Shifting Stash

I think it's quite fascinating that I can decrease the volume of my stash by spinning yarn from it - which doesn't need as much space as unspun wool or other materials ;-) It needs even less room when wound to balls (I had a bag full of skeins and after I wound them they took about three quarters of the bag).
Anyway, enough of strange thoughts. I just wanted to show a picture of the nine small skeins I spun yesterday, with the intent of knitting them into graffiti. They are roughly between 30 and 60 m each and I will have a lot of fun combining them and embellish some lonely lamp posts or some bleak landscape - although I have to watch which of the yarns I'll use for land art, since I really don't want to leave anything that won't decompose, such as angelina or metallic thread. Well, I'll have a few days to get creative, since Twisted, our husbands and I will be spending some quiet, lazy days together. I'm really looking forward to that :-)

Happy New Year to all of you!

Loving Graffiti

No, I haven't been out putting up more graffities, but I've been busy knitting two more and spinning some suitable yarn - eight mini skeins, to be precise, to take on our mini vacation, so I can knit all I want and put up some tags somewhere else ;-) I haven't managed to take photos of the yarns (it was dark long before I stopped spinning), but I can show you the two graffities, ready to be put up somewhere:


Now, we still need a name and some great labels, both TQ and I hope to be successful on both counts tomorrow :-)

(The pirate tag I might label in honour to Captain Jack Sparrow ;-))

Dragonback - my first yarn guerilla mission

It's been in my head for a while now, I've seen pictures of others doing it, I've read blog postings and I wanted to do it myself. What am I talking about?

YARN GRAFFITI!

At first I had a hard time getting ideas, so I postponed any action and just found the general idea very appealing. Then I got a smashing book for Christmas: Yarn Bombing by Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain (our German readers will certainly enjoy this blog posting about the book), whose blog can be found here. It is full of ideas, pictures, interviews, instructions/guidelines, it's absolutely fantastic and inspiring. Suddenly, ideas started pouring and I couldn't wait to get home, grab some yarn and knitting needles and start doing it.

I wanted to start with something simple and I wanted to start close to home. I decided on a stylized dragon because the idea was suddenly there and I planned to decorate the public park behind our flat. So, when my sisters in law sat down to read the final chapters of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (the older one, 28, reading to her younger sister, 9), I saw my chance to both knit graffiti and listen to a good story (normally I listen to Jim Dale reading it to me, thanks to my father who gave me the whole audio book series for my last birthday). When we had to leave for the restaurant I took my knitting and made good progress while sitting in the tram, while waiting for dinner and while standing outside waiting for the tram back home, which was slightly uncomfortable/freezing. When we got home I crocheted the spikes and then around midnight my husband and I went outside - I to sew the tag onto a lamp post, he to document it for you ;-) (He did get a tripod for Christmas, so he kind of jumped at the chance).



I know some people think it's about letting go - you should walk away from your graffiti and never look back, but I like the idea of walking past my first one whenever I need to go into town or somewhere else the tram can take me. I'll try to be less sentimental with the next ones ;-) I am curious how long it will last, though - and whether my favourite neighbour will ask me if I did it, since she knows about my spinning and knitting.

(By the way: my hand/wrist warmers are new, too - I hope to take a better picture of them soon)

Look at this!

Earlier this year, we offered a free art yarn (Summer Sorbet) to the person who bought the 200th yarn from our shop. The skein went to Max, who has already supplied us with numerous pictures of the stunning things she has made from many others of our art yarns - and now she was so kind to send us pictures of the hat she made from the Summer Sorbet art yarn.

Just to remind you - this was the yarn:

Max tells me her daughter was very persistent and finally Max gave in and made a had for her, rather than keeping the yarn for herself. Here it is, isn't it just adorable?

I hardly recognized the yarn, to be honest! I mean, I liked it as a skein, but knitted up it's so much more wonderful. Usually, I have some idea as to how a yarn might look when knitted into a garment, but with this one I am very surprised. I love this hat! :-)
Thank you so much for sharing this, Max!

Need... more... time!

I can hardly keep up with listing, blogging and making new yarns, bags and stitch markers ;-)
Here are some of the latest items:

Laceweight yarn of different fibres, all of them hand dyed (except for the white, of course) and spun as a gradient from dark plum to a slightly greenish, dark blue, a lighter blue and then to white. Over 500 yards, photos are already done, will hopefully be listed soon already sold.
***

Laceweight art yarn spun from hand dyed Bluefaced Leicester wool/silk blend and adorned with tiny stars of antique gold. Some golden angelina adds some more sparkle. Will be listed soon as well (hopefully) Already sold.
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Another gift set, consisting of the Physalis art yarn (has been listed for a few weeks), magnificent stitch markers of naturally banded carnelian and light green seed beads, and project bag of wonderful, brown, embroidered taffeta.

I do love the fabric, and the overall-look of the bag. I've added a maple leaf and a carnelian bead for tassels and I think I need to make another bag like this for myself :-)
***

Now, I need to be off - more spinning to do, and I hope to get some listing done later, as well. Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Looking for the perfect gift?

We've tirelessly worked to finish something very special in time for Christmas: our fabulous gift sets! My dear friend and shop partner Twisted/TrashQueen had the idea and I had the sewing mashine - and now we'll be able to offer sets of art yarn, matching bag and matching stitch markers, all handmade by us :-)

For example: A pirate's Treasure. Our "Hair of a Pirate" art yarn, a cotton bag with printed white skulls on black background and with fake coins for tassels, and a set of 4 luxury stitch markers, containing genuine facetted garnet beads.



And: Winter Sky. Our "Winter Sky" art yarn, a white velvet bag with tibetian silver snowflake pendants for tassels, and a set of 6 stitch markers, containing biconical crystal glass beads (I do hope to take a better photo...)


The light was not ideal for a photo session, but that's winter, I suppose. Here's some of the sets together, anyway:

Soon to be listed in our shop!