Experimenting

I've wanted to try and make some nice clasps with a kind of prehistoric touch for a little while now, and a few days ago I started experimenting. I like the outcome very much and I thought I could make some small art yarn garments to go with the clasps (oh yes, it was this way around, funnily ;-)). So I spun some gorgeous art yarn from bluefaced leicester -which is SO gorgeously soft, I have to order some more!- and golden stuff, like sequins and hand crafted spirals, and then I knitted two differnt neck cuffs. Now I need someone with a slim and pretty neck to take some good photos ;-)

I've also spun a skein of yarn from wonderful, shiny, hand dyed silk - but I seem to have had quite a bad day. When I wound the yarn from the bobbin onto my niddy noddy, it tore in several places (I had tried to spin the yarn with very little tension, so it would be extra soft) and I had to place a few knots. Now, I don't mind knots while knitting, but selling a skein of yarn with several knots doesn't feel right. So either I'll have to make something for myself or I'll have to sell the yarn at a special price. I'll see. And I hope I'll be more successfull with the rest of the fibre, since there's still some left. The colours are simply amazing - like a deep green meadow with dandelions :-)

Lots of new stuff

We have to admit there hasn't been much new stuff lately, neither here nor in our art yarn shop on Etsy. We have both been busy with work and studies and there wasn't much time for crafty things - but we'll do our best to change that. In fact, we had a nice get-together yesterday - a whole day of spinning and wire bending and knitting :-) Snowberry&Lime delivered some wonderful new fibre, like Cashmere and Gotland lambs wool, and also some very strange fibre, like this glittering fleece of merino wool and sparkling nylon fibre:



I had to test this immediately, and I also spun the Gotland lambs wool and some alpaca-silk yarn during the meeting:


The glittering stuff really looks like artificial turf (though it is a lot softer, thank goodness ;-)), so that's what I will call the yarn. I also started spinning some cashmere last night, which is incredibly soft. Maybe I'll dye the yarn after spinning, but I still have to decide about the colour.

And then there is my new favourite yarn, the first one I spun on my new Ashford Traditional (which I got for Christmas and still haven't told you about - shame on me!) WITH the new jumbo flyer (which I should have gotten for Christmas, as well, but which I only received a few days ago) and the only one (at the moment) I think I really can't part with: Dark Atlantis


It has been spun from black merino, mixed together with hand dyed lambs wool of shades of greenish blue, blueish green and turquoise (hard to describe, really) and glittering fibre. There are some hand crafted spirals and lots of facetted glass beads in it and it sparkles and is dark yet a little colourful and I really think I have to keep this one for myself ;-)

Another thing I made for myself is a new orifice hook for my new spinning wheel. It's the second one I made, since the first one was rather crappy, and I really like how it turned out:


As you can see, I am really into wire bending at the moment. It started with some harmless stitch markers for the crafts fair last year - and then I had to buy a book or two and some tools and try to do other stuff - and now... well, we've already opened another shop and let's just say that stitch markers won't be the only wiry things in there ;-)

New year - new shop!

We've been thinking about opening a second shop for quite some time - and now we finally did it!



We just can't restrict our creativity to yarns only. We somehow started to do other things than spinning along the way - like making stitch markers and row counter bracelets and fascinators and *um* other fascinating stuff ;-) And we won't stop at this, rest assured! Weird has already bought some supplies and tools for more crafty experiments.

It will take some time to list all our items, since we've already made quite a lot ;-) But we'll work hard.

Aw...!

What has happened to our shop? There are only two hand fulls of yarn left?

Well, I can tell you: It was Christmas. And Winter in general. We're slowly running out of stock, and even though I know that Weird has some yarns left I know too that I don't. I just didn't get to spinning in the last weeks, all those holiday preparations, getting gifts, planning our Silvester trip ate up so much of my time!

But now all of this will change. I got a huuuuuge package of new fibers, all sorts of stunning stuff: Wensleydale locks, shiny silk and bamboo, hand-dyed rovings, suri alpaca! All those fibers are so incrdibly beautiful - and they were a gift! I'm so stunned and thankful - thank you for your wonderful present, Emi! You really made my day!