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! :-)

Orc Camp

Remember my plans for an Orc Camp art yarn? It was complicated and took me quite a while what with all the searching for the right fabric, and the making of wire spirals - but it's done :-)
It's very ragged, which I love, but which I find far more difficult to accomplish than smooth yarn - and it's also got a lot to do with the choice of materials. Locks and highly textured fibre are more suitable than the average fine merino wool.

The batt I carded for this yarn consisted of spanish merino wool of natural dark brown, naturally brown Icelandic wool with locks and lots of texture, some white bluefaced leicester wool, wensleydale locks, light brown alpaca, and merino wool of rusty red. I also added copper angelina, because this kind of glitter seemed fitting even for orcs ;-)
I spun in different kinds of bone beads: smooth whitish ones, dark disks, and white skulls. I also added hand made copper spirals, and strips of cotton fabric.

Newgrange Art Yarn

Newgrange

In September 2009, my husband and I went to Ireland for our honeymoon. Some of you might remember that I study archaeology, so you won't be surprised by my I really wanting to visit some of the archaeological monuments. We went to Boyne Valley in order to visit some of the sites there. There's Dowth, which I knew from a previous visit - it's just a hill with a fenced-off entrance, but still nice and somehow peaceful. Since there's not that much to see, there are not many tourists there, or at least there weren't when I visited the site in 2007. We didn't go there this time, though, but decided to visit only the monuments I hadn't seen yet. There's Knowth and Newgrange. You have to book a tour in order to be able to enter the Newgrange chamber, so we did.

Knowth

We had to use the bus, though we'd much rather walked there, but that was not possible with the tour (strict time table). It was worth it, though. I knew both Knowth and Newgrange from books, pictures and seminars, and I was so eager to finally go and visit them. I loved being there, and the Newgrange chamber is really impressive, as are the Knowth tombs (though they were enforced with concrete after the excavations). The fassade of the Newgrange passage tomb was reconstructed after the excavation, there's no evidence of it ever having looked like this, but it's still impressive - and it's also impressively visible from quite a distance. The vaulted roof of the chamber itself is still intact, which is absolutely stunning - just think about the fact that it's still airtight after about 5000 years!

All of the sites are very important when it comes to megalithic art. There's all sorts of abstract forms, the spiral being quite prominent among other forms.

There's a lot of esoteric interpretation going on about all the sites in Boyne Valley, and I can't really get into all that here - but if you'd like to read up on any of the monuments, just keep in mind that not every "fact" is really a fact, but some of the conclusions and so called evidence could be challenged.

The other day, I thought back on our wonderful honeymoon and the Boyne Valley, and I decided to spin a Newgrange art yarn. I spent over an hour with stubborn brass wire and - with time, effort, and admittedly some swearing - I made 12 beautiful brass spirals to spin into the yarn. My hands ached afterwards (the wire was thicker than the one I previously worked with), but I love the outcome. Each of the spirals is not only hand bent, but also hammered flat.  
I also decided on beautiful shell/mother of pearl beads as add-ins, since people in the stone age used (a specific kind of) shells as ornaments and jewelry. The brass spirals are not authentic in any way, the people of the neolithic period (new stone age) didn't have brass or gold, but I thought it would look wonderful with the white and green fibres, and I really wanted the spirals since they are so prominent among the megalithic art :-)

But enough talk now - have a look at the yarn! :-)

I spun the yarn from white lambs wool, merino wool of different shades of green, bamboo flakes, and bright green linen. Then there's the beads and spirals, of course, and green sewing thread to carry them all.
157 m / 99 g, about 9-14 WPI.

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.

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!

Halloween Stitchmarkers

They're monstrously large, monstrously cute and, of course, monstrously halloweeny ;-) They fit needles up to 10 mm, so they're great helpers for knitting art yarns.

They are also a custom product, so you won't find them in the shop (unless many people beg us to make more ;-))

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 :-)