Christmas before Halloween?

Since I was very late with my Halloween yarns this year, I decided to start spinning Christmas yarns a little early - meaning, the first one is done :-) There's also still one Halloween yarn left which I haven't been able to list so far. That's because I haven't been able to take good photos of my latest yarns yet, and I am terribly busy with my other job at the moment, so listing the new yarns in the shop will have to be postponed a while. But I wanted to give you a little preview:

Watch your Back!

Another one with fun zombie heads in it - and quite a large skein it is, too: 216 m / 117 g. It's sparkly, it's fun - and a little creepy, of course :-)

Christmas Art Yarn
(still have to find the right name)This one contains wonderfully soft wool/silk blend, hand dyed tussah silk, lace fabric, faux pearls and red stars. I love the texture, and I always love yarns with fabric strips in them.

Skin of a Basilisk (3)


This was a custom order which I was very happy about :-) I had already spun two similar yarns way back, and I always liked them, and spinning them is fun because of all the coils. Also, as you might know by now, I love spinning Harry Potter related yarns *g*


Red Orange

Another custom order, placed by a lady I know personally :-) She has already received this yarn and likes it very much. It's made of hand dyed wool/silk blend and apparently it will be used as a highlight in a jacket for a child.

HELP! Knitting (Book) Advice Needed!

Hello fellow knitters :-)

I've written about a special project a while ago: a shawl/scarf made from handspun ocean art yarns. I have been searching for patterns lately, and I am now pretty sure what I want. I had stumbled upon the Dreamcoat on Ravelry before and I think the basic pattern of longish parts and squares would look great as a shawl. Let me show you a very crude drawing of what I roughly imagine the shawl to look like:

(I know - it's a bad drawing and a bad photo, but I hope you get the idea ;-))

Now, if the book containing the pattern (Dazzling Knits) were just a normal printed book, I'd just order it on Amazon, have a look inside and send it back if it was not what I wanted. But the book is out of print, I can't have a look inside and I don't want to spend $15 on a book I am not sure is the one I need. I have to admit I don't really like the other patterns in it, I only want to learn the basics - making the squares and long parts of the Dreamcoat and use them in a different way.

Now, this is where I need you: can any of you tell me anything more about the book? Can you recommend it even to someone who doesn't like most of the patterns? Can you recommend any other book, website, or explain the techniques I need for this project?

I've already had a look at other books on modular knitting, but none of them seemed to explain how to make the longer parts I'd need. One of the books ("Modular Knits: New Techniques for Today's Knitter" by Iris Schreier) looked good, I thought - but there were many bad reviews saying it contained lots of errors, and you had to join the author's discussion group for help. I also thought "Domino Knitting" by Vivian Hoxbro looked good, but I am not sure whether it contains everything I need.

Please help!
Thanks :-)

Zombies, Ghosts, and Pumpkins

I've spun three sets of the creepy-fun polymer clay things I made the other day into gorgeous Halloween art yarns. There's still one left which I hope to process today or tomorrow. I've already prepared hand dyed red Bluefaced Leicester wool and black wool/silk blend, so I am ready to go :-)
Anyway, here are the freshly spun Halloween art yarns:

Pumpkin Cult


Death Day Party



Zombies on the Road



The zombie heads and ghosts even glow in the dark. I've taken pictures, but I'll have to try again, they're really bad. I'll show them to you anyway, though, to give you an idea of how the things look :-)



The yarns will be listed as soon as possible, so there'll be enough time for you to order them before Halloween arrives.

Need for more Yarn Bombs

Maybe some of you remember my first yarn bombing mission and the Dragonback graffiti I attached to a pole near our flat. Well, it's been up for about 9 months (I am surprised it's still there!) and it's more than weather-beaten. It has many holes and always slides down the pole - but someone seems to like it enough to regularly pull it up and somehow knot it together!



I have to admit, I am quite touched by that fact. But I think it's time for the graffiti to go, it's so holey and ugly. I hope to find the time to make a new graffiti for that pole soon, maybe an even brighter one, a larger one.
I am really surprised nobody has taken it down yet - there are people from public services who keep the little park in order, and I thought they'd throw it away.

Two Treasuries - Halloween and Dia de los Muertos

Today, I was really in the mood for creating treasuries. I haven't done so often until now, but with Halloween around the corner I wanted to see what gorgeous items Etsy had to offer, and I wanted to share my finds. I've also stumbled upon some Dia de los Muertos items recently and decided to make another treasury.



Please click on the pictures to get to the treasuries! I'd love you to click the items, comment if you like, and help getting them noticed and maybe even to the front page - that would be thrilling! :-)


When searching for Halloween items, I came upon many beautiful and fun items, but I have to admit that not many were (in my opinion) suited for a good treasury, because of the photos. I have had difficulties with taking good photos in the past, and still find it hard sometimes if the light isn't right. But I can't stress enough how important it is to take really good, clear photos, if possible without a distracting background (that's what I need to work on, too). It's also a good idea to edit photos a little, brighten them up and play around with the colour balance.
Searching for items for the treasuries has taught me something about photos, or rather reminded me of what I already heard in the past. Sometimes it's good to re-evaluate :-)