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

Hi everyone!

Here I have the pictures of the DK/sport weight handspun Angora yarn that I just recently finished for a customer. Just in time, I would say, because a very bad cold got hold of me AGAIN!! I absolutely hate being ill, but hey, what can you do. I have been drinking gallons of tea and hot lemon with honey, but it simply takes its time to get better.  I am not that type of person to run and see a doctor and to get antibiotics stuffed into me - I have got my own little pharmacy of homeopathic remedies in my cupboard, and it works so much better than school medecine!!  In fact, I haven't taken any antibiotics or other pharmaceutical chemical stuff for the past 15 years, and I'm still here :o) I have  been working 24/7+ since christmas, to finish all the custom orders and also spinning and dyeing yarns for my online stores, and it does take its toll sooner or later.  Now I will have to take a break, wether I like it or not... But before I do, here are the photos. I hope you will enjoy viewing them!

Once this handspun yarn has been knitted up the wool will get its typical Angora look and feel - I could have brushed it a little, but the yarn will do its own bit anyway :o)

Right, I will go and rest now - as soon as I'm better I want to  start on a wonderful handpainted lot of British Bluefaced Leicester wool that calls out to me to be spun into super cosy yarn!! I've got loads of ideas how to mix the colours, oooooh I so need to get better FAST...

I am still working on my custom order of handspun DK Angora wool - I am doing the last hank now and I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel again :o) Handspinning Angora is not something you can do somewhere in between. It takes a good deal of focusing and regular pedalling, I can tell you...but all handspinners out there who have spun Angora fiber in the past know what I'm talking about. It makes the most wonderful and cosiest wool ever, but these short fibers get into your nose, your mouth, your tea...... sigh..... Anyway, I took some time out over the weekend and went for a very long walk by the Solway Firth near Drumburgh, where you can see the borders of Scotland on the other side of the water. It's a really beautiful spot, I even remembered to take my camera with me! 

I have displayed some of the photos in XX-large on purpose so you can "walk" a bit through this landscape :o) And yes, Sam wanted to be on it too...what can I say...

The new lot of Wensleydale locks are ready for presentation! This time it's a wonderful combination of stormy blues! They are gorgeous, aren't they? If you are ever looking for a particular colour or colour combination please feel free to suggest them to me, I am always happy to experiment with my colours and fibers :o) You can find this new lot of locks in my ebay store!

I have also finished my first lot of hand dyed British Bluefaced Leicester locks & fleece - an absolutely gorgeous fleece I can tell you! I washed and scoured it myself before dyeing, and I find that my handpicked fleeces provide me with much more curls and locks and fluffy fleece wool than any commercially scoured fleece from any wholesaler ever could. So far I have finished 3 lots in 3 different colours.

I am leaving you with these pictures - the weather up here in Northern England is fantastic today, and I so need to take advantage of it (the good weather days are more than rare!!). So I will go now and have a long walk on the marsh by the Solway Firth, and count the seagulls and little hawks flying through the blue blue sky...Have a great weekend yourselves!

Hi everyone!

Just stopping by to introduce my new range of OOAK handpainted Merino sockyarns to you! I've already displayed some designs in my ebay store , you can view them in the category for "hand dyed & handspun yarns", and they are simply called "Soft Merino Knitting Yarn". They are not just sockyarns - you can do a lot more with them!! As they are made of pure wool and not treated with any chemicals they will also make gorgeous regular knitwear (shawls, hats, gloves, cardigans,sweaters...), and you can most certainly use them for weaving and felting projects as well! I usually make sure that the designs compliment each other so they can be combined to make colourful garments. One skein will be sufficient to finish a pair of normal adult size socks. Here are two designs I have just listed in my Etsy store :

This design is called "KAMA SUTRA". The one below I have named "RHANDJANA":

they are indeed OOAK beauties!!!

And yes, of course I also had to keep myself busy with an new lot of extrasoft British Bluefaced Leicester hand dyed and handspun knitting yarn. I have mixed wonderful turquoise, teals and purples into lime and aquamarine, and out came my "EMERALD WINGS, OR BEING CHARLOTTE BRONTE"! Don't wonder about its name, it's a sentimental thing and has got a lot to do with the great and beautiful landscapes of Northern England .... :o)

I hope you will enjoy viewing these colourful yarns! Have to go now - I am finishing a hand dyed lot of Wensleydale locks at the moment. Pictures to come soon. Be surprised....!!

Finally,finally I have managed to clean and sort half of my wonderful fleeces!!! The washing itself doesn't take long but the drying time can stretch considerably, and now I can get my hands on these beauties :o) Oh but they are ever so gorgeous, I could just curl up in them all day long. I have now got some really high quality Shetland, Wensleydale, Bluefaced Leicester and Romney Kent fleeces for sale - I have got huge plans for the BFL fleece, I want to dye it in several different shades because this fleece contains a big amount of locks too! Here are some pictures,first the white Shetland fleece, washed & scoured:

I have also scoured this lot because I am planning to dye some of it. Most of it though will be spun into yarn - I really can't wait to start!!!

The next lot is my scoured moorit Shetland fleece, the softest I have seen in a long time:

They are all absolutely gorgeous, yes, I am in love with my fleeces :o) The next fleece is the famous Bluefaced Leicester, washed & scoured. The amount of soft and fluffy fibers in this lot is unbelievable:

And the next one is my Romney Kent - a fleece to die for! One of the softest longwool fibers and an ease to spin straight from the uncarded fleece - note the wonderful crimp of the locks:

Speaking of locks: I have been hand dyeing a large bulk of scoured and sorted Wensleydale locks for the past 2 weeks. This particular fleece is quite time consuming to clean when it comes straight off the sheep. The very long and lustrous locks catch a lot of dirt, and I had to wash some lots 3-4 times before I could sort it any further. The effort, however, is so worth it! Here are some photos of a washed Wensleydale fleece, washed&scoured&sorted locks, and some hand dyed locks, ready for loads of fiber projects:

These are my beauties for now. There is another bulk of Cheviot fleece that wants washing and sorting as well, plus I'm currently working on a custom order of handspun DK/sport weight Angora wool - veeeery time consuming but so satisfying once the hank is finished :o) So long now and happy fibercrafting!!

Hi everyone!!

Oh it's been too long since I last posted something on my blog!! But I was completely drowned in custom orders, and I was struggling with the deadlines. I've got 2 more orders to finish and then I can concentrate on some yarn experiments again :o) that's what makes handspinning such fun, trying out new designs and fiber combinations! I am also in the middle of washing and sorting 25kg of raw fleeces....boy I can tell you, that's a lot of work...and a lot of wool in the conservatory, it's completely packed with it. There are some Shetland fleeces (GOOOOORGEOUS!!!!!), Wensleydale curlies, Bluefaced Leicester (of course!), beautiful Romney Kent, and the ancient breed of Scottish Cheviot....Yepp, me really really busy!!! But I want to show you my latest 2 yarn designs from my Etsy shop at www.alltheprettyfibers.etsy.com - here they are:

My "Purple Moon" handspun ultrasoft merino/silk blend yarn, a perfect beauty.

And my little wild thing "Pinata" artyarn - never stops partying :o) Yeah, I think I can be quite proud of those two cuties. Next time I will post some pics of my clean fleeces, and perhaps I will have found a little bit of time to have spun a handful of these fibers!! See you all and happy fibercrafting!