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

 I am moving at fast pace right now, I really can't seem to slow down, I am so into handpainting my wool fibers - it must be the spring season indeed, I am full of energy and the weather has been gorgeous over the past few days (well, it's raining right now but it was really sunny and warm earlier :o) ), birds are chirping everywhere, little lambs bouncing around in the fields, and for the first time this year I was able to leave my garden door wide open without freezing to death!! Oh I love Spring!!

So, I am trying to work ahead so I can give myself some time off over Easter. If the weather stays sunny and dry (PLEEEEAAASE), I will go on a nice long  bank holiday walk along Hadrian's Wall, Sam's coming too of course.

These are the rovings I had mordanted last week and then gave them a real good dip into some great great colours - have a look:

Apart from the last roving in the bottom right corner they are all extrasoft Merino wool rovings and displayed in My Ebay Store, and the sixth roving, which is an extrasoft British Bluefaced Leicester handpainted roving, is displayed in My Etsy Store!

The fibers I am selling as handpainted rovings are exactly the same fibers I use for my handspun OOAK yarns, same dyes, same dyeing technique, and yes, these combed tops make the best close to the skin cosy yarns and felt ever!! Well, gotta go, more rovings to paint and more fibers to be spun :o) I hope you have enjoyed the pics!

Hey everyone :o)

Want to see my new hand dyed Wensleydale curls? Oh they've come out so well, have a look at my beauties:

And just when as I finished drying them, my new bulk of raw Wensleydale fleeces arrived from the wholesaler!! I got the last lot because the fleece season is about to end, no more fleeces until June/July when clipping time starts again...sigh...I'll just have to wait...

Wensleydale fleeces can be extraordinarily dirty. Their curls just hold in the mud, dung, thorns and who knows what, the water the fleeces are soaked in is just one big swampy brew and some fleeces require several washings. It will take at least 1 week to get them nice and clean and sorted - but new hand dyed locks will be coming soon, and perhaps I will have some natural white fleece left to put in my store as 100g sorted lots :o)

By the way, I also got new very soft Merino wool roving in, it's on sale as 250g bulks  and it's displayed in MY EBAY STORE, come and have a look, it's absolutely gorgeous!!

The clocks moved 1h forward last night, and yes, Heike didn't notice until late afternoon today, when I was surprised to see that the movie I wanted to watch while spinning was already half-way over....SOOOO TYPICAL!! Well, I have now set all my clocks straight, and come October I will miss when they set the clocks 1h back again - same story every single year. It's useless to write it on the calender or anywhere else, because I will just forget about it...anyway...

 But to change the subject : I would like to show you my new TINKERBELL OOAK yarn design I finished 2 days ago, and it's now displayed in my Etsy shop. It's made from some of my handpainted cosy cosy Bluefaced Leicester wool - OF COURSE :o)

Well what can I say, the BFL is simply one of the best wool fibers to work with, I never get tired of spinning that wool, honestly. I finished this lot between 2 custom orders I am currently working on (pictures to come soon), and I received another custom order tonight for 400g of dark grey pure Alpaca yarn - yummy soft and gorgeous!!! So this Bluefaced Leicester wool is so handy for changing fibers for a short while and to see some different colours as well.

I have also mordanted another 1 kg of extrasoft Merino wool for handpainting - if the weather is good tomorrow I may be able to paint it outside - hmmmm, I think I  know what colour schemes I will use :o) ... be surprised!

Everyone, have a very good Sunday!

Hi folks!!

Just wanted to pop in and show you my new handpainted Bluefaced Leicester and Masham wool rovings because they came out soooooooo well!!! I have tried completely new colour combinations, and I do confess, from the bulk I dyed I have already kept 3 back to spin into cosy yarn :o)

The last two photos show the Masham rovings, gorgeous and really lustrous! All rovings are displayed in my ebay store!

I have tried for a whole week to finish more of my wonderful and cosy handspun Merino slub yarns but to no avail - I have managed to get skein no.5 off the spindle and that's that... no mordanting nor any painting done yet. What can I say, last week was incredibly busy: Loads of people contacted me about the handpainted Wensleydale locks and asked for different colours and quantities, others inquired after my handpainted supersoft wool/silk blend, and I didn't want to let them down. So I mordanted and dyed my special blend and more Wensleydale curls instead, not that I would mind, oh no, I absolutely love working with my special blend, and I am always very keen on experimenting with new shades coming out of the locks. But the slub yarn project had to be put on hold, oh well, I will simply finish it later. I will also start on two new custom orders of handspun Camel down/Silk fingering weight and sport weight knitting yarn, one lot in honey white and the other in butterscotch - YUMMYYYYY :o) I have also found some time to display my new Bluefaced Leicester handspun yarn design in my Etsy store called "Flying Kites":

 Frisky, huh? I think that this yarn would make some wonderful baby garment ,or a colourful hat or scarf! It is part of a range of yarns I painted with very similar shades in the same dye pattern. They are all displayed in my ebay store. Here is one of the painted yarns:

Gorgeous Gorgous shades!!!  And very much suiting the season, beginning of spring - YIPPIEHHHHH....

Hi everyone!!

For the past week I had tried to get started on my handspun and handpainted GORGEOUS GORGEOUS slub yarns, but I also had to do my inventory, and that takes for ever and ever and ever.....I don't like doing it but it is absolutely necessary if I want to keep an overview of what's in store and what needs ordering. Anyway, I've got that done, and I have also found some time to at least start on the handspinning part - so far I have finished 3 cosy skeins of Merino thick and thin, and I even got to paint one lot, which is now displayed in my Etsy store:

The shades of this design are very earthy indeed, I absolutely love them :o) Here is another picture of some of my handpainted slub yarn that I just recently finished for a customer:

I have got loads of ideas for my new lot. I will finish another 3 skeins, hopefully this weekend, and then I will prepare them for the dyeing part. I will display them on my blogsite as soon as they are ready for presentation, so you guys can view them here as well!!

Hello everyone!!

Well, my cold is finally gone (GREAT SIGH), and I am busy as a bee again with my latest yarn designs and new colourways :o) I have just displayed my new Bluefaced Leicester yarn design "TEA PARTIES AND A SUMMER IN THE COUNTRY" in my Etsy store . The colours of this OOAK yarn are a range of warm summer shades,  they so remind me of warm sunlight and the fresh scent of flowers in the summer air,  a time for being outside and enjoying the season!

Not long now and Spring will come soon. My daffodils are already flowering in the garden, and honestly now, this winter has not been very cold anyway over here in Northern England. I really can't complain. Though I did wish for a bit of snow - it's been so long since we had snow over here... Right, now that I am better again I have started a large project of handspun and handpainted extrasoft Merino slubyarn, I have got some great ideas for new colour combinations!! Merino absorbs the dye like a dream, and the colours always come out so vibrantly, it's an absolute joy to dye Merino :o)  I have also found a new wholesaler for dyed 21 micron (70's quality) extrasoft Merino fiber, I just haven't decided yet which colours I'm going to choose for purchase, but this 70's Merino will make a lot of handpinners' hearts beat faster, including MINE!! Once the rovings are part of my supply I will also show you the chosen shades on this blog.

You all have a very good weekend and happy fibercrafting!!