** NEEDLEWORK'S PLEASURE** SPINNING & FELTING FIBRES, HANDSPUN & HANDPAINTED YARNS

I have been painting new rovings all weekend, and I have also received a new bulk of raw Wensleydale fleeces that will require a good wash indeed! The locks are absolutely gorgeous but it's a lot of work to get them properly scoured so they will be suitable for dyeing projects. I am very happy with this new lot!! Those fleeces are really good quality!

I have also just now displayed my latest yarn design in my Etsy store at www.alltheprettyfibers.etsy.com , which I have spun from my favourite and yummy handpainted Bluefaced Leicester wool - I have called it "Winter Berries" because the colourway includes perfect 4th season shades! Have a look:

There is a very light touch of mint green in it as well, which matches the complete scheme!! It stands for some of the winter herbs you can find out in the gardens and fields before they are harvested.

Before I go I would like to let everyone know that my natural oatmeal and natural brown Bluefaced Leicester wool rovings are still available, but they are not displayed in my ebay store anymore. If you are interested in ordering some of these 2 gorgeous shades please contact me directly through my website at www.needleworks-pleasure.com . I always have a larger amount in stock for my handspun yarns :o) The current price is £1.85/50g roving.

Everyone have a very good week!!!!!!

I just got back from the post office, and boy are the roads terrible!!! It's been raining for over 24 hours now, and all roads into Carlisle have turned into rivers! I am not exaggerating, the drain system does not cope with all that rainwater anymore (same old story everytime it rains too much...), and yes I was a bit sweaty when I drove through the rising floods, mind you it even started to snow while I was out there, just to give the whole scenario some extra spice... Let's hope that the drains in the city and out here will do their job alright, I mean, people are still recovering from the last flood, still arranging their new furniture, and their plaster on the walls has not even dried from latest renovations!!

Well, I  have made it home safely, and I have just got a few moments left to show you what I have been working on in the past few days. 2 custom orders finished and dispatched, and a new gorgeous OOAK Merino yarn design, which I have called "Dreamcatcher". It is now for sale in my Etsy store at www.alltheprettyfibers.etsy.com, here are some pics:

My memory has been very good lately, so I even took some photos of the 2 custom orders before they went out in the mail. The first one is a very soft lambswool design which the customer (a very very lovely lady from the Highlands) requested to be painted in a warm custard yellow. She said that stronger yellow shades would make her look like she was dieing ;oD 

and of course I am always hoping to see a photo of the finished knitwear...will I, will I??....come on Jan! Will I? :oD It is indeed a very nice and warm yellow shade, very spring-like!

And this is the Shetland slub yarn order that has  now made its way to Italy:

my slub yarns are very popular for dreadmaking, freeform knitting and knitted felting projects - the thick and thin look is characteristic for slub yarns and handspun that way on purpose. If used for dreadmaking this yarn will make thin to medium-thin dreads:

All my slub yarns are displayed in my ebay store. Feel free to Visit My eBay Store for more details!

Everyone, I hope you will be able to keep dry tonight,  wherever you are!

Here they are, my latest handpainted Alpaca and Silk beauties! Their colourways are more than yummy, and I am very pleased with the entire result :o) The Alpaca rovings are now displayed in my Etsy store, and the Tussah silk rovings can be viewed in my Ebay store. Please feel free to Visit My eBay Store for more details! These are my tussah babies:

 Streaky deep purple, cinnamon gold, moss-sage, and light turquoise-teal - FANTASITC!!! They will make great handspun yarns and add to the beauty of felted projects and silk paper!

Below are 3 of the Alpaca tops - I have kept 2 for new handspun yarn designs and another one is still on the wool rack:

I really hope that you like the new colours as much as I do!

As usual I haven't got much time left today - I have received a new custom order for 500g of Shetland slub yarn for a lady in Italy, so I must get back pedalling. BUT before I do that I would very much like to introduce Marie to you! Marie has just recently discovered the craft of felting, and when she sent me photos of some of her finished projects I really thought that they were so gorgeous and that she certainly has a talent for felting. I have displayed the pics in my little fibre gallery of my Ebay store, and as she sent me quite a few to choose from I also want to show them here on my blog:

 My favourite are the teacosies - they are awesome :o)  Marie will be accepting custom orders for handfelted gifts and unique creations in the future. She hasn't got a website yet, but you can contact her through [email protected] . She is a very lovely person, and I know that she will be delighted to hear from you guys!

Everyone have a very good week, keep warm and HAPPY FIBRE CRAFTING!!!!

I have been up and about for 14 hours now - dyeing, spinning, packing, sorting....it doesn't seem to end right now. I have got soooooo many ideas swirling around in my head that I cannot stop and sit down and say "oh, let's do it another day", because my head won't let me sleep......!!!!!!!!!! I have finished a new range of wonderful and yummy soft handpainted Alpaca rovings (I felt like Alpaca so I DID Alpaca ;o) ), another range of goooooorgeoussssss handpainted Tussah silk rovings (wait for the colours to be displayed in my Ebay store soon!), and I have also packed up another 3 new sets of creativity mixed bags for all fibre fanatics out there :oD . And because that includes me I have kept a fourth bag to myself.

Anyway, I am feeling better than 4 days ago, still a bit jelly-kneed but I am getting better slowly. Heaven knows what bug I had caught, no idea, as long as it goes away again I really don't care. After 5 days I have finally managed to finish my first spring yarn design - wait! - don't expect any greens and blues and all that to appear...OH NO... Heike had lots of daffodils and lavender in her head, including little bees buzzing around during the first warm and sunny days of the year (which may still take a while to come...sigh...). So I went for "Honey & Thyme" Bluefaced Leicester cosy yarn, have a look:

yep, I wanted a simple fresh and sunny yarn to look at, and I absolutely love the result!!!!!!! "Honey&Thyme" is now for sale in my Etsy store at www.alltheprettyfibers.etsy.com .

Well, I am definitely retiring now, I have been up way too long. And I still have those colourways in my head....hm.......

God, the weather sucks!!!!!!! I can say with certainty that I have become depressed by all that rain and the dark days since the new year began. I've also caught some sort of bug which allows me to move in slow motion only....IT REALLY REALLY SUCKS..... :o(

So even though I am not feeling too well I had to do a little painting job just to absorb some colours into my mind. I have painted Merino rovings, Shetland rovings and some Bluefaced Leicester rovings. Some of them are already displayed in my Ebay store, and I have played around with the winter shade of deep sage, which, in its own way, is a very good colour to add to an existing colourway! I personally like sage very much. Here are some photos:

and while I am at it, I had also finished a dyelot of handspun Merino yarn painted with real Indigo, which is very time consuming to prepare and a bit fiddley to use (it requires a lot of dipping and turning of the yarn and preventing it from felting at the same time!!), I wanted to display this beauty last week, but I simply did not feel too well and decided to postpone it. Well, the yarn has now been sold, but as usual I would like to leave a picture of it on my blog, so it can still be viewed. Here it is, "The Magic Circle", which has found a new home in the US :

I hope you will enjoy viewing the latest photos, and do feel free to Visit My eBay Store for more details on my latest handpainted rovings! :o)

I will now try to make the best of the weather and my health...(so sucks)... I will prepare a nice hot water bottle, pop in a DVD (one that I have already seen hundreds of times...sigh...), and sink into my armchair to continue spinning a very lovely Bluefaced Leicester yarn I started 2 days ago (yep...me...really slow right now...), the colours are gorgeous spring shades!!!! Once it is finished I will try to display it at the same time on my blog as it goes out into one of my online stores! ;o)

I am starting the new year with a fantastic and very very colourful handspun Merino beauty which I have most suitably called "Hogmanay". My resolution for 2008 is to bring even more colour into my life and into my fibres than the year before, and that will be a very welcome challenge indeed!! :o) I am so excited about the woolly tasks ahead of me...I have got great ideas for great designs!!!... and I already know that I will be having a ball mixing shades, dipping a little over here, dipping a little over there, sorting tons of wonderful fleeces and pedalling away to create new unique and very special yarns for all the wool lovers out there ;o) Wait and see, I am not exaggerating!

You can find "Hogmanay" in my Etsy store at www.alltheprettyfibers.etsy.com , and don't forget - if you have a very special yarn design in mind for yourself or as a gift you are most welcome to view the category "custom made fine yarns" on my website www.needleworks-pleasure.com for more details and colour information!

I wish everyone a very very happy and prosperous 2008!!! Keep up the good knitwork, let your creativity run wild on your handspun yarns, and to all the felters: Enjoy your felting projects...there really are no limits!! Yours, Heike.