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 ;-)

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.

Why is it...?

Why is it that I always have to decide on last minute birthday presents? Knitted last minute birthday presents? I mentioned that I was thinking about knitting a silver fox/cashmere purse, but I actually decided to do it Thursday night and I knew I had to finish it the day after. I did - but I didn't manage to get the parcel to the post office in time, so I'll have to do that on Monday and hope they will be super fast. But even if it will arrive late, it was so worth it - I love the purse so much! I have to make myself give it away.

Here it is - silver fox hair blended with cashmere, handspun by me more than a year ago, adorned with genuine silver spacers and beads:

(More photos on my flickr page.)

And now I'm off to bed - I have to get up early tomorrow since my husband and I will start an archery class. Really looking forward to it :-)

TDF - Weird's Day 8

I've finally finished my Silver Wedding yarn:
merino and bamboo, white irisdescent thread, silver fabric roses and strips, freshwater pearls and leafy ribbons.
300 m, 170 g.
It took quite a while, but was worth every minute. I think this has to be the longest art yarn with this kind of stuff in it I've ever spun. I really like it :-)

Please visit my Flickr page for more photos!

The funny thing about it all: I found my own wedding dress today. I haven't bought it yet, but will go back to the shop on monday and buy it then. It's red though, not white! ;-)

TDF - Weird's Day 6

I didn't get any work done yesterday: I had to work at the excavation the whole day and spent a lovely evening with my fiancé afterwards :-) I haven't spun very much today, either, since I am still in the process of rearranging the flat (in order to get more room for my stash *yaay*) and I am also still studying for the exam tomorrow. However, I assembled some material for my Silver Wedding yarn and started spinning.

Oh - and I haven't mentioned my crazy news yet: I have ordered and received a new spinning wheel!!! :-) A foldable Kromski Sonata (with all the flyers available), to take with me to spinning meetings and on vacation. I have long wanted a traveller's wheel and when I found out that there's a jumbo flyer available for the Sonata, nothing could stop me ;-) My mother agreed to pay half of it, as a birthday gift and I generously decided to present myself with the other half *g* Strictly speaking, I am not allowed to use my new wheel until monday, but who can be so strict with themselves? Anyway, this is not the wheel I'll be keeping since it is slightly damaged, so I think I can persuade myself to use the *um* "borrowed" wheel today while I wait for an undamaged one to arrive :-D
I will (hopefully) be able to take some photos soon.

Dark Atlantis (Triangular Shawl) - finished!

I promised pictures of the Dark Atlantis triangular shawl - and here they are! :-)
The shawl can also be worn as a scarf which makes this beauty even better and more practical. I am so very happy with it :-)

Dark Atlantis - Triangular Shawl

Remember Dark Atlantis? Remember I said I wanted to keep it? Well, I sold it to Sigrids Datterdatter and spun a second, slightly different version for myself. It turned out to be quite a lot of yarn (247 m/114 g) and I started searching the internet for patterns. I have wanted to make a triangular shawl for quite a while, but I never got around to spinning enough yarn for myself.



I found a very helpful website containing information about yardage and needle size for a one skein shawl that encouraged me to try it. They used yarn of similar weight and nearly the same amount as my Dark Atlantis (II).
Before I started, I made some matching, extra large stitch markers which I absolutely love :-)

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.