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!

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 :-)

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

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)

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! :-)

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! :-)

A Noble Spring Wedding - Pictures of a Prize Yarn Knit Up

It's not been long since our lottery/giveaway - and we already received the first photos of what Kat made from the "Spring Wedding" yarn!



Thank you so much for the pictures, Kat, and for your permission to show them here - this is a beautiful piece, I love the pattern you chose!
More information can be found on Ravelry (since you've posted your Ravelry name in the comments of the giveaway posting, I think it's okay to post the link - if it's not, please tell me and I will remove it at once!)

Congratulations!

Yesterday, I prepared our lottery first thing in the morning and was very excited, but I didn't want to keep all the fun for myself, so I had to wait for Twisted to come home from work. The lucky hour finally arrived, and we proudly present our winners:

The Toadstool yarn will be sent to stilettopeel
Since this was a customer special offer, we have your address - so you don't have to do anything, the yarn will be sent to you next week.

micruli is the lucky winner of the Wedding yarn.
micruli, leider hast du keine eMail-Adresse angegeben, unter der wir dich erreichen können und dein Google-Profil ist nicht öffentlich freigegeben. Bitte melde dich bei uns bis Ostermontag (einfach deine Adresse an weird231@12534weirdandtwisted.com -ohne alle Zahlen- schicken), ansonsten müssen wir leider am Dienstag nochmal losen.

Thanks to everyone for participating, it was great fun and we're looking forward to more giveaways in the future :-)

Anniversary Special - Art Yarn Giveaway

We've already mentioned we were planning to host a giveaway in honour of our second shop anniversary - and we've finally finished the art yarn we spun specially for this occasion:

Spring Wedding

127 m/74 g, about 9-12 WPI.

This yarn has been spun from our own hand blended fibre mix containing merino wool and wool/silk blend of light green, naturally white Bluefaced Leicester wool, shiny white mulberry silk and tencel, naturally white merino wool and sparkling angelina. We've spun in a golden metallic thread strung with white (faux) pearls and fabric roses.

Now, this is what you'll have to do in order to win this gorgeous skein of beautiful hand spun art yarn: just comment* on this post during the current month and leave a means to notify you, and you will be entered into our lottery. It's completely free, you don't even have to pay any shipping costs, we'll cover them for you!
We'll do the drawing at the beginning of April, so that gives you lots of time to comment.
Good luck!

*if you feel like it, do tell us what you do in the fibre related area, how you found us, whether you've worked with handspun before or are a spinner yourself, and whatever else you like to tell us about you - we're curious to learn more about fibre/yarn addicts like us ;-)

Anniversary Special - Win this Yarn!

As related, we're celebrating our second shop anniversary this month. As a special for our customers we'll be having a prize drawing with those of you who buy yarn from us during March 2010. And here's what you can win:

Snowy Toadstool

This exceptional art yarn has been spun from our own hand blended fibre mix of naturally white Bluefaced Leicester wool, white merino wool, bright red wool/silk blend, shiny white mulberry silk, a small amount of red and white linen for a more interesting haptic quality, and sparkling red angelina. An iridescent thread strung with red (faux) pearls has been spun in, as well as strips of gorgeous red net lace with sequins. Wooden beads of red with white dots have been added and the yarn has been spun using different techniques, so there's a lot to see and the texture varies in beautiful ways.

If you win, you'll get the full skein of 173 m/144 g! All you have to do is buy yarn from Weird&Twisted during the current month to enter the lottery - and all you need after that is a bit of good luck.

Happy Birthday to Us - Free Goodies for You! ;-)

Our Weird&Twisted shop has been online for nearly two years. We first joined Etsy on March 3rd (2008), but it wasn't until March twenty-something that we were able to activate our shop. Registering our credit card was a real challenge, as it didn't seem to work for weeks. The problem was that we've got funny letters like ü,ä,ö and ß here in Germany and though we eliminated the ö in our address (changing it to oe worked perfectly ok) it took us a long time to realise that there was a ß in it, too. After we changed it to ss, it worked and we were finally able to list our first yarns.

We decided to celebrate our second birthday with our customers as well as with our readers by offering the following:

For every skein of yarn you buy in March 2010, you'll get two handmade stitch markers as a present.

We'll be having a giveaway here on the blog: you'll be able to get your hands on one of our beautiful yarns without paying anything! Stay in touch, we'll be posting a picture and conditions soon.

At the end of March, we'll have a lottery with everyone who buys yarn from our shop during March 2010 and the winner will get a free skein, which will be spun specially for this occasion. We'll post a picture of that, as well - as soon as it's done.

Thank you all for supporting us by buying yarn, commenting and reading our blog, and by spreading the word (and our business cards)!

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.

Halloween Special Offer - until November 8th!

*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

This special offer extends to the weekend after halloween (Sunday 8th of November), so be quick! :-)

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 :-)

*10% off your next purchase!*

We'd like to show the world what our customers - you! - make from our yarn. Some of you have already shown us some photos and we love to see what each and every skein becomes after leaving us. Especially since it is always hard (and sometimes very hard!) to part with our handspun.

So we have decided to give special discount to those of our customers who send us pictures of the items made from our yarn and allow us to show them to the world.

In short:
- Send us one or more (good) photos of what you made from our yarn and allow us to put it on display on our blog (our email adress is info224@566weirdandtwisted.com - please remove all numbers before sending!)
- If you have a blog or homepage and want us to link to you when we show your picture(s), please specify
- Get 10% off your next order!

If you have processed more than one of our yarns, we'd love to see more photos ;-) In that case, you will not only get 10% off your next order, but two free stitch markers for every item (other than the first) you send us a photo of.

This special offer runs until June 30th, so: Send us your photos until that date and place your order qualifying for special discount any time (after having sent said photos) until the end of this year!

We hope to see lots of photos! :-)