Let the Festivities Begin!

I've already blogged about some Christmas/Winter yarns I've spun, and I am happy to say they've all made it into the shop now. I've also been busy spinning more yarns and making gift sets, each containing one yarn with matching stitch markers and bag. These items have all been hand made by myself, of course :-)

These gift sets will make a perfect Christmas present for the special knitter in your life - whether that's yourself or someone you love ;-) If you want some of our yarns and/or gift sets in time for Christmas, be quick! Usually, shipping overseas takes about 7 to 10 days, so there's still a good chance of receiving your parcel in time for Christmas if you order right away.

Christmas Opulence

 

Merino wool of different kinds of blue, stunning facetted bohemian glass beads with silvering, and TINSEL! Knit this into something funky, opulent and elegant!

Winter Star (gift set)

 Pure Alpaca fibre, spun into a beautiful, soft yarn of light fingering weight. It drapes wonderfullly and has a lovely halo. The bag is made from commercially embroidered taffeta, the cord is decorated with a handmade pendant of a white freshwater pearl on one end and a silver snowflake charm on the other end. The stitch markers are made from silvery-peacock freshwater pearls and tiny silver seed beads. 

The lighting of the first picture is nice, but the colours are not accurate - they are actually silvery-grey (bag) and grey (yarn), as you can see in the second picture.

 Red Roses (gift set)

Hand blended merino wool of burgundy red, linen of burgundy and bright red, white bamboo flocks and sparkling red angelina were spun into a wonderfully textured yarn. The bag is made from commercially embroidered tafetta and the cord is decorated with a silver charm on one end, and a handmade pendant of one facetted garnet and two bohemian glass beads on the other end. The stitch markers contain one blood red biconic glass bead and two small black bohemian glass beads each.

I'd really love to spin more winter and Christmas yarns, but I have a lot of stuff to do for University right now, so that has to come first - except for any orders during the next few days, which will be shipped immediately, of course :-) And I do hope to find the time for another blog post soon, as there are two items I'd like to show you - made from our art yarns by our customers :-)

Trading Wire Bending Art

A while ago, I signed up at kreativtausch.de, a German community where people trade handmade items. I've already shown you a shawl pin I made and some of the glass beads I traded it for. Last week I saw some gorgeous-looking soaps I really wanted, and I was asked to make two bookmarks for the trade:



I really like the one with the skull ;-) I've been wanting to make a pair of earrings for myself using the bone skulls, and I hope I will find the time soon.

Today, my soaps arrived, and they don't only look gorgeous, they also smell wonderful!


I also agreed to a trade of two shawl pins for a lot of jam quite some time ago, and I finally managed to make the second pin:


The design was requested by my trading partner and I am glad I managed to accommodate her :-) I am really looking forward to the jams, they will fill a hole in our pantry ;-)

I also listed some yarns for trade, and I found some people who were willing to make some wonderful things for me - but I haven't received any of them yet, so I'll tell you about them some other time. Just let me say that I'm waiting for some handmade glass beads I'll need for a big project I'm planning for myself and which I'll tell you about soon.

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.
***

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!

It's nearly Christmas! - Special Offer

Christmas shopping is in full swing, preparations are being made and we've been in a pre-Christmas mood for a little while now. What better way to celebrate than to offer something special to our faithful customers?

Buy 2 or more yarns and get 2 free stitch markers for every skein you order!
And these are no left-overs, they have been specially made - for you! :-) If possible, we will give you markers which go well with the yarn you buy.


This offer is valid from Saturday, 28th of November, until Christmas Day!
Please understand that we can't combine this offer with the previous stitch marker offer.

You might also be interested in the fact that we plan to list stitch markers in our art yarn shop as regular items.

Stoned ;-)

I know, I know - couldn't resist ;-)

I've finally managed to make key chain rings from the beach stones I ordered a while ago. They have been finished for about a week or two, but since some of them were intended as gifts, I couldn't write about them earlier. Now I have given most of them away to dear friends I meet once or twice a year and I am finally able to post some pictures.

I had decided to put my studies to good use and create egyptian "magic" pendants to use as key rings or bag clingers. I looked for some hieroglyphic words like "magic", "seeress", "might" (and many others) and painted them onto the stones. I am quite satisfied with the outcome :-)



I wanted my friends to know what word they had chosen, but only after choosing a pendant, so I wrote the hieroglyphs, the transcription and the German meaning on narrow strips of parchment and rolled them around the wiry bits. This way, everyone was able to choose from looks and then get a nice surprise ;-)


There are a few left (I had ordered more stones than I needed, greedy me ;-)) and I am currently thinking about listing them in our InnerTwilight shop. Or I might keep them to have a small gift handy when I need it :-)

Reminder - get 10% off your next order and free stitch markers!

You've still got a week to send us pictures of your finished objects in order to get 10% off your next order and free stitch markers. For full details, see here.

We are so very curious ;-)




Oh, and Max, should you read this: these stitch markers will be yours after your next order! Thanks again for all the pictures :-)

New Earrings

Just a quick teaser in passing ;-)




Both pairs are made from silver (935) and semi-precious stones. I hope I will be able to list them on Etsy soon - but since this week is very busy, it might be some time until I get my chance ;-)

It might not be the lost diadem of Ravenclaw...

...and it's not a goblin-made tiara or any other masterpiece, either ;-) but it's a start. The bracelet is a lot better, though.

I have to admit there is not too much to see on the picture, I tried to take one of me wearing the tiara, but it just looked stupid. I might need another head to wear something like that ;-) I'd like to wear a diadem for my wedding, to be honest - maybe it would look better with some other kind of hair-do. It's still a while until then, I can both practice making a diadem and finding a suiting kind of hair style. But enough of that, and back to more interesting things.


Apart from the tiara, I made some earrings. For the first pair I used commercially produced hooks, for the second pair I made my own and I just love them :-) All the hooks sterling silver, while the rest of the wire is silver-plated. I will be making some more earrings (with my own hooks) soon, it's a lot of fun :-)



Oh - and I nearly forgot the necklace. It's made of a large agate bead, wrapped with copper wire which has also be wrapped with (thinner) copper wire. It is not very spectacular, but I like it all the same.

News from the wire bending department

I don't want to speechify - just have a look at the pictures of my new bracelet :-)


This has been made from brass wire which has been hammered flat after bending.

My next projects will probably be some earrings. I've already made a ring which I gave to a friend without taking a photo first. Both my Twisted partner and I seem to be dying to have a go at making a tiara, so hopefully we'll be showing pictures, soon :-)