Christmas Special: Stitch Marker Candies

As Christmas is nearing I thought about some specials I could offer, one of them being the gift set option I already blogged about recently.

And now there is another special - a free gift with every purchase: From now until Christmas Eve, you'll get a free stitch marker (same as in our Stitch Marker Surprise) for every skein of yarn you buy from our shop. I sewed each of them into a cute little candy pack for the occasion, made from decorative paper and sometimes maps (there are a few I made from a map of middle earth, for example).

I only hope they won't be squashed flat when I ship your parcels. This thought came only when I had already finished them, of course ;-)

Shopping for Christmas? The Gift Sets are Back

I have been busy participating in the Etsy Holiday Boot Camp and preparing the shop for Christmas. That's the strange part about owning a shop of any kind - you have to think about Christmas before the leaves even turn red. 

The past few years, I offered gift sets - each containing one art yarn, one handsewn project bag in a matching colour, and a set of stitch markers, usually also in matching colours.
This year, after consulting with Twisted, I decided on a different approach: there will still be beautiful, handsewn project bags and equally beautiful (equally handmade) stitch markers, but they won't be tied to a specific art yarn. I will list gift options containing a project bag and a matching set of stitch markers instead, so you can choose which yarn you'd like to pair with which set.

I have made eight sets in different colours, and there is no doubling - so be quick if you want a specific one ;-)
As always, each bag is adorned with two charms attached to the cord. I tried to decide on favourites, but it's hard. I love the black one with the raven charm and the black faceted bead, but also the turquoise one with the silvery bead and the seahorse. Oh, and the white one with the silvery bead and the snowflake charm, I really love snowflakes... I will list these beauties as soon as I can :-)

Back in Business - and Starting with a Sale!

Hello everyone :-) I hope my long absence has not induced you to wander off...

I am very happy to announce that I nearly finished my thesis (which means I need to add some pictures, check a few references, wait for correction and add/change the things other people think I should), and work on the shop has begun again!

I thought it would be great to celebrate with a sale, so as of now all the old items (items added before today) are marked down to make room for the new. The sale will be active until Sunday, 3rd of June, 12 am EST. You don't have to enter a coupon code or do anything else to get the discount, it's already included in the prices now shown in the shop.

As for new stuff, I have quite a few ideas :-) I made a really extensive yarn plan a while back, and since I can now take down my thesis plan, I can hang the yarn plan back on my wall - so there are lots of things to come. I have already spun three new yarns which I will add to the shop shortly, and I have also carded a couple of batts, so there will be even more new yarns soon :-) If you're looking for a custom yarn, that's possible, too - just message us on Etsy!

Oh, it's so good to be back!

Meet Anna! :-)

Anna's alpacas Galax and My

A while ago we got a message from a very friendly knitter from Sweden who - apart from flattering us very much indeed - told us she had alpacas. This really got my attention, as well as the small and beautiful word Sweden ;-) I just love Scandinavia, and I took Swedish classes a while back, and with these things and the fact that Anna described herself as crazy about yarn and knitting we had something to talk about :-) Turns out we are interested in similar things, like mythology, Star Trek and Harry Potter, and there were some long letters going back and forth. I asked her whether she had a blog, for I'd love to follow someone who wrote about alpacas and knitting, even if it was in Swedish (I have forgotten nearly everything from my classes), as long as there were pictures ;-) Anna told me she had actually thought about writing a blog, and now she felt was the time to get going. I promised to tell you about it, so she could get some readers (and at-picture-lookers ;-)) - so here I go:

Please stop by Annas aviga maskor :-)

I've rediscovered google translate in the process, so now the Swedish isn't too much of a problem, and also the google translations turn out to be quite hilarious at times (yeah, it's still a machine, and for that it's pretty good). Just give it a try if you like creative stuff and alpacas!

Anna has also kindly sent me pictures of the cowl she made from our Dark Secrets art yarn, which can be worn in more than one way:

I love the versatility of this piece, and also this was one of the yarns I thought twice about putting in the shop, so naturally I like how it turned out as well :-)
Thank you for sharing, Anna!

SALE! -- Black Friday through Cyber Monday

Are you looking for special gifts? Or would you like to start a wonderful new project? Whether you're shopping for others or want to indulge yourself, now's the perfect time:  

we have marked down all our items! 

Either go directly to our shop where you'll see the sale prices (a click on a single item shows how much you'll save), or click on the picture in order to go to our Etsy On Sale page to see an overview of the old and new prices

Happy shopping! :-)

Need Yarn Before We Close?

We will close the shop for a short vacation, and we're offering a sale for the remaining days before that.

So, if you're in need for some gorgeous yarn, order quickly before the 5th of August and use this coupon code to get 10% off:
QUICKANDDIRRRTY2011

The Weird&Twisted shop will be closed from the 5th until the 17th of August.
Have a wonderful time, everyone, see you when we get back :-)

Feature - Tour de Fleece - Halloween

There's quite a lot of news :-) First of all, we're very proud and happy to have been chosen for a feature on My Day is Friday. We documented one of our days for you, complete with text and photos, which you can read and look at here. Morrgan, thank you so much for the opportunity, we had lots of fun documenting! :-)

Last week, I had a new idea for Halloween ghosts, so I prepared them and spun them into a yarn. There's gorgeous black and violet fibre in it, as well as some glow in the dark fibre, and - of course - the little cloth ghosts. Here's a quick peek until I can take better photos:

Halloween is still a while off, but I just love creating new Halloween yarns, and I think you can never start too early ;-)

Then, there's the Tour de Fleece which started yesterday. Since I've been feeling a little under the weather lately, I didn't spin yesterday and I might not be able to participate every day, but I will try. Today, I spun a yarn which I'll be knitting into a scarf for a good friend:

And now, I'm off to watch the rest of today's game of the Women's World Cup. By the way - do any of you follow the WWC?

Special Feature - Tales of the Firefly

A few months ago, my husband and I suggested to my sister-in-law that she open her own Etsy shop. She had been making beautiful chains of lights for some time and we thought it would be great for her to spread the beauty around the world :-) It was not that hard to convince her; actually, she was hooked nearly straight away. She and I met in order to set up the shop, to try out how to photograph the items, and to design the banner, avatar and business cards. I was involved a lot (I wouldn't have wanted it any other way), and I love what she does, so I really want to tell you more about it!

Tales of the Firefly

Eisprinzessin - Ice Princess

The Firefly takes ordinary, plain chains of lights and transforms them - almost magically - into stunning works of art. They create a beautiful atmosphere when they are switched on in the dark, but that's not all: they are also beautiful decoration in daylight.

Bride's Pride

Not only are they equipped with flowery-looking lamp shades, but the Firefly also lovingly adorns every chain with beads, bast, ribbons, charms, or anything else that fits the theme. This is hard work, since the wrapping and beading is done by hand, of course. I have seen her beading wire for some of the lights, and she recently counted the beads on one of them - she put well over two thousand (!) seed beads on about 3 m of wire for a single chain. Imagine all the time and effort!

l'aubergine

When she can't find enough decorational items to match a theme, the Firefly doesn't hesitate to create her own: look at these little aubergines made from seed beads!

This chain is wrapped with green bast, making the aubergines and the purple lamp shades stand out even more.

To be perfectly honest, I have wondered recently whether art yarn would make good wrapping material for these chains ;-)




The lamp shades are made of colourful paper. The Firefly carefully lubricates it with oil before cutting it and folding every single lamp shade by hand.
The oil is necessary because otherwise the paper won't really let the light shine through. The firefly has already blogged about this, with pictures and all. Go over there and have a look if you're interested! :-)



The Firefly opened her shop in February and has been working hard ever since in order to fill it with her beautiful creations. You might be able to imagine how long it takes to make even one chain of lights, with all the wrapping, oiling, folding and beading. There is already quite a variety of colours and themes, ranging from fairy tales to garden and nature. And there will be many more, of course! :-)


Maybe you're wondering whether you'll be able to use the chains of lights outside continental Europe? Don't worry - the Firefly has thought about everything and will provide you with a free adaptor for the plug if you're in a different country! Just let her know you need one when you order.

Now, I am sure you'd like to know where you can find the Firefly and her beautiful work?
Visit her shop on Etsy: talesofthefirefly.etsy.com - use coupon code 20117 on checkout for 10% off your order! (Valid until May 22)
Visit her blog: http://talesofthefirefly.blogspot.com
Fan her on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tales-of-the-Firefly/182611118455816
Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/fireflytales

Shop of the Day!

We joined the Shop of the Day team on etsy recently, and today we've been selected as on of the shops of the day. To be honest, I seem not to have figured out the rules entirely, yet, but I'm getting there ;-)

Anyway, we're very happy to have been chosen and to receive special attention, and have decided to honour the occasion with a discount. Use SHOPOFTHEDAY as coupon code on checkout to get 10% off your order!

Here are some items of today's other shops of the day:

 

                                   1. Wedding Thank You Cards by SweetandSassyCards

                                   2. Rain by VoiceofColors

                                   3. Hand Crocheted Beanie by CrochetCanada

                                   4. Glorious Earrings by fantasydesign

St Patrick's Day Lottery - Win a Set of Knitting Jewels

As another of our anniversary specials, we offer our customers the chance to win a full set of six handmade St. Patrick's Day stitch markers.

They are made of brightly green glass beads, orange and white seed beads, and silver plated wire, and they will fit needles up to 7.5 mm

They will help you keep track and they will adorn your knitting magnificently.


All you have to do is buy one or more yarns from our shop on St. Patrick's Day - 17th of March, Etsy time (EST), and we'll put your name in our lottery pot. If you buy one yarn, you'll be put in once, if you buy two yarns, we'll put your name in twice, and so on.

If you win, the stitch markers will be sent directly with your order.

Good Luck! :-)

Blog Candy - WIN a Skein of Handspun Art Yarn!

It's March, it's 2011 - it's our three year anniversary! We want to celebrate with you and thank you for your support. So we chose to host another blog candy, this time a little more creative even than the last one.

Here is how you can participate:

1. write a post on your blog:

• add a link to this post, so others can find us, too
• add 3 inspirational photos to your post (why? See "The Prize ;-))

2. comment on this post: 

• add the link to your post (the one containing the link to us and the 3 photos)
• add your email adress, Ravelry name or Etsy name.
  If you chose to provide your Etsy or Ravelry name, please tell us where to look for you - we don't want to search all of the places you might be registered ;-)

PLEASE NOTE: this is not an either/or option, you'll have to do both 1. and 2. in order to be eligible for the lottery drawing!  

3. be patient and wait until March 31st, when we will draw the lucky winner

The PRIZE
The lucky winner will get a full skein of art yarn, spun especially for her or him! The colours or theme will be based on the 3 inspirational photos. So choose wisely! :-)
We will pay the shipping costs, of course.

Good luck to you all!

(This post will stay on top of the page until the end of the month, so watch out for new posts below this one ;-))

Weekend Discounts

I've been quite busy spinning and listing new yarns, as you might have seen :-) Today was photo day, and I shot all the yarns I spun this week. The new daily routine is going quite well, I am happy to say. I have been trying to spin and list a yarn each workday, besides all my Uni stuff. I didn't always manage, but most of the time it worked fairly well. So, there are new yarns ready to be listed during the coming week, and I've also carded these new batts here, to keep a steady flow. I'm really looking forward to spinning them, I love the colours - and I can't decide which one to spin up first.

We've recently noticed we haven't had a general special offer for quite a while, so we decided to make this weekend a special offer weekend:

Between now and Sunday, 13th of February (midnight, EST)

*buy any 2 yarns and get 5% off your whole order
*buy any 3 or 4 yarns and get 10% off your whole order
*buy any 5 yarns or more and get 15% off your whole order

(please note that shipping cost can't be included in the discount, and that this discount can't be granted in addition to any other special discounts or coupon codes!)

After checkout, either wait for a corrected paypal invoice from us or pay in full and we'll send you a refund.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Special Offer!

The easiest special offer is granting some kind of discount, of course. But when I think about offering something special to our customers, I try to think about what I would like in their place, and lately I've been wondering about more creative special offers we could set up.
In the case of our newly listed yarn, I found one :-) I've already blogged about the yarn itself, and the inspirational book The Ruby in the Smoke. Since I really enjoyed it and would love others to read it, too, here's the deal:


Buy our Ruby in the Smoke art yarn along with any two other yarns from our shop, and get a free, brand new copy of the inspirational book The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman.

We're not getting any brokerage or discounts, and we're not giving away a leftover book, but we'll order it just for you and send it with the yarns - no additional shipping costs, of course.
(Please allow 2-3 more days than usual for shipping in this case)

Good News for our U.S. Customers

We are very happy to let our customers from the U.S. know that we were able to lower the shipping costs from $9 to $5 :-) In fact, shipping anywhere outside Germany will now cost $5 ($1.50 for any yarn shipped with another one) since the German Mail have adjusted prices so international shipping costs the same wherever we send our parcels. There are also many new yarns in the shop, the latest of which you can see here, too. I do hope to be able to blog more in the near future, but during the last few weeks I worked hard on a new daily routine, and I haven't yet managed to squeeze everything in. But spinning, photographing and listing works rather well at the moment, I am happy to say.
We'd love you to check out our new creations :-)

10% Off on Boxing Day!

We're happy to announce that you'll get 10% off your whole order when ordering on Boxing Day (26th of December) and entering this coupon code:

We'd like to thank all our customers for a wonderful Etsy year! We are as happy about our new customers as we are about our faithful, ever returning customers. We are delighted about the pictures of the things you've made from our yarns, we love seeing what you've made, and we love sharing the pictures on our blog. And we'd also like to thank our blog readers for following us, and our fans for supporting us on Facebook - and all the Etsians who featured us in their treasuries for doing exactly that. This was a good year. Thank you all!

Merry Christmas! :-)

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 :-)

Featured!

 Some of our yarns are featured in Crochet Uncut - we're so happy :-)
 
There should also be another feature in a different magazine, or at least we were promised to be featured and to receive a copy of the magazine itself - but we haven't received it yet and we don't know if we're REALLY featured, so I will postpone telling you about it.I hope it'll be happy news...



We're also very happy to show you what a good customer of ours made from one of our art yarns:

Please click here for more information about the neck piece :-)

Isn't it beautiful?

By the way, this was the yarn it was made from:

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 :-)

Happy Birthday ETSY!

We just found out that today is Etsy's Birthday - so let's celebrate!
From now until the end of the week (Sunday, June 20th, midnight EST) we'll happily grant you the following discounts:

*buy any 2 yarns and get 5% off your whole order
*buy any 3 or 4 yarns and get 10% off your whole order
*buy any 5 yarns or more and get 15% off your whole order

(please note that shipping cost can't be included in the discount!)

After checkout, either wait for a corrected paypal invoice from us or pay in full and we'll send you a refund.

Happy Birthday, Etsy - and thank you! :-)

Who would have guessed?

I love the ocean. I love ocean-themed yarns. I made another one :-D
I'm still thinking about the name of this one - "High Tide" comes to mind, as well as "Seashells from the Ocean". Well, both are not too creative, I'm afraid. Maybe I'll consult my pillow :-)
This is another one of my yarns I'll find it hard to part with, by the way - but that's the same with all my ocean yarns, come to think of it.



And here's another new one where the title is difficult. Since it's made from pure alpaca fibre (hand dyed by myself) and contains silver flowers, I'm thinking of "Paca ate the Flowers". A bit weird, I know - but so am I ;-)

I hope to be able to list this one before I fall asleep. It's nearly 2 in the night here and I should go to bed... At least it's quiet now - after Germany won the game tonight, people made quite a racket. I did actually watch the game, and I think that was a first. I was never really interested, but somehow I didn't even get bored and I kind of look forward to the next one tomorrow. Strange things happen...