The End of an Era

I already hinted at changes to come, and now it's time to reveal more: I have finally found work as an archaeologist. As some of you know I've been looking for a job in my field for a very, very long time, working on a short-time dig in between and doing market research and spinning art yarn the rest of the time. A few weeks ago a fellow archaeologist told me about a job opportunity and today I got my contract. I didn't want to reveal anything before I actually held said contract in my hands, so this is very short notice. The dig will start next Monday and will last for 10 months. I'm overjoyed and can't wait! :-) And I do hope that I will get more opportunities after that, as I will gain new experiences and make new contacts which should make it easier to get jobs in the future.

On the downside, I don't know whether I will be able to keep running the shop. I know I definitely won't have time for many new art yarns, but I did plan on keeping the shop open and selling what was already in it. There might be some complications, though, some because of Etsy (new thing about a VAT ID which might cause problems), some because of the new job, as I am supposed to kind of get permission for any part time jobs with my new employers. I haven't talked to them yet, but I might have to put the shop on holiday until next year. I decided to run another big, shop-wide sale until the end of the week in any case (parcels will ship out a bit later than usual as I have to fit them in my schedule), and if it's too complicated to keep the shop I will have to put it on hold for a while, though with a very, very heavy heart. I'm also very sorry this comes at such short notice, I only learned of the possible complications today, myself.

All items in the shop are 15% off until Sunday, 17th of April, 11 pm eastern time. 

If you like my yarns (and/or me ;-)), please consider to like my Facebook page - I will post updates about the situation there, and if I have to close the shop for a while that's the place to look for my return next year :-) I'd love to come back and still have some yarn lovers to greet me ♥

Whether I'll put the shop in vacation mode or keep it running at a very low level, let me say It's been wonderful eight years, and thank you so much for your support - be it through purchases or kind words, likes, sharing my work or interacting! I still feel awed by the fact that my yarns get so much attention and positive feedback, and that people like them so much they are actually willing to pay a fair price, even though that means it's high. Thank you all! I will miss you very much.

Harry Potter Art Yarn Advent Calendar (Book 2) - Now Available!

I am very, very happy to announce that The Amazing Harry Potter Art Yarn Advent Calendar is finally available! The story of The Chamber of Secrets retold in 24 yarns (read more about it here), complete with quotes and descriptions. One was reserved even before the whole thing was completely finished, and it has already sold, but there are 5 more in the shop. There will be no possibility of a respin, so it's limited to these!

If you order now it should definitely arrive in time, though I can give no guarantee. Shipping usually takes a few days in Germany, about 5-7 days within the EU, and about 10-14 days overseas. Parcels to Russia and Canada might take longer, judging from experience. The shipping price is higher than for my other yarns, but that's because I'll buy a tracking number and extra insurance just to be on the safe side with this unique work of art.

If you'd like one but you're not sure about the whole surprise thing, I will gladly send you a list of titles, full descriptions, and / or a link to the photos I took.

If you're just interested in pictures, I am happy to say I will do another virtual advent calendar thing, revealing the yarns from December 1st to December 24th here on the blog :-)

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 :-)

Time is running

...and Halloween is only one month away. I love spinning Halloween art yarns, but somehow I always start too late. Also, August and September have been incredibly busy the last few years. This is why I have only a few themed yarns, not all of which are listed yet. I'll try my best to put them in the shop over the next few days so they will arrive in time for a Halloween knitting party - or a Halloween party you just take your knitting to ;-)

Bats and Pumpkins

This one features the traditional colours and also bat charms and pumpkin charms. It's 168 m / 112 g

Gotham Night

 This one is already listed, you can read about the details here.

Also, there are these two - not Halloween yarns as such, but the colours fit the theme somewhat and I'd like to show them because I like them a lot :-)

Gallifrey

This one features hand dyed bluefaced leicester wool and silk as well as merino wool - and semi-precious stones (fiery red agate, carnelian, and citrine) strung onto a shiny orange thread. 251 m / 113 g

Friends of Slytherin

 

 This is one of my recent favourites - I absolutely love the snake charms. I've been meaning to spin another Slytherin yarn for a long time now, but it took me a while to find suitable add-ins. This art yarn is sparkly (silver angelina) and features wild silk, alpaca, linen and merino wool. Also, I spun in silk fabric strips and beads. 112 m / 95 g

Silence in the Library

Let me introduce one of my latest creations - another Doctor Who yarn, inspired by one of my favourite episodes. Even from one of my favourite favourite episodes, as I like so many of them a lot ;-)

For those of you who don't know Doctor Who or haven't watched a lot of it yet, let me quote the person we are introduced to in this espisode: SPOILERS! (not many, but read on at your own risk)

The colours of the yarn were inspired by the library itself: brown shelves and furniture, with late sunlight falling in (represented by coppery angelina). I spun in silver book charms to represent the actual books (of course), also known as the forests of the Vashta Nerada. I added six strips of white silk fabric to represent the space suits of River Song and her team. Each of the silk strips is accompanied by one or two large green glass beads which stand for the green light of the communicators which are located at the collars of the suits - and which, as we know, tend to Data Ghost, resulting in Ms. Evangelista repeating "Ice cream, ice cream" in the end.

This yarn hasn't made it to the shop yet, but I hope to list it this week, along with some other new ones. Aquamenti (Harry Potter inspired) and Praios (from the RPG system The Dark Eye) are already up for sale, and then there are others, like Nemo, Thank You For The Fish, and Black Widow, which will be listed shortly.

It is good to be back :-)

The Space-Time-Discrepancy

I haven't blogged for so long I really hope you all haven't wandered off to someplace more interesting! Much has happened here, but nearly all of it good :-) We have spent these past months renovating and at the end of August, my husband and I moved into our new flat. Sadly, there has been some delay concerning the basement flat, which will be the temporary home of Twisted and her husband until their own flat will be vacant. There is also still a lot to do before they can move in, so we'll have some more fun renovating... 

There has been not much spare time for spinning or tending to the shop, I've also been preparing for my final exams and I'm afraid shop updates and blog posts will be very irregular until April. BUT I have my own spinning room now! (which I won't be using much until next year, hence the title)

I originally planned to use the rather small room as a storage room for fibre and things to spin in, but it turned out there was still enough room after filling the shelves and putting up the drum carder, so I can actually spin there. This way, the living room will stay tidier ;-) And I still can move my wheel into the living room if I have company, but as long as I work during the day, I'll be very comfortable in my small woolly empire.

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!

Craft Fair Preparations

The Lametta Craft Fair in Karlsruhe (Germany) is rapidly approaching - and we're up to our ears in preparations! We will be offering our handspun creations, of course, but also hand painted spindles (the making of which we scheduled for Thursday) and hand made stitch markers. I've been working on a good way of displaying them recently, and I finally finished the whole thing yesterday:

It was extremely frustrating to get the hooks into the display case. Some of the hooks were fairly easy to get in, but some others took ages and my hands ached all over afterwards. I still haven't figured out whether the wood was harder in some places than others or if some of the hooks were better than others (or if I was just clumsy sometimes), but it's done and that is what counts :-) Some of the hooks are askew, but all in all I am quite pleased with the whole thing.

I also spun lots of new yarns lately, and I still have quite a number to finish. The shop was going so well last month (THANK YOU, our wonderful customers! We love you! :-)) that we really have to restock. Here are my latest creations:

The photo is quite bad, but since I am in a hurry and there is not enough light outside for better photos, this will have to do for now. I am still in love with flower yarns and the ones with shells, as you can see :-)

Our shop will be closed on Friday and Saturday, by the way, since we're taking all our yarns with us to the fair. We don't know which ones will make it back into the shop, so if you happen to have your eyes on a particular yarn, now might be a good time to get it ;-)

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! :-)

Necromantic Knitting

A while back, I spun two versions of my Necromancer art yarn (one of which is still available in the shop), a thread-plied art yarn made from different kinds of black fibre, hand dyed wild silk, and bone skull beads, as well as other add-ins, varying with the two versions of the yarn. When I spun the basic yarn I thought this would look gorgeous as an unplied, single yarn as well, without add-ins, for a simple warm shawl. Since it's been a while since I spun anything for myself, I decided to do just that :-)
 

My husband and I spent our weekend with his family, celebrating his mother's birthday, and family reunions like that are usually a welcome opportunity for me to take out my knitting or my spindle. My sister-in-law has recently learned how to knit, too, so I even had company :-) I wanted a simple project I could take with me, so I decided to knit another shawl from the pattern I used for my Dark Atlantis shawl.

The beauty of this is: if you use stitch markers, you don't even have to count or pay much attention :-)

I made the stitch markers myself, of course. I made quite a lot for our upcoming crafts fair, and I keep thinking I should take photos and list them in the shop, along with our yarns. What do you think, dear customers? Would you be interested? :-)

By the way - there's also an art yarn in the shop which combines a wonderful single yarn like the one I just showed you (made from a very similar fibre blend, and containing the very last of the hand dyed wild silk) and the bone skull beads from the original necromancer art yarn:

Scathach

To be found here :-)

New Banners, YAY!

I'm sorry I still can't post any pictures of the tea-dyed yarns, it was so dark and grey these last days I couldn't take any photos. BUT I do have good news! The wonderful Twisted gave in to my complaints that I wanted a new banner, and we didn't stop after one, but made several :-) That is, she made them and I offered opinions ;-) We thought it would be nice to have banners according to season, so we started with a Halloween one:

I won't show you the others yet, so as not to spoil the surprise, we'll use them when the time is right.
Ahhh, I love the bat charms :-)

Creative Chaos

Are you running out of time, too? A few weeks ago I realized that Halloween wasn't that far away, and Etsy already advised to plan the Christmas stuff. Today, I realized it's already Octobre and I haven't even managed to put all my Halloween plans (yarnwise) into action. Sooo, there's still a lot to do, especially since I didn't do much over the last two weeks. My husband is on leave and we've been enjoying having more time together, and I've also jumped at the opportunity to take some time off, myself - and I got some knitting done :-) Haven't managed to take photos yet, though.

As for the Christmas plans, I thought about offering some gift sets again (of art yarn, project bag, and stitch markers), and I ordered some beautiful brocade fabric over a month ago. I thought it was lost since it take that long to be delivered, but it finally arrived a few days ago - aren't these beautiful?

I've never worked with brocade, and when I found these beautiful pieces I just couldn't resist. I've also got some tafetta left from the last years, so there should be enough for a wider variety in the gift sets - now all I need is time ;-) Speaking of which, yesterday I finally took some time to make stitch markers while watching the last few episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which I didn't watch when I was younger, and when I heard the show was interesting from a feminist/emancipatory point of view I decided to catch up :-))

When I had unpacked all my stuff, I realized there was not that much silver wire left, so I went out to get some - need I say that was a waste of time? What's the use of extreme opening hours when the shops don't have what I need? *gnaaa* ;-) It's not that I didn't have anything left to work with, I just wanted to be on the safe side and prepare for excessive stitch marker making. Not that there was too much time left after my excursion and dinner and all that, but I did make five sets:

I especially love the pumpkin stitch markers, and I don't know if I can part with them. I probably will, though. These were harder to make because they have a loop instead of a hole. This means I have to use a different technique for securing the wire and that's still a challenge - but I am proud to say it worked :-)

Oh, and I have some great news :-) We have been accepted to the "Lametta"(which translates as tinsel), an all handmade bazaar which will take place in Karlsruhe/Germany shortly before Christmas (here's the link, but it's all in German). I heard there were a lot of aplicants, but I understand that we were among the first to get accepted - YAY! We're so looking forward to the event, but this means I really have to spin more yarn and make more stitch markers. So excuse me, I'm off to more creative chaos! :-)

Fighting for every Click?

As mentioned before, I have been playing around with new descriptive (and very unaesthetic) titles owing to the new search mode on Etsy (relevancy search). I can't say yet how it affects our sales - they've been fewer than before the summer, but then, summer is not exactly knitting time and we were on holiday and didn't put any work into the shop, so there might be several reasons for fewer sales. I have noticed some things, though: 

1. The views rate is down, and very much so. I was used to about 15 to 25 views shortly after listing an item and posting it on Facebook and Twitter. Then, after a short leave of absence due to health reasons, that suddenly didn't work anymore. There were only very few clicks and I thought it had something to do with Facebook or Twitter, or maybe our fans and followers felt I posted too much and didn't click anymore. When I read about the new search mode, it slowly dawned on me that it might have something to do with that. I'm not completely sure because I noticed the news quite late and don't know when the search mode was changed, but I think it seems plausible to link the fewer views to exactly that.

2. The hearts/views ratio has definetely gone up! Maybe it's just luck and my latest creations are generally popular - but maybe it's because the new search mode is actually a good thing and the people who click are the people who have looked for something like the item in question. So who needs "empty" clicks when we can get exactly the people who are interested in our creations?

3. I still don't get the new titles. I changed some (not all, yet), but they are not necessarily the ones that pop up first in the search. It's still a mystery to me, but then I haven't read all the info yet because I've been writing on my thesis like mad - about eight hours a day during the last few days, and then some additional work on the shop...

What do you think? How have the changes been affecting you, have you found a good way around the problems yet? I'd really like to hear from others experiencing the same difficulties!

Since my husband will be on leave for the next two weeks I have decided to take some leave, too. Not entirely, but I won'd do anything to stress me. If I feel like writing on my thesis, I will do so, but if I don't I won't feel bad. I will put some work into the shop, though, because I really want to :-) So, hopefully I'll also have some time to read my way through the guides and infos about the relevancy search and maybe I can tweak the titles some more. Oh - and I hope to post some pictures, it's been quiet on the blog lately.

Etsy Search Relevancy

If you're on Etsy, you've probably heard they changed the search sorting to relevancy rather than listing time. This might seem good and resonable at first sight, and I think it might actually be good and resonable for shoppers, and that's what counts. For shop owners, there are some huge changes to be kept in mind, though.

Titles are more important than they used to be, and I get the feeling that tags are not that important anymore. I've read that you should focus on the first 2-3 words of your title and kind of optimize it for the search. In our case, this means we shouldn't use our title format any longer, since it consisted of  
[Name of the yarn] - Handspun Art yarn [with whatever it contains]. The name is irrelevant for the search in many cases, so there should be a description instead.

I am currently trying to play around with the titles, and I've also peeked into the Etsy forums a little, to see what titles are supposed to work best. To be honest, I think they are now absolutely appaling. I like clear format and words, I hate to put the tags in the title, and that's exactly what it seems like. Now, a yarn that I'd usually have listed under "Polyjuice Potion - Handspun Harry Potter Art yarn" looks like this: "Harry Potter Art Yarn POLYJUICE POTION. Handspun, Halloween, Blue, Turquoise, Purple, Dusky Pink, Merino, Hand Dyed Silk, Upcycled Sari Silk". Sorry, but I think that's really very close to disgusting.
Maybe I didn't get it right, I will definitively have to find out more and play around a little more. I will try this because I need to sell my creations, but I will keep an eye on how good this works. If I don't think it makes much difference, I will go back to clear titles without a string of rather incoherent words.

What do you think about the changes? Good or bad? Any strategies? Have I even got it right? Still adjusting, here...  Thanks for your input :-)

Back Home - and Back in Business :-)

Hi everyone, I hope you have been well.
We're back from our vacation and our shop is open again :-)

We had the most wonderful time with our friends in Bavaria. They have real mountains there! Somehow, that's still worth mentioning for me, coming from the flat north of Germany. We went on walking tours, played board games, went mushroom hunting, made delicious dishes from the edible mushrooms we found, went to a beautiful moor, and to a lake in the mountains. I didn't get as much knitting done as I thought I would, but I started to make a ninja from the Creepy Cute Crochet book. I'm nearly done, I only still having troubles with the throwing star, though. Maybe I'll make one from polymer clay instead of crocheting one from silver thread.

I'm still getting used to being back home and back to work, but I already took photos of my latest art yarns which I spun before our vacation, and I carded some batts today. There will be new yarns in the shop soon :-)

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 :-)

Which Colours are Missing?

It's time for me to order some new fibres, my stash has shrunken rapidly during the last months. Before I place my order, I'd like to ask for your help/opinion. I tend to be a little short-sighted and to order my favourite colours, but I really want to see beyond my own nose. So, here's my question for you, whether you're a (potential) customer, or a reader, or just stopping by. What colours would you like to see in our shop? Are there any colours missing, or colours we should use more often than we do? What colours should I order?

I'd really appreciate you comments, so thank you for posting them :-)

Colours of the Things to Come

Usually when I card batts I make one or two, spin them up as soon as possible, and do some more on a different day. And then there are days like the one last week when I managed to create five beautiful batts in one day. I've already spun up four of them (all but the black/teal one in the middle), and listed one of the resulting art yarns.

I am looking forward to spinning up the last one, though I am not quite sure about the add-ins yet.

The one I already listed in the shop is Dark Red Ridinghood:
I imagined a dark, strong-willed, grown-up version of little Red Ridinghood, prepared to meet the wolf and stand her ground. I added lots of silvery things, standing for the silver bullets she's armed with, and the colour red doesn't only stand for her name, but also for the courage she needs and the strong will and power she has.

I watched the trailer of the new Red Ridinghood movie the other day, and I really hope it will be out soon here in Germany, since I can't wait to see it. Until then, I'll use my speculations and imagination as inspiration for more yarns ;-)

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! :-)