Starting on the big alpaca wash

alpaca wash
Originally uploaded by snowberrylime

As I am currently in Switzerland and was lucky enough to receive about 18kg of Suri Alpaca from a local farm for Christmas, I started washing the lovely fluff.
There is lots of dark brown, almost black alpaca, quite a bit of lighter fawn and the rest is white so it can be dyed.

In the white bucket is only water, yes, rather dirty water, but just water nonetheless... On the right is the alpaca after the first wash in some clean water.
It's now all lying out to dry and then I can take some of it back to Germany with me for spinning some fluffy bulky yarns!

The bad news is that I will have to move again, although I have just moved 3 months ago! My landlady burned down her own house with a gas explosion so she will need the little flat she rented out to me as soon as possible... nevermind.... *sigh* ...will have to pack everything up again after just about having settled in my flat....

I'm sort of back!

Coral reef silk
Originally uploaded by snowberrylime

Well, still no Internet at home, but I have started accepting my fate and am now uploading some stuff again. Here is some lovely handspun tussah silk which I have also added to my little shop. More to come very soon!

Still no pictures

Thanks for the kind comments!
My problem at the moment is that I have been so prolific in my spinning and have whole stashes of handspun waiting to be photographed - but it just seems to dark in my flat for that sort of thing and I'm seriously considering crafting a little light box.

There is lots of merino, singles and 2ply and navajo plied, as well as some beautiful pure tussah silk, a wool/angora mix and a wool/silk mix... just waiting to be exposed. :)

Some more dyeing needs to be done, but I just haven't got the patience at the moment... back to do some more spinning now though!

Finally settling in...

Well, it has been done. I've started my first little job and have moved into a little flat in a nice old timberwood frame house in Germany.
I've of course also ordered lots of fibre and have taken up dyeing and spinning again.
The only unfortunate thing is that shipping to America is now higher than it used to be from the UK. :(

But the good news is that my shop is back in action and I am starting to fill it up again fairly quickly!

So please have a look around and let me know if there is anything missing. :) I'll soon start posting new pics again as well, and most things will be back to normal!

Moving country

Sunset silk
Originally uploaded by snowberrylime

After long months trying to find myself a nice job, it all went very quickly the last few weeks. Yesterday I finally submitted my last piece of uni work, the dissertation, and said goodbye to some friends.

Today my parents will drive here from Switzerland and help me packing and moving. And then off we go to Germany!

Although this doesn't seem to be a very spinning-related entry, it is! I spun up pretty much all of my fibre and will have to order myself lots of new fibre once I get a proper address (oh, no! lol).

The yarn on the right is some pure tussah silk I spun up recently - I just love the colours of it and am trying to think of a project pretty enough for it :D

Well, I'm starting to get really nervous about moving, not so much the actual arriving there and starting work, or the fact that I don't know anyone (For some reason these things always excite me rather than scare me). No, it's more the actual moving, I got soo much stuff! I hope we can fit it all in the little Minivan...

Ravelry!

bumble bee 2
Originally uploaded by snowberrylime

Finally my invite came from ravelry! If you're on there too give me a shout, my name is there as well as everywhere else 'Snowberrylime'. It's far better than I had hoped, and I am already keeping myself busy adding my stash and needles - such a handy tool!

Today's featured yarn is a brand new art yarn, made from soft hand dyed merino. It's a 2ply with lots of added coils and plenty of little bee buttons. :)

Colonel Mustard and Ms Sage

Colonel Mustard and Ms Sage 2
Originally uploaded by snowberrylime

It's yet another fibre friday and I got quite a few things done this week.
This is handspun Targhee which is such an interesting wool to spin! It is as soft as merino, but has somehow a more compact handle to it - so I would guess that it would be less prone to felting, but who knows...

On unrelated news I have got a brand new job, and it is even related to my area of study - who would have thought it was possible?!
Sadly this means I will have to move country and am therefore trying to work with as much of my fibre as possible.
Last week I already managed the unthinkable by dyeing every single undyed fibre in the house, so now it's all down to spinning.

Glamourous stitch markers from Julridesigns!

Well, I know I shouldn't be browsing online shops anymore as I am moving country soon. Everything I buy from now on is strictly limited and needs to be essential. :P

But still, I think it's time for the next 'shopping' entry!














These gorgeous stitch markers from Julridesigns come in different colours. I especially liked the set on the left, with purple Swarovski crystals... >>Get it here












Or you can even get your very own custom set of stitch markers, that means you'll get 12 stitch markers on a pin, as you can see on the left.
>> Get it here

Other than stitch markers she also sells beautiful jewellery with a difference, so go check her out!

Etsy front page!

Yay, for the second time one of my items has made it onto the etsy front page, which means it has been arranged into a beautiful list with other great items by an etsy seller and has then been chosen by admin to be featured as etsy's front page.

The item which made it is my handspun silk from the last post, it also sold whilst it was up there.

However I am planning on dyeing some more pure tussah silk soon and adding a greater selection of pure silk to my shop!


I also added another art yarn to my shop, the frog prince yarn, which has finally been finished (I posted a WIP a while back). Here it is:

The base of this yarn is hand dyed (with professional dyes) merino, which is sooo soft! Added to this are hand dyed mohair locks in green and yellow as well as golden fabric, to portray the golden ball in the frog prince fairy tale. Just finding the perfect medium for this already took me many weeks...

For some added glamour there are two different kinds of green ric rac, one a rarity with sparkles. The absolute show stopper are green and golden sequins which are directly spun in.

To top it all off, the yarn has been plied in a wiggly style with green cotton thread (polyester thread would get 'loopy') and lots of coils have been added at personal measure.

Merino, mohair locks, ric rac, sequins, golden fabric, 35m/38 yards, 52g/1.9oz

Pure tussah silk

I've found yet another spinning obsession: pure tussah silk!
The way I spin them is into soft singles. On the left is my latest example, it's called 'purple steel' and has a beautiful lustre.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6962156

I had a few small skeins as well and they sold really quickly in my etsy shop.
Another thing I've been spinning (and I have been spinning a lot recently) is a luxurious fibre blend of 70% Merino and 30% Silk. It has all the advantages of a soft merino wool, but at the same time has the elegant drape and gorgeous shine of pure silk.
Here is an example of this fibre blend: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6960600

Overall I am really re-discovering the single ply - the colours just remain so beautifully in this ply...

Coming soon...

There are a few yarns still in my stash, waiting to be photographed and listed in my etsy shop! Some are brand new off the spindle, others yarns I wanted to keep, but have now decided to let them go... we all need space.
Be ready for:

-Mermaid yarn (Bulky thick and thin blue merino with silk slubs)
-Decadence (Purple-pink Merino/silk, fine 2ply yarn - very elegant)
-Red wine (single ply)









I might even add this enchanted forest yarn to the list:




It took me so long, and I had a specific project in mind, but now it just sits in my stash. There is quite a bit of it and therefore enough for a nice project.


...and here are some of the things I am working on right now:

-Bumble bee and bee hives yarn (This is one of my favourite yarns I have ever made, with bee buttons and coils for bee hives, just sooo sweet!)
-Shell yarn in blues/greens (single ply merino with shells spun in)
-White merino yarn for hat knitting kit with 'bride to be' yarn (lots of white 2ply yarn to make up a great knitting kit which any knitter would enjoy)
-Knitting needle rolls (Still mainly in the planning phase, but I found some great fabrics to use)
-Small sailor tote lined with colourful fabric (A cute little tote bag)

And as it's friday, here is a picture of some before unpublished handspun yarn. It's about a 4ply weight (much thinner than my usual yanrs) and has been completely spun on my turkish spindle. I loved the colours and used this roving to keep me entertained during my holiday. Well, of the 100g I only spun up 25g in 4 weeks...

Back to spinning!

Yay, I'm back from my holiday!
At the moment I am still uploading quite a backlog of yarn into my etsy shop, like some pure tussah silk:
I named it 'Sandy island', after a sweet little island in the Carribbean...






http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6803920


...and there is also this beauty, which I was very tempted to keep, and I still might, lol:
It's called Banana daiquiri and it's soooo soft!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6810993


During my holiday I also snapped my Turkish spindle, but luckily it was possible to glue it back together. Still, I am kind of in the market for a prettier spindle, as I've seen some very nice ones made from beautiful woods.... :D

Soon I will have sewn some knitting needle cases and of course spun some more yarn - although I should really dye some fibre first...

On holiday

I'm going home to visit my parents and friends, but will return early August.
Here is something pretty to look at whilst I'm gone:

The process of making my Antique corset art yarn, which is available for sale in my etsy shop.

All the beads, buttons, ribbons, lace and fabric that went into this project:
The roving is hand dyed falkland wool plus there are so many little things that went into this yarn. Spinning it and making sure that everything is securely attached was a fun challenge.


The finished skein, all handspun on my turkish spindle:


...and a close-up:

Old penny

This is my latest yarn, it's pure Merino and it's called 'Old penny'.

The colours are a subtle rusty red and an old fashioned green.

Other than this I have been working on a thin 2ply Merino/silk yarn - it's taking a lot longer than I thought it would.

After this I will surely start on a bulkier yarn, either with some sequins or perhaps even a complete art yarn!

I've also been part of a beautiful swap called the Magic roving swap, where amongst many other things I received this absolutely stunning orifice hook!

Latest addition to the fibre family

Yesterday I did some major dyeing, after having finally received some more soft fibre.

First, here is my latest fibre order, but not all of it is for myself:

Somewhere in this huge box is a big bag of mohair curls, and I am currently writing a little tutorial that takes you through the life of a handful of mohair curls which wanted some colour in their life.

Here's a little preview:


I just have to figure out a good way to upload pdf files to this blog... hmmmm...

Spinning projects!

The reason I get a real kick out of spinning chunky art yarns is the challenge of finding the exact right treasures for each yarn. It's not always easy, but the results are worth it!

And sometimes I find something pretty and base everything else around it - souvenirs from travelling, a special trim I only found once, beads collected over the years... or when sewing bags it's that lovely fabric I found only after wandering the unknown streets of a foreign city for hours, the beads and trims and laces which are so much prettier than anything I could find 'at home' or a fabric I first had to haggle for.
Most of my fabrics have their own story, and whenever I come back from an extended vacation my suitcase is packed with fabrics and trims. Or sarees, whatever the country has on offer, lol.

Well, at the moment I have two art yarns planned, but am still rushing around to find the perfect extras.

The first one will be based around these cuties here which I recently swapped with someone: So far I've got a whole bunch of the chicks and have today felted a few white merino 'eggs'.


The second WIP art yarn is for the UK etsy sellers monthly challenge which is for this month 'fairytales'. I always loved frog prince, so I thought I could get started on that, if I could find something suitable enough for the golden ball. Well, I did!
This will be shredded up and spun into the yarn, plus I got some matching sequins:

I love how the fabric already starts fraying. :)
Now all I need for this yarn are the froggies and then dye some green roving. For the froggies I was hoping to get some green children's buttons with frogs, but they don't seem to exist - it's really a lot harder than I thought it would be.

Customer gallery

I've recently been sent some picture of wonderful items made from my handspun yarn, and I'm very proud to see what can be done! Therefore this will be a space dedicated to such items.

If you've used my yarn in one of your creations and would like to send me a picture of it I will feature it here, either anonymously or with a link to your blog/website/whatever. Please don't be shy :)

This crochet scarf has been made by http://charlotte-narunsky.blogspot.com/ from a handspun single. I love seeing the in progress pictures as well!

This sock knitting bag has been knitted by http://ballee.etsy.com/ and has then been fulled. The bottom part is chocolate brown shetland wool with bamboo, handspun by me. Isn't it pretty with the flower embroidery?

Beautiful stitchmarkers from ballee

This is the first 'shopping' post! In this category I would like to show some great shops online, most of which are directly related to either knitting or spinning. Sometimes I might show a little collection with beautiful things which go together and would nicely match one of my own items :)

Today I would like to introduce some beautiful stitchmarkers to you!

Ballee creates extravagant stitchmarkers, the ones I particularly liked feature little pendants of Saints and are combined with pretty beads.

I've done a little trade and got myself this set amongst others. I quite happily call this the most beautiful set of stitchmarkers I have ever seen! The friendly woman behind ballee was more than happy to adjust the rings to fit exactly the needle sizes I have. They also arrived in some of the most original packaging I've seen in a while, ready for gift giving. :)

Everybody I have shown these to fell in love immediately, so go off and get yourself a cutom made set of absolutely stunning stitchmarkers at http://ballee.etsy.com

Leaves

Leaves handspun
Originally uploaded by snowberrylime

It's fibre friday! In the future I will try to at least post one new yarn every friday. I've already posted most of my newer yarns yesterday, but this is my latest one: Leaves. It's handspun from hand dyed merino with beads and silvery leaves.

I started with a nice green roving and selected the beads around it. The leaves were a great find and just work so well...

It's so smooshy and took me so long that I don't think I can part with it! It will most likely turn into a hat or some sort of a scarf once autumn approaches. :)

Here is a WIP shot, just before starting to ply this yarn (please ignore the blue tack on the side, it keeps it all running a bit smoother):

Art yarns

Well, I guess this is my first 'real' blog post, how exciting!
I am planning to post my latest yarns, often with WIP shots, tutorials, about other sellers with great products, about my special offers, possibly I'll have some giveaways from time to time...

For today I thought it would be nice to show some of the recent art yarns I've made.

Here is Citrus explosion on the rocks, a pure merino 2ply yarn with biiiig blobs:
on etsy: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6016980

Here is dragonfly, a hand dyed merino yarn with seed beads and silvery dragonfly beads:
on etsy: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6079005

This is true love, a 2ply merino/mohair with heart buttons, seed beads and handmade fimo beads from http://lilley.etsy.com, check out her shop full of ceramics and wonderful fimo beads!
on etsy: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6134313

and the last one for now is called Bride to be, made from hand dyed merino and white and pink tulle as well as some fancy tulle with star print...
on etsy soon.

Links ...or where you'll find me online.

Snowberry & Lime:

http://snowberrylime.etsy.com - shop

http://snowberrylime.deviantart.com - finished works gallery

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43307699@N00 - work in progress gallery

http://www.ravelry.com/people/Snowberrylime - on ravelry

Support:

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?board=171.0 - Spinning forum on craftster

http://www.fibergypsy.com/cgi/fiberlinkmanager/measurement_converter.cgi - Meter to yard conversion

http://www.knitty.com - Unusual knitting patterns

http://kurrajonghandcrafts.com/blog/ - The blog that introduced the SSAL (Sunday spin-along), join in on the fun!

http://work.nataliejost.com/inc/etsycalc.htm - etsy calculator, will give you an idea of pricing

Recycled sail

I grew up on a sailing boat called 'Flamingo' and the sails are about the closest to textiles and fashion you will get on a boat...
Sails do break however, and when I first got into making bags they were a readily available and cheap fabric to work with. Of course I couldn't resist the sweet call of bright fabrics, but when recently another sail broke I immediately nicked it to create some very individual bags.

Here is a small tote bag:

Back with stencil

Front with sail seam

...and this was a custom order from fellow sailors:
It's the size of a beach bag, features the boat name and 4 inside pockets.

I call them 'Sailorbags' and try to incorporate as many typical details you can find in a sail as possible. The writing is stencilled and definitely weatherproof!

As sail is hard work to sew due to its heavy weight, I generally only do these as custom orders, with the boat name stencilled on. Please contact me if interested and I'll see if I got all the necessary material around. :)

Bright bags

My fabric stash exists in several different locations, here are some of the bright ones I have with me in the UK:


Beautiful fabrics are one of my main inspirations, and they lead me to bags like this one:

Handspun yarn

Leading up to last Christmas I read every spinning tutorial I could find online and spent hours on eBay trying to find the perfect deal for either a spindle or a spinning wheel. It just so happened that there was an incredibly cheap buy it now spinning wheel in Germany, so I arranged for my parents to get it sent to them whilst on a short holiday there. My first wheel is a Polish wheel, a Kromski Mazurka, which now resides in Switzerland.

When I got my wheel I could already spin theoretically, but had never even touched a spindle. Well, after a few hours of adjusting the wheel I was spinning my own yarn! Within the first few days I spun all these skeins:

I soon graduated to dyeing my own fibre when I had to leave for university.

Back in the UK I soon realised I couldn't live without spinning and bought a turkish spindle (because I'm lazy and don't like the idea of having to wind the yarn off a spindle, lol).

Well, by some twist of fate I soon got an offer to buy an Ashford traditional for a reasonable price, and so I did...


I spin pretty much every day and love trying out new, exotic fibres and also often add beads and other things to my yarns. For pictures please check out my gallery on deviantart: http://snowberrylime.deviantart.com :)