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

Hello again! I hope that you have all had a very good christmas with your loved ones!! Mine was ever so relaxing indeed! It doesn't always have to be the complete menu, I would say... :o) ... and it doesn't take much to make me happy ...!

Now, before the year ends I would like to show you Tab's hairfalls and dread designs! Her fiber work is really remarkable. She is a dreadmaker who lives here in the UK. She also does regular felting, and she said to me that she also accepts custom orders for handmade dreads and hairfalls! So everybody check out her latest designs and be IMPRESSED!!these are her camouflage hairfalls (left) and camouflage beaded dreads (right) - a fantastic mix of greens and browns and well blended!

the pink/purple and black/white dreads are swirled designs.

Below are her models, including sweet little Hazel, Tab's daughter, who will probably be the youngest dreadmodel ever - isn't she a honey?She is wearing a halfdone wig - trying out the oversizes...go Hazel!

And these are some of her colourful handfelted soaps:

Just to keep it simple: TAB IS FAB ! Feel free to contact her for custom orders and chats about dreads and felt, she is such a lovely person, you will see :o)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO VIEW A VARIETY OF DREADS AND HAIRFALLS BY DIFFERENT ARTISTS JUST CHECK OUT MY EARLIER BLOGS OF THIS MONTH AND NOVEMBER AS WELL!! CONTACT E-MAILS ARE AVAILABLE THERE FOR EACH ARTIST .

Just popping in to show you guys my latest yarn design "Nefertiri" - made from a hand dyed extrasoft Bluefaced Leicester raw wool and handspun into this GORGEOUS 2-ply yarn. I think I've done a good spinning job on it :o) It's displayed in my Etsy store.

In case I can't make it back to my blog before the 25th: I WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY AND PEACEFUL CHRISTMAS - ENJOY THE SEASON!!!!!

The weather outside isn't getting any better - I have just come back from a (very) short walk with Sam, both of us did our best walking at a 30 degree angle to the left and trying to keep feet and paws firmly on the ground. These autumn gales are incredibly strong, and they have been blowing for the past few weeks !! I thought I'd never say this, but I hope it'll get nice and cold very soon, and the stormy weather will just go away and not rattle around the house and through the chimney ANY LONGER...

Now, today I want to show you what I have fallen in love with recently - a very lovely lady contacted me about miniature knitting and cobweb weight yarns for her project, and I asked her what kind of miniature knitting she was referring to. She then gave me her web address, and this is one of her marvelous creations I found there - everyone, may I introduce ElsWyth to you:

I ADORE this little figure!! It has been made with so much love and devotion, you can see it in all its wonderful details!! Unfortunately ElsWyth was already sold (I am really not surprised!), and Dawn said that she can't rush into making another little figure of any kind until one wants to be born. Have a look at Dawn's Website or email her directly  , she makes wonderful little elfs and other sweet characters, but you really need to hurry - they sell FAST!!  I can only hope that Dawn will be able to make another little ElsWyth-like figure some time in the future, and I might just want to purchase it my very self!!!!!!!

I have finally finished my little nephew's christmas present, I am soooooo pleased with it!! This is big teddy "Spencer":

I have used my favourite wool fibers for him - Brown pure British Bluefaced Leicester and an extrasoft Australian Merino blend of black and white fibers to achieve this wonderful grey shade for Spencer's jumper :o) I first handspun the fibers into a doubleknit size 2-ply yarn and then knitted it on 3.0mm stocking needles for a dense result. Spencer's filling is a pure wool mix that is suitable for stuffing - he has even got a chime inside his big tummy!! I forgot to take a photo from his behind, there you could have seen where I let the string come out of his back. It plays a German lullaby "La Le Lu" - I love it!  Now, I'm really not an expert when it comes to knitting by patterns, but this teddy was really easy to make. I have used one of the free online knitting patterns. Here is the web address if you would like to give it a go : http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/patterns/country_bear.php bear on the website is a girl-bear, but I thought I should make a boy-bear for my nephew, so I ignored the hat, apron and bloomers. It was great great fun to make him - I hope he will last a while, and if one of his arms happen to get ripped off (which sooner or later WILL happen...) it will be sewn back on, no problem. Let's see how long the chime will last! :o)

Back again for more pics and infos about fibers and artists for you to look at!! The season has finally caught up with me, and I am busier than ever with designing new OOAK handspun yarns and handpainted fibers - I had such a creativity rush last night and didn't stop dyeing one wool batt after another until 03.00 in the morning - oh it was such FUN, I really enjoyed it, including the lie-in until 11.00 :o), and great great colour schemes have appeared from my nightly labour too! They are all drying on the wool rack right now, but as soon as they are ready for photographing I will show them all to you!

Today's fiber artist on my blogsite is Shavira from the Netherlands! She is a very talented dreadmaker!! She contacted me last year about dreads made from Merino wool roving and we have been in touch ever since. Her specialty is handmade  thin pure wool  dreads and also synthetic dreads and hairfalls of any colour combination you could imagine. She is taking custom orders as well, and you can contact Shavira   at any time for individual dread orders and information. Here are some pics of her dread artwork:

Shavira is the pretty girl in the first 2 pics - the first pic is my favourite,  I asked her specifically for that one to put on my blog - she looks like an elf, doesn't she? Well, I will leave you with these beautiful photos of dreads, dreads and more dreads - can never have too many of them!  Hmm, makes me think that perhaps I should get some dreads put in my hair as well....

Okay, I'm slowly getting there ... I'm really doing my best to keep up with the season's demands, but is it me who's just getting slower and slower or is it the pace of the rest of the world that's giving me a hard time with keeping up??? Who knows, but I am sort of on my way of catching the spirit of it all - anyway, I have finished one of my handmade christmas presents for my older sister!! Here it is:

It's a wide mesh fashion scarf with lots and lots of fluffy fringes - I have used commercially dyed pure Merino wool roving which you can view in  my ebay shop to handspin about 6oz of it into a coiled knitting yarn, and the colours are Victorian Rose and Rosewood - my sister's favourite colours. I am not really a perfectionist when it comes to knitting but I am having great fun making things, well, if I can find the time...

Everyone remember Linda and her art collages? I was so eager to purchase one of her handmade items - this beautiful journal:

and I've bought it indeed!! I can't wait to receive it. I want to give it to my little sister as a christmas gift - she had a baby boy last August, he's sooooo gorgeous!! His name is Merlin and I'm the PROUDEST AUNTIE EVER!! Anyway, this journal would be so perfect for little baby notes and baby pictures, I'm really excited about it all. As payment for the journal Linda has asked me to spin some nice slub yarn for her, she chose the colours herself from a multicolour Merino roving and here it is:

It is ever so soft and my guess is that Linda will use it for a felting project, a purse perhaps? :o) You can visit her blogsite for updates on her art projects, she writes on a regular basis!

I have also finished another skein of luxuriously soft Baby Camel Down/Tussah Silk sportsweight knitting yarn. I have called it "An Elf's Dance", here it is:

Another lot I won't want to let go, sigh....This skein has come out so very well. Camel Down is a great alternative to the very expensive Mongolian Cashmere, just as soft, smooth and light. I have displayed this yarn in my Etsy store just in time before I could change my mind and keep it for myself!!!

NEXT TIME ON THE BLOG  I WILL INTRODUCE SHAVIRA TO YOU - A DUTCH DREADMAKER, AND BOY DOES SHE KNOW HER CRAFT!!!!!!! LOTS AND LOTS OF PICS TO COME SOON, SO KEEP IN TOUCH AND VISIT MY BLOG AGAIN! BYE FOR NOW