...a Pirate's Life for Me

 Just a quick preview of my latest creation, featuring pieces of a Captain Jack Sparrow kerchief replica (parts of which I already used here), bone skull beads, sea shells, genuine aquamarine beads, and facetted glass beads. The fibres I used were partly hand dyed by myself.

I'm not quite sure why exactly I've always been fascinated by pirates - probably because they're romanticized and there are great movies about them, but I like to think it has to do with freedom, and my love for the ocean and the wind. So just come along on a fantastic journey aboard a pirates' ship, feeling the planks under our feet and the sun and salty air on our skin, free as birds.
Bring me that horizon!

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)

The Ruby in the Smoke

I'd like to present one of my latest art yarns, inspired by a book called The Ruby in the Smoke (by Philip Pullman).

The book is the first of a series called The Sally Lockhart Mysteries, and it's about an emancipated young woman in 1872 who solves the case of her father's murder, and the mysteries surrounding it. Apart from the main plot, the books deal with the difficulties of gender roles in Victorian London. Sally Lockhart, whose mother had died when she was very young, and who learned everything she knows from her father, is good at accounting and at shooting pistols. She is strong-minded and brave. I really like her, and have enjoyed the books very much :-)
There's also a movie, with Billie Piper (who some of you might know from Dr. Who) as Sally Lockhart. I think the book is far better, but I also enjoyed the movie.

The yarn was inspired by the title of the book more than its contents. I spun it from black wool/silk blend, soft merino wool of anthracite and ruby red, grey alpaca fibre, and a bit of sparkling angelina. I added unobtrusively sparkling thread and many jewels: flat garnet discs (rubies would have been too expensive), freshwater pearls of a shimmering grey/peacock colour, and sparkling facetted crystal quartz beads. It is elegant and beautiful, and the jewels glitter mysteriously in the dark fibres.
305 m / 68 g, 17-19 wpi (light fingering weight, nearly laceweight). To be listed in the shop soon :-)

Good News for our U.S. Customers

We are very happy to let our customers from the U.S. know that we were able to lower the shipping costs from $9 to $5 :-) In fact, shipping anywhere outside Germany will now cost $5 ($1.50 for any yarn shipped with another one) since the German Mail have adjusted prices so international shipping costs the same wherever we send our parcels. There are also many new yarns in the shop, the latest of which you can see here, too. I do hope to be able to blog more in the near future, but during the last few weeks I worked hard on a new daily routine, and I haven't yet managed to squeeze everything in. But spinning, photographing and listing works rather well at the moment, I am happy to say.
We'd love you to check out our new creations :-)

Ladybugs - A Special Art Yarn with Handmade Glass Beads

It's been quite a while since I wrote about a trade I took part in. I received two sets of handmade glass beads, then, one of which I spun into a yarn very soon. I'd been looking forward to make a yarn with the second set of beads, but it was only last week that I was finally able to decide on colours and fibre types for this special yarn. There was also the question of the spinning technique, since I dind't want to make this yarn the same way I made the other. I decided on the corespinning technique, which always results in a very lofty, highly textured yarn and which is also suitable for beads this size. Here it is.

Ladybugs in the Meadow

It's already listed in the shop :-)
I'd like to thank the maker of the beads again, they are so amazing: Danke, potzblitz!

Egyptian Blessing

I have different ways of composing yarns. One of them is to think of a story, mood, music piece, character or whatever, and then collect all the colours and add-ins that I think would be apposite. Another way is to just choose some colours and start carding, thinking of a suitable name later. With my latest yarn, the latter was the case - but I didn't have to think of a name, it kind of hit me suddenly.

I started out with different kinds of fibre of blue, yellow, and a little white and black. The colour combination reminded me of the descriptions of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, as blue and gold are closely associated with them. And then something else came to my mind: Captain Sharidan of Babylon 5 (one of my favourite TV shows) cites a supposedly ancient Egyptian blessing: May God stand between you and harm in all the empty places where you must walk.

I've always liked it, and I like the association of this beautiful yarn with this blessing. I've been meaning to find out whether it's really ancient Egyptian, but I've only googled it just now. If we can believe these people, writer Harlan Ellison made it up. I still mean to have a look in our library or ask one of my professors, though. When I googled the blessing, I also stumbled upon some suggestions as to how to change the line to be acceptable to an atheist. I'd like to share the link, just as a side note: here you go :-)

I hope to list the yarn during the next week, so look out for it in our shop :-)

Happy New Year!

I know the year is already nearly three weeks old, but since I didn't have the chance before, I'd like to wish you all a happy new year anyway :-) Mine started out rather mixed, to put it mildly. First, both our cats were ill and we had to cut our holiday a day short, then I had a touch of the flu, and when I thought I was well again I was overcome with a nasty bronchitis. I used the few days between the flu and bronchitis for spinning, but even that didn't seem to work: I had two custom orders both of which I messed up. Both yarns are far too bulky, and I don't know how I could spin away without noticing that. Something like this has never happened to me before, I am still bewildered *looking sheepish* But as long as there's enough fibre to try again, I won't be stopped. I am happy to say my customer is a patient one :-)

Oh - but I did spin some new yarns which turned out fine ;-) One is an assignment for a wonderful Harry Potter Ravelry Group I found the other day: The Harry Potter Knitting & Crochet House Cup.

Ring of Toadstools

 I have used these beads before, as some of you might have noticed, I just love them and bought quite a lot ;-) And I think they are perfect for the Herbology assignment (ravelry link, you have to be logged in to see).

The other yarn is comprised of my favourite winter colours and contains felt balls - handmade, but not by me. I am still happy I found some felt balls I could buy, since I honestly don't like felting much, but I do it if I have to ;-)

Well, I do hope you had a better start into the new year. I may have been delayed but am back in business from now on, and I am determined not to be hindered by anything as mundane as the flu or bronchitis ;-)