Playing Around with a Tweedy Look

I had a little time for carding last week, and I decided to try carding batts for yarns with a tweedy look. Now, strictly speaking, a tweed yarn is a two-ply, but I usually prefer singles. I looked up what else defines a tweed yarn, but that seems to differ (depending on the source of the information), so I just went for what I think of as a tweedy look and I carded and spun up two batts:

Autumn Tweed

Midnight Tweed

I forgot to take a photo of the batt :-/

I really like the texture of the yarns. I chose very soft, grey alpaca and black, rather more rough Icelandic wool, as well as merino wool to provide colour. I love the mixture of rough and soft wool/fibre and the mottled look. Both yarns contain sparkly fibre as well.

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.

Captain Jack Sparrow - the One and Only

I have spun a few yarns during the last two weeks or so, but somehow it took me ages to take photos (rainy days equal bad photo light) and I couldn't make time for blogging until now. I hope to post a few more photos soon, but for now let me show you one of my latest favourites.

It startet with a friend presenting me with a cloth-thingy. When I looked at it closely, I saw it was some Pirates of the Carribean merchandise, which - my friend told me - was given to the cinema where she used to work. Since nobody wanted it, she gave it to me to tear it apart and spin it into yarn! It's a copy of the kerchief (is this the right word?! Help, anyone!) Captain Jack Sparrow wears in one or more of the movies.


I spun strips of it into this yarn of handdyed alpaca fibre:

Sail with Captain Sparrow

I spun in black obsidian beads and dark peacock freshwater pearls as allusions to the Black Pearl.

I used an accompanying thread to create lots of texture, the coils representing the swirling ocean as well as the twisted personality of our dear Captain Sparrow.

The yarn is 97 m / 133 g and will hopefully be listed in the shop soon :-)

More Toadstools

Some weeks ago, I traded a handmade shawl pin for two sets of handmade glass beads. I had mentioned this before, but that was before the trade took place. By now the beads have arrived and I absolutely love them! I am stunned there are people who can actually make something like that with their own hands. Well, some people out there probably think similarly about yarn, I guess ;-)

I have already spun one set of beads into a yarn - and here it is:


The other set is also red, but with black spots and I intend to spin a ladybug yarn from light green wool or maybe wool/silk blend - and I am really looking forward to it :-) I'll post a photo as soon as I am done.

The beads were made by Potzblitz - viiieeelen Dank nochmal! :-)

Join Harry Potter in the Room of Hidden Things

I've been wanting to spin more Harry Potter yarns for quite a while now. And one idea has been sleeping at the back of my mind: I wanted to turn the Room of Requirement/Room of Hidden Things into a spectacular art yarn. I imagined a dark yarn with lots of weird stuff in it, and it took me a while to get everything ready. I used many silver-coloured charms of different shapes: forks, spoons, hats, coat-hangers, umbrellas, teddybears, and more; and I rummaged in the depths of my drawers for some glow-in-the-dark ghosts and a kind of eye (both types I had made from polymer clay previously), some bone skulls, and some shells and bells. I also added lots of facetted glass beads. I chose black merino wool, grey and black alpaca fibre and some sari silk of greens and blues for the project and tried to spin a yarn more wild and irregular than usual. I do like the outcome :-)



It's funny - I've had some sari silk for years now, and I hardly ever used it. Probably because I don't keep it where I keep the rest of my spinning stuff, so I always forget about it - but that's definetly going to change, that stuff is great! I love the texture of yarn with added sari silk :-)
Hopefully, this yarn will be in the shop soon!

I really need to plan more Harry Potter yarns, it's always fun to spin those and the theme is one of my favourites :-)

Amazing Pumpkins

I've just received word from one of our customers about a beautiful shawl she has made from one of our art yarns. Maybe some of you remember the Wild Pumpkin yarn I spun for myself, and which I've knitted into a gorgeous bag - if not, you can look at it here ;-)

When I posted pictures of the yarn and bag on Ravelry, JumperCables asked me to spin a similar yarn for her and I happily did so. Now she blogged about it and kindly allowed me to use one of her pictures.

Here you can find her blog entry and more photos - I think she'd love you to visit her blog :-)

I am thrilled to see another of our art yarns transformed into something stunning and wearable and I am very happy JumperCables has given me the permission to show it to you, too. Thanks again!

Finally!

I am very relieved and happy: I am now finally able to use my spinning wheel again, after nearly two months of abstinence due to injury. It feels good to be back at the wheel and to spin art yarns again, which I wouldn't want to do on a drop spindle anymore.
Here is my latest creation:


It's made from hand dyed wool/silk blend, spun with lots of texture, and I've spun in textile flowers and leaves, as well as different kinds of glass beads.

Oh my, I am happy :-)