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):