative spring season!