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

For the past 4 days I have been mordanting tons of undyed yarns to get them ready for my weekend painting session :o) 24 skeins have already made it into the dye pots, and another 15 skeins are to follow shortly... I have currently run out of pots. Most of the skeins are sport weight Bluefaced Leicester. Unfortunately this particular 2-ply yarn is no longer made because the yarn mill, that spun this yarn has closed down, and it was not good news! I have found a new yarn mill that makes 3-ply Bluefaced Leicester yarns - I am not sure if I want to go for 3-ply yet, they are not making any sport weight yarn at the moment :o(  . No matter! So far I have always been able to find the right yarns for my dye-projects. One mill closes down, another one opens up for business. That's how it goes in the world.

I am currently busy with a new custom order of navajo plied Merino yarn in black, grey and white colours. Yes, some of you might remember that I used to have a yarn design displayed in my Etsy store called "Snowy Rock". It went for auction a short while ago and found a new home in Australia. The lady who had purchased the skein was so excited about "Snowy Rock" and loved the pattern so much that she has asked me to make another 2 skeins for her. I must say, I also liked the black/grey/white blend yarn very much! Here it is again:

as it is a 3-ply (navajo) yarn it is also perfect for weaving projects! Well, have to go now, more yarn to be dyed, and today is a national holiday over here, so I don't need to rush to the post office either and can therefore take my time with the yarns.

I finished a very lovely yarn design 3 days ago, and I displayed it in my Etsy store today. In fact I put it there about 1 hour ago, and, oops - gone already. It went to a very good home in the U.S.

Here are some pics of "Down By The River":

Beautiful, isn't it?

I am currently in the mood for spinning Alpaca fleece, so I finished some gorgeous, gorgeous black Alpaca yarn today, and I will be making some more natural grey yarn as well tomorrow. I received my new pricelist from one of my wholesalers yesterday, and I am getting really frustrated with the prices. Peruvian Alpaca has gone through the roof 40% (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and Australian Merino 30% - well, the Australian prices are understandable because poor Australia has had long periods of draught  huge bush fires, which killed a lot of sheep . That's so sad, all those sheep perishing like flies and also dyeing of heat stroke. Sometimes I wonder why Merino with tons of wool on their bodies are being bred on one of the hottest continents on earth, hm. 

I have no idea why the Alpaca prices have shot up like that - I have already spoken with a British dealer who sells British Alpaca fleeces. Hopefully his prices will remain stable, at least for one year!

Everyone keep visiting my website www.needleworks-pleasure.com !! I have added more handpainted rovings and OOAK handspun yummy yarns!!!

My hands are completely healed, I am so relieved! And I have already been mordanting new yarns and rovings at high speed again - I had an inspirational brain rush last night and  so many beautiful colour schemes were bouncing around in my head, most of which I will bring to life in wool/silk blends! YUMMY AND SUPER SOFT!!!

I also finished a new Bluefaced Leicester (yes, it's BFL time again :o) ) design displayed it on my website www.needleworks-pleasure.com. Here is my "Marco Polo":

I will take some pics of the new wool/silk blends as soon as they have dried properly. I have already reserved two lots of them for a new felting project!!!! This time I will definitely wear gloves....  :oD

When I woke up this morning I was in shock - the skin on my palms was peeling off like old wallpaper, and my hands felt sore, it wasn't funny anymore. And then I remembered...I had finished my very first felting project 2 days ago. Oh I was sooooo proud of myself!!!! I had been wanting to try wet felting for ages and ages, but you can just forget about doing anything outside the yarn&fiber business during the high yarn season. But once the month of May comes around things usually slow down just about enough for me to find extra time for experiments with my fibers - that's the part I love so much because there is no schedule, and it's not for stock up either :o)

So I took one of my handpainted extra fine Merino wool rovings, that had been sitting in the corner for months (and I sooooo wanted to work with that roving!!!), widened it to about 6 inches and doubled the layer with more wool of the same roving, which means that I ended up with a 2,2yard long unfelted lot - the right length for a scarf (it would still shrink during the felting process of course). Right, had never done any un-accidental felting before in my life, and Heike just jumped into the project with loads and loads of enthusiasm, diving her hands into soapy waters and rubbing that Merino wool the right way... and when I mean "soapy water" I really mean SOAPY!!! Boy, I think I used way too much soap, but I didn't care because it was such fun moving my hands over the soft fiber! The wool felted like a dream, it didn't take long at all, and I actually finished felting and fulling the scarf within 1 1/2hours. It may be quite long, I don't know, but for me as an absolute beginner in wet felting it was not too long at all. Anyway, one thing I kept thinking during that soap party was: Hm, perhaps I should wear gloves... should I...? I know the answer now: YES, I definitely should have worn some bloody gloves to protect my hands from all that hot water and soap and rubbing and fulling and all... Today my hands look disastrously raw and sore, and I am sure that the mordanting I did last night (also without wearing any gloves) finished off the skin on my palms for good.

Well, I have learned my lesson well. Next time I do some felting and decide to turn the whole thing into a complete bubble bath, I will wear some gloves. But guys, I am really really proud of what I have finished!! The scarf has come out so nice and so soft. Now that it is dry it measures 5ft3" in length and 6.8" in width, and it is about 1/8inch thick. I have taken some pics.

The first photo is the drawn out wool roving in its raw state, have a look:

I am sure that I have missed some details that would have made this scarf even better, but it is well felted through and through, I love the colour scheme and it is really soft to wear around my neck :o)

Today I spun some of my greasy Shetland fleece because the lanolin helps sore skin very well, and my hands look much better already compared to how they were this morning. I will probably continue with the greasy fleece tonight, that one is also a project I had to put aside for far too long. There is nothing better for handspinning than a clean pure and greasy long staple fleece that you can simply spin straight from the lock, such a breeeeeeeeeze :o)

It has also got quite chilly and rainy again, and I got out a pair of socks I had knitted last winter from a wonderful handspun Herdwick yarn - not spun by me though. I had purchased this yarn as a treat (you have to every now and then...right?...) from another handspinner who runs a craft shop in Caldbeck along with I think another 9 or 10 ladies. They all are very very crafty and so talented, I love going there. The shop is called "Wool Clip" and it's located inside an old water mill called "Priest Mill", there are also other craft shops in it. If you ever get to the Caldbeck area (which is quite close to the Northern part of the Lake District) it would be worth stopping by there! They have handwoven, handknitted, handspun and handpainted fiber art for sale and the prices are artfully reasonable. Here is a photo of the socks I have knitted from the Herdwick yarn, quite coarse, I agree, but I do love Herdwick!!! It doesn't always have to be super super soft for me:

Today I had to mow my lawn, wether I liked it or not, but we had a good amount of rain last week, and that grass keeps growing and growing - it is unbelievable :o(  So sad because my sweet little daisies went along with the grass, sniff... I have pushed it off as long as I could, I soooooo love my daisie lawn!!! Most people would say: But it's a weed, you don't want to see it on your spotless English lawn! Well, I DO, and I like weeds in my lawn, and moss and what else. And just so you know: To hell with those spotless lawns, how BORING are they???!!! Well, I have taken some photos of my beautiful daisy-lawn before the mowing, and I also took a few pics after the grass was cut. I guess it looks good post-cut as well, hm.

 Now this is before the cutting:

And this is after the cutting :o(

At least Sam takes advantage of the freshly cut lawn - he's ready for ANOTHER sunbath...

As it is still Merino-week in my workshop I finished a fabulously soft and bouncy yarn design with loads and loads and loads of colours!! I simply mixed everything vibrant I had available, and out came my "Cirque Du Soleil II":

This yarn has been displayed in my ebay store . Feel free to have a look there for more yarn details!

Everyone enjoy the wonderful May days and HAPPY FIBER CRAFTING!!

Heyyyyy, it's finally Merino time again!! :o)

I have kept myself busy painting a beautiful lot of Merino sock yarns over the weekend. and the colours came out exactly the way I wanted them, very frisky and strong. I have displayed them in my ebay store ! Here are the pics of my new babies :o)

I also displayed a new handspun Merino slub yarn design in  my etsy store two days ago , and to change (juuuust once this weekend..) to some Bluefaced Leicester wool I also painted some sport weight yarn - here they are:

I hope you  will enjoy viewing the new designs and colour schemes!!

Hey everyone!!! I have to correct the ending day for my ebay auctions - I gave you the wrong date in my last blog, sorry about that. My yarn auctions are still running until tomorrow afternoon (15.00h British Time) so go and have a look! You may find a lovely design to bid on, they are all really beautiful! You can find them either on the ebay UK auction site for handspun/handpainted yarns, or you can check my handspun yarn section in my ebay store .By the way, I have also displayed a very special and absolutely gorgeous new handspun Bluefaced Leicester yarn in my Etsy store . It's my "Yarn Of The Month" - I probably won't be able to exeed the beauty of this yarn for a while :o) Here are some pics:

It's great, isn't it? I have called it "Virginia Woolf" - she may have been flattered by it, who knows, and those colours I feel go very well with her name!

Hey, also thanks everyone for sending me compliment e-mails about my blog site!!!!! I know it's a bit stupid with leaving comments on here - you have to be registered with ebay in order to get access...which has not kept some of you away from sending me really nice e-mails about my site nevertheless :o) So thanks again!!

Have a really good week, and do check out my ebay auction :o)

This bank holiday weekend I won't be doing much, meaning, I won't be doing much spinning, dyeing or preparing. I need a break and just enjoy the weather and go out!

I have added two new handspun slub yarn designs and one BFL yarn to my website ! Feel free to have a look for more details. All three of them are absolutely GORGEOUS!!!! I really really love them :o) Here they are:

I haven't got a shopping cart/checkout system available on the website. For any purchases you can simply send me an e-mail and I will prepare an invoice for you.

And now I will get off that PC and TAKE A LOOOOOOONG HOT BATH!!!!! ....SIGH.....

Everyone have a great weekend!!

Everyone have a look in my Ebay store - I have put a good amount of gorgeous handspun and handpainted knitting yarns out for auction at very low starting prices!!! They will all end on Wednesday afternoon (British time). Grab yourself a BARGAIN!! :o) And: I have also added more handpainted spinning fibers to my website

 www.needleworks-pleasure.com 

and more handspun yarns will be displayed there as well tomorrow!

Right....what can I say, loads of work to do, and I am trying to fit an extra hour into my 24hour day - doesn't quite work though. I really need to stock up my new website but I also want to display some of my yarns and fibers on Etsy and in my Ebay store, where most people are used to finding them. So I work overtime ... again....

Today I started very early, and as I knew that this would be a looooooong day I baked a nice load of hot buns with loads and loads of icing to keep me going. Ohhhh the entire house smells of Cinnamon and Vanilla - the buns are so delicious and they DO keep me going :o) It is now 19.30h and I have been working since 9h - still not done though. I will, as usual, end up working until midnight or so. The frustrating thing is that there's absolutely NOTHING on TV to keep me awake and pedalling. In between mordanting and dyeing some rovings I started on a new BFL yarn, I think I will try to finish it tonight, but without a good movie for background noise I'm not so sure :o( I've got either audiobooks or DVD's running all day long when I have to do a lot of handpainting and spinning. Guess what's been running for the past 10hours?? Bloody "Van Helsing"... no comment.... over and over and over and over... I know the entire movie by heart, could actually play one of the vampire brides myself, just give me a cool wig and some floppy wings and I can do the whole thing without rehearsing!!

I once heard from another handspinner that she prefers to listen to the soundtrack of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" while pedalling away. It's just unbelievable how certain things get you in the right mood, heh? Anyway, I will have to choose a different DVD tonight, Van Helsing has already killed Dracula for the 51st time, he needs some time-out, and so do I! Not sure yet what I will pop in, it will have to be something I already know and that I can watch with one eye on the spinning wheel , we will see. Well, before I go I want to show you guys what I have displayed in my Etsy store , have a look: