The Amazing Harry Potter Art Yarn Advent Calendar II - Quiet Preparations

It's been very quiet around here lately, as at first custom orders and my other job kept me busy and then I was working on something I couldn't really talk about. I can't now, either, at least not in detail, but I do have an announcement to make:
there will be another Harry Potter inspired art yarn advent calendar this year. :-)

Last year, I spun scenes / people / phrases from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, a few yards each, and enough for three advent calendars which sold out very quickly. So this time, with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, I decided to make more, as the concept was so popular.

I started planning and spinning nearly a month ago, this time the process took longer as there was more yarn to spin, and I also had to wait for some ordered add-ins to arrive. Today, I spun the last two yarns! So, the calendar is definitely going to be listed, but before I can do that I have to take photos of the yarns, divide each of them into six equal mini skeins, and write a description for every yarn. Also, I decided to order prettier pouches this time, and I am still waiting (desperately).

It's been very hard for me not to post photos of the project, but it has to be a surprise, obviously. I did post one photo on Facebook and Twitter (by the way: if you'd like more regular mini updates and snippets of what I'm working on, those are the place to be!), and I'd like to show it here, too:

Can you guess which scene / place from the second Harry Potter book this might refer to? :-)

As last year, I will do a virtual advent calendar thing here on the blog again, revealing all the yarns via blogpost from December 1 to 24. So if you'd like to see my interpretations, you know where to look :-)

There will be a limited number of six Amazing Harry Potter Inspired Art Yarn Advent Calendars available, and I will post announcements here on the blog, as well as on Facebook and Twitter once they are listed. It will still take a while, as there are things to be done and pretty red and white candy bags to be waited for, but I will do my best to list them soon!

Oh, and if you'd like to the fantastic scarf Max and Iris have made from last year's art yarn advent calender, look here (lower half of the post)! 

Rainbow Yarns

I've been making rainbow yarns! The first one was a custom order for someone who wanted an Over the Rainbow art yarn with lots of sparkle and some bird charms and beads, to make into a wall hanging for her grandson.

As I was working on the custom order, someone else asked me whether I've ever spun a rainbow coil / beehive art yarn, like the Tentacles one. When I thought about it I couldn't really understand why I'd never done that, or, in fact, why I never spun any rainbow yarns at all. I did think about it now and then, but somehow I never got around to actually doing it. So, when I forgot to put the sparkles in the batt for the requested rainbow yarn, I ended up with another batt and I did turn it into a beautiful coiled art yarn. I love the in progress photos, with all the rainbow fibres, and want to show you:

 This was the second batt, which became the first yarn (the one with the birds), with lots of glitter.

 This was also taken while preparing to spin the custom yarn - I made four rainbow repeats and layed out the fibres accordingly.

This is the second yarn, with lots of coils (though without sparkle), which I spun in rainbow order from red to purple and then back from purple to red.

 And the finished yarn. I really need to take better photos, but there wasn't time yet. I really love this, and I am very in love with coils and beehives at the moment (not for the first time) :-)

Message from the Exile ;-)

This was going to be just a short note to letting you know (if you're interested in my private affairs ;-)) that my self-imposed exile was the right choice. I've been working hard on my thesis, and made quite some progress. I really do hope to finish it by the first week of May, though there might be some delay because I had a bad cold and had to take a few days off. But May it should be!

Now for the extra part ;-) I've been meaning to show you some photos which I have just rediscovered, so I chose to put them in this post, too, for a bit of colour. Last year, I knitted a hat and a pair of arm warmers from a skein of gorgeous corespun. I don't have a photo of the yarn or the arm warmers, but here's the hat :-)

The yarn was spun from a complex fibre blend, some of which was hand dyed, and it didn't contain any add-ins. I used the whole skein of about 100 m, which was enough for both the hat and the arm warmers, and I used 6mm needles. I think I must have written down the pattern as I went, but I have no idea where I put it. Maybe I should use a note book for future knitting projects, as I always find myself in this dilemma: I write down everything on small pieces of paper, and when I'm done I put them away so I won't lose them, intending to write a neat version down some time. When I get around to blogging about the project I can't remember where I put the pieces of paper...

I also took some time for spindle spinning recently. I bought these wonderful spindles from Zebisisdesigns shortly after Chrismas (my mum gave me money to buy two of them because she didn't feel comfortable ordering them herself, but it was a wonderful gift, of course! :-)), and delivery got delayed because the wonderful shop owner wanted to do me some good and made me another spindle, free of charge! I was absolutely amazed, as you can imagine. I had ordered a labradorite and a lapislazuli spindle, commenting that I really liked the one lapislazuli spindle in her shop (which had the wrong form for me) since it reminded me of a starry night sky. She only had a whorl of lighter blue left, but then she made me a starry night sky spindle from what I think might be called blue goldstone (please correct me if I am wrong!), and she also sent some hand dyed fibre along, also free of charge. Thank you again so much, M.!

I started spinning, and both the goldstone and the labradorite spindles turn beautifully. I haven'd tried the lapislazuli one yet. I made some more progress during my lunch break today, watching Star Trek DS9 (for the fourth time, I think) and trying to relax my mind a little.

I love the colours of the hand dyed fibre, they are very bright and intense.


Ahh, I do miss working on the shop. Please wish me luck so I can finish my thesis soon and start spinning for real again! :-)

Music, Yarn, and Pirates

Yesterday brought me new ideas and old songs: I don't know exactly how events/thoughts took their course, but I was thinking about spinning another pirate-y art yarn (I just love those!), inspired by a delivery of new bone skull beads. Suddenly, I had a nearly forgotten song in my head and the name for the yarn was clear:

Under Jolly Roger

Things fell into place quickly: I wanted ocean colours and white bamboo flakes (waves) as a base, and black silk strips to represent the pirate flag - and the skulls, of course, as they are also part of the flag, and therefore highly associated with pirates.

(sorry for the crappy pictures, I had to take it indoors, with artificial light and the colours are off)

I used more skull beads than I usually do, and I spun a highly textured art yarn from the batt shown above. It contains merino wools of dark blue and deep teal, hand dyed BFL/silk blend of a wonderfully intense dark turquoise, and white bamboo flakes. The black silk fabric strips make a great contrast. Here's a picture of the finished yarn in daylight, but since we don't get much light nowadays, it's still not as brilliant as it could be:

I still don't know whether I'll be able to part with this yarn, I am quite in love!
I also found another version of the song which I like a lot better than the one linked to above: Under Jolly Roger - by Therion.

Winter Wedding Art Yarn

I spun this yesterday, and I love the texture and the mostly-white-with-hints-of-colour :-)

It's a pity I don't have enough of these gorgeous cranberry freshwater pearls left to use in more yarns, they are so beautiful!

The Bats are Coming!

 Halloween is approaching, and I turned that fact into an excuse to order many, many charms ;-) Some of them I found on Ebay, and some I ordered from nicoledebruin on Etsy. I can't wait to spin them all into yarns *g* I already started with some bats, as you can see here:

The Batcave

I love the colour combination of the dark and mysterious black, the stone grey and the eerie blue/teal. The silver bats fit right in, and I think this will make a gorgeous piece for any comic fan or bat lover :-)

I also ordered some golden bats, and I plan on making a Batwoman yarn. I already blended the fibres, so I'll start this some time soon.

I have many more ideas, some of which I already started to put into action. I spun a Necromancer yarn with skulls and bones in it, and a Polyjuice Potion yarn. I already carded many batts for more yarns, so keep your eyes open! :-)

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 ;-)

And the Lucky Winner iiiiiis...

At the beginning of March we announced a giveaway, with the deadline for entries set for March 31. 

Sooo - it's time for the drawing:

Congratulations, Grace (HomespunHandmaiden)!  

We'll also send a convo to your Etsy account, of course.

As was the condition for participating in our giveaway, Grace has linked to our post and then posted three inspirational photos on her blog. You see them here, along with a fourth picture - a teaser showing some of the materials we've already selected for the prize art yarn :-)

We're looking forward to selecting a few more materials, and to spinning this special art yarn. We will ship it some time during April.

Thank you all for participating, it was fun and interesting to see all your inspirational pictures!

Prague, Loot, and a Foto Tent

I'm back from a few wonderful days in Prague - very cold, very snowy, and very relaxing because we spent a lot of time in Cafés and Restaurants  ;-) I'd like to share my favourites with you:

Coffee Lovers (Kaprova 9)
good coffee, wonderful cake, kind of cozy/stylish/shabby, free wi-fi, nice place to spend an afternoon reading, knitting, surfing, playing games on various modern cell phones and the like ;-)

Pizza Nuovo (Revoluční 1)
fantastic antipasti buffet! And several all you can eat options, great food, fantastic service. We went there twice and would have done so again if we had had more days in Prague.

Taverna Pepino (Jugoslávská 11)
fantastic food, good service, located in a vaulted old cellar.

But apart from all the eating and drinking we did see some parts of the town ;-) We went to Charles Bridge, the Old Town Square, climbed the tower of the Old Town Hall, saw the Municipal House and the Powder Gate from the outside, went to the museum (terrible archaeological collection - they really need to revise that, it looks like it's been like this for eighty years or so and I've only started to talk about the presentation, not yet the "facts" they convey) and walked around the Jewish Quarter. Let me share some pictures with you :-)

On our way from the Jewish Quarter to Charles Bridge which you can already see in the distance

 

Charles Bridge Gate, and Prague Castle, far far away on the other side

 

on Charles Bridge

 the Spanish Synagogue

 looking down at the Christmas market (from the tower of the Old Town Hall)

The Church of our Lady before Tyn, photographed through pillars on the tower

 Museum Station - what does it remind you of? Any Dr. Who lovers here? ;-)

I also started knitting the scarf I already blogged about - and I frogged it several times because I am always too lazy for swatching, but I think I got it right now. I had meant to take a photo, but I forgot after photographing all kinds of other things. Such as the Czech glass beads I bought in Prague - aren't they beautiful? :-)

They are not exactly lower in price than when I buy them on Ebay, but I really wanted to take some nice things home with me, and it's always good to be able to touch what you're buying I think.

I've been very frustrated with the absence of light recently, as I might have mentioned. It's just not possible to take good photos - so I ordered a photo tent.

I am still trying it out (and I had to buy sufficient lighting first) but I am not really sure it's such a wonderful thing, really. But let me use it a while and try editing the photos a little, and then I'll tell you if it's the better option compared to putting the yarn out in the rain to catch a little bit of daylight ;-)

As for other news, I've been very busy last night and today - I listed some of the yarns I've already posted here on the blog, I've spun two new ones, and I am currently planning some more things. Keep in touch and find out! :-)

Year End Spinning Challenge 2010

A few days ago, I was invited to join a spinning challenge on Ravelry. Let me quote the rules:

From November 1st until the last Day of the Year (December 31st) spin as much yarn as you want to! It’s that easy :-) You’ve got 61 days to put a dent in that multiplying stash of yours!

There will be prize categories and if you want to donate a prize, feel free!

I think that sounds wonderful, thank you for the invite, Kat! :-)

I already spun my first challenge yarn, and I even tried to take a photo of the process:

150m/82 g

I will try to update my process on the blog and the Ravelry forum, but spinning is more important, of course ;-) I also spun about 60 m of test yarn for a potential project I might write about some other time.

Busy Day

I've been busy dyeing today, and now I'm spinning another yarn. Luna is still drying, so pictures will have to wait a few more days. But I'm seizing the opportunities my new mobile phone- a Galaxy S- provides: taking pictures and blogging them directly :-) So here's another quick peek.


Ah well - to be honest, I had to edit the post on the computer, after all. I haven't figured out yet how to copy/paste text to the parts where it should be (above the pictures). There is a "mark text" function which usually works somehow, but not on blogspot. Or maybe my fingers are not agile enough. Anyway - I hope to finish the yarn today, so I'll be able to list it soon.

Turning the Great Wheel

I've wanted to tell you about this for ages, but somehow I never got around to actually doing it. Now that I am temporarily unable to use a spinning wheel, I can at least write about my experience on the Great Wheel or Walking Wheel :-)

In September 2009, my husband and I went to Ireland on our honeymoon. We spent a few days in Dublin, then slowly made our way to the west coast, visiting the Boyne Valley with Newgrange and Knowth, spending time in a cute café in a small town called Slane (where I knitted a cowl - which reminds me I have to find the pictures again), visiting Trim Castle and Locke's Distillery Museum, and finally ending up in Galway, as intended. We spent a few nights at a cozy B&B called Liscarna. After a few days there, on one of which we visited Inis Mór, the largest of the Aran Islands, we drove on to Clifden. There, we spent a few nights at another recommendable B&B called Kingstown House and drove around the countryside during the days.
I was delighted when, as I consulted the internet for yarn or fibre shops nearby (as I did in every town we passed, by the way ;-)) I found The Sheep and Wool Centre, just about half an hour away from Clifden. We just HAD to go there :-D And we did.


It's a museum of sheep, fibre and fibre-related crafts; a shop; and a café. You can read more about it on their website if you like. Anyway, we went there and stated that we wanted to visit the museum. We were the only people who did, somehow all the others were satisfied with the shop and café. After having watched a film about local (sheep/fibre-related) history we were given a spinning and carding demonstration. When I told the lady I already knew how to spin she was delighted, as for some reason there don't seem to be many spinners left in western Ireland. I hinted that I really wanted to know more about spinning on the Great Wheel, since I had read about them but could never really imagine how to work with them. And then - she not only showed us, but let me try it.

Unlike with a more modern spinning wheel, you don't treadle with your feet and use both hands for drafting the fibre, but you turn the (really large) wheel with your right hand...

...while drafting the fibre with your left hand only:


While drafting, you hold the emerging yarn in a right angle to the wheel. As soon as your arm doesn't seem to be long enough anymore, you hold the yarn parallel to the wheel and it will be wound around the spool - turning the wheel with your other hand all the time, mind you!

It was weird and unfamiliar, and I did have my problems with the technique, although Orla (I think she was called) seemed to think I did fairly well. It was fun, and I think if I practiced I would make good progress. I don't want another wheel, though, I already have three and don't know where I'd put such a large one ;-)

It was a great experience and I really recommend visiting The Sheep and Wool Centre - so if you have the chance, go for it - and say hello from me :-)

So Many Ideas

I've not even spun up all the batts I carded the other day and I have already got so many ideas for new yarns, I can hardly keep up ;-)

I've been wanting to spin some more Harry Potter inspired yarns (I must have listened to the audio books about 20 to 30 times so far, I always start from the beginning when I'm through with book 7 - do feel free to call me crazy ;-)) and I like my new ideas: I plan to spin a Trelawny yarn and since the descriptions of the first divination lesson offer so much I will also spin a "Welcome to Divination" yarn, the materials for which I've just assembled:


The room is described as lit with a crimson light, the lamps draped with red scarves (hence the colours I chose), the students sit in chintz arm chairs and on fat poufs which I imagine as somewhat furry or fuzzy (so I chose eyelash yarn and mohair curls as add-ins), and the shelves are filled with feathers and crystal balls, among other things (I found some real feathers and rock crystal beads). I don't have any tea cup charms, but I chose some metal leave charms alluding to the tea leaves we can read quite a lot about.

And now excuse me, I have to start spinning ;-)

First Funky Christmas Yarn this Year!

Yes, I've started! You can't begin early enough ;-)
I spent some time felting little glittery baubles this week, and today I carded two gorgeous, also glittery batts. The baubles will dangle from the yarn like the felted pumpkins, the yarn will be green with a bit of red - and, yes, that's right: TINSEL! :-D


I had lots of fun already, and I'm really looking forward to spinning this yarn :-)

Halloween Pumpkin Bag

I've already written about the pumpkin yarn I wanted to turn into a bag. Well - I'm done :-) And I want to show you some more photos of different stages of the process, and, of course, of the finished bag.

...the batts...

...the felted pumpkins I spun into the yarn...

...the yarn - one of the most gorgeous I ever spun, I think...

...the bag :-) I put a parcel into it in order to be able to take a better picture. Measurements are 25x18x5 cm

Except for the knot pattern on the flap, I designed the whole thing myself. I am quite proud since I used to be quite a bad knitter and I see I've learned quite a bit by now and getting better all the time :-) I am also very glad I didn't run out of yarn since it was all a lot of guesswork and there isn't much left, indeed.
The knot pattern is from the German version of Viking Patterns for Knitting: Inspiration and Projects for Today's Knitter by Elsebeth Lavold

Maybe it will be necessary to line the bag since it is a little wobbly and it will stretch quite a bit when I put something in it.

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.

A twisted second, wait, third day

So, Weird already posted her yarns for the third day of the Tour de Fleece. And now, finally, at ten past ten am CET, here is mine!

I have to say, it was tough work today. I had a busy day at work, and I din't want to miss a day on the Tour, so I spun anyway. And it took soooo long... Well, but here it is!