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

Finally, oh, finally I have finished and displayed my latest handpainted and handspun yarn beauties!!! It was about time too, but one of them, my "Lady In Waiting", was ever so labour intensive, you wouldn't believe it! It is made from the finest and softest Bluefaced Leicester lambswool blended with super smooth pure Tussah silk, and this blend did not spin as easily as the regular BFL wool with its wonderful long fibres. The lambswool fibres were a good deal shorter, and it took me 14 hours just to spin and ply that baby :o) But look at the result, isn't it just breathtaking?

What do you think? ;o) I have displayed this yarn in my Etsy store at www.alltheprettyfibers.etsy.com , so feel free to visit my shop for more yarn details.

I also finished this wonderfully soft and cosy BFL yarn design, called "Charybdis II":

the colourscheme is quite similar to my first "Charybdis" yarn design which you can view on my website www.needleworks-pleasure.com . And yep, lots and lots of aquamarine and turquoise going on in there :oD I just love to work with those shades!

And last but not least I have also added one new handpainted extra soft BFL wool roving for all the handspinners and felters out there. It is also displayed in my Etsy store:

The shades of the roving are wonderfully deep and warm, perfect for an autumn yarn or felt design!!

Right, let me go back to my spinning wheel and finish a veeeeery gorgeous and cosy Baby Alpaca yarn, soon to be displayed here on my blog! Be surprised!!

Everyone have a very good weekend and HAPPY FIBERCRAFTING!

Hi everyone,

god, wasn't it a GORGEOUS GORGEOUS october week up here in the North so far?! Today I took half a day off (I really had to!!!), the warm sun and the clear blue sky was too tempting, so after preparing some fibre for the dyeing process later on in the evening I packed up Sam and the camera, and off we went to Little Salkeld, near Penrith, to visit Long Meg and her daughters, an ancient druids circle in the middle of nowhere and miles and miles of countryside to be walked :o) If you ever come to the Penrith area, which is really close to the Lake District, do come to Little Salkeld, especially if you want to visit beautiful historic places where you don't want stand in a queue, or find yourself in a crowd of tourists and walkers! It is one of my absolute favourite places to go and visit, spend a day outside and walk through the fields and meadows, and to visit the old watermill in the village, that makes organic flour, and has the most adorable tearoom with good food and drink as well!!! Here are some photos of today's visit at Long Meg's:

That's Long Meg, a tall standing stone outside the wide druids circle, so wide in fact, that I have never managed to get the circle into one picture :o)

Noone really knows what this stone circle was once used for, which is kind of nice I'd say...allows your imagination to run completely wild... :oD

Yep, one really happy Sam!

Be prepared to come across some very laid back and friendly cattle when you walk the country side. They really are harmless.

And those 2 beauties are grazing on land that seems to belong to St.Michael's church (not sure though), which can be visited during the day...no entrance fee...just walk in and be silent...you will find some very pretty and colourful church windows there!

That's the old watermill in Little Salkeld - I always stop by there for a meal before I drive back home...you MUST try their watermill rarebit!!! Y-U-M-M-Y!!

The owner of the mill, Ana Balfour, also keeps her own small livestock of beautiful Suffolk sheep. She has their fleeces processed and spun at a yarn mill in Wales, then hand dyes the yarns with natural plant dyes and knits wonderful jumpers, cardigans, gloves, hats, etc. from the wool. They are very colourful indeed, and her knitwork is superb!

That's her flock of happy little sheep...

...and a placid gang of goats... ;o)

I hope you like the photos and will decide to come and visit the beautiful far North of England at one stage! You would certainly not regret it if you are a country person and enjoy nature, mountains, and fresh clean air!!

I will soon display the new yarn designs that I am currently working on - I so enjoy spinning my latest blend of super soft Bluefaced Leicester - YES, you read correctly, SUPER SOFT Bluefaced Leicester (that I believed could not get any softer!), combed with finest silk, which can only lead to one thing: The most gorgeous handspun yarns ever to come to you ... VERY SOON! Be surprised :o)

Everyone have a very good weekend!

I have made up 2 new creativity mixed bags of a WHOPPING 360g (12.9oz) and 320g (11.4oz)!! Those bags are packed with wonderful fibres, such as pure Merino of different micron counts (soft/extra soft/super soft), pure Bluefaced Leicester wool, pure silks, yarns, silk rod pieces, dyed fleeces, camel down.......THOSE BAGS ARE INDEED A TREAT FOR EVERY FIBRE MAD PERSON!! :o) Come and Visit My eBay Store for more details.

Here are some pics, 1&2 and 3&4 show the front and back of the same bag:

the bags will give you plenty to work with, and you can easily divide them for several fibre projects. They are equally suitable for handspinning wonderful yarns and for felting projects! I hope you like what I have put together :o)

Everyone have a very good week!!!!!! :oD

Yep, it's definitely getting cold, brrrrrrr, and just for keepsake I took a last photo of my summer roses which have finally ceased to bloom :o( , their scent has delighted me all summer, here is one of my pink ones:

And believe me, I never spoil my flowers, shrubs and trees outside, I just let them grow. No extra treatment like fertilising, weeding, pruning and all that....simply haven't got the time to do it, and I am not a real gardener anyway. I just like to watch everything grow. When I lived down South I once let the garden grow the way it wanted to - well, I guess I should have drawn a tiny line somewhere - 4 seasons later I had to get a strong guy with lots of endurance come around and dig all the weed out of the ground. I can tell you it was a real jungle out there :o) Never mind, I just have better things to do than to trim the grass every milimeter, or cut a yellow leaf off it's stem, it just doesn't do it for me.

But back to the cold season. I have just been on the computer for around 2 hours, and realised too late that I was actually close to freezing to death because the heating hadn't come on, and it's now close to midnight. So I need to finish this blog for tonight, and do exactly what Sam has been doing for hours...have a look:

Is that dog snug up or what!!!??? He so loves his bed, and he so loves lots and lots of cushions and blankets tu curl up in. No matter how big his bed would actually be, he always curls up into a small furball and squeezes himself into one corner...bless him. So let me go and curl up underneath my blankets too :o) I will be displaying more yarn pics later on next week, I am currently working on a major project comprising 8x4oz lots of BFL/silk rovings and 8x4oz lots of baby alpaca rovings. Boy, that's a loooooot of wool to spin there...:o) More yarns also to be displayed in my Etsy store soon, so keep an eye on it!

Everyone have a very good and warm night!!

Everyone, have a look at my latest handpainted beauties that have just come off the drying board! They are Bluefaced Leicester and Merino wool rovings, all extra soft, extra fluffy and naturally dyed with non toxic dyes and mordants:

I have split them up this time, so 2 are displayed in my Etsy store at www.alltheprettyfibers.etsy.com , and the other 2 can be viewed in my ebay store, so come and Visit My eBay Store for more fibre details!!

Also displayed in my Etsy store is this gorgeous ooak yarn beauty, that I finished yesterday:

I have called it "Samhain Fire III", I mean, the colours are so bright, vibrant and fiery! What else could I have called it :o) The name is so perfect for this yarn design!!

I am glad that I got the rovings off the board before the rain started today - it really takes the wool forever to dry when the weather is bad, and I can't really expect too much warm sunshine anymore this year...SIGH... Well, time for a hot chocolate, a good movie, and a good fibre to spin along :o) I usually turn the movies into an audiobook, meaning, I only watch with one eye whilst spinning and pedalling away, and rather listen to what's going on. Suits me just fine....:o)

EVERYONE HAVE A VERY GOOD SUNDAY!!

I have just finished 2 new yarn designs that so deserve to be presented on my blog as well!! I am currently in the mood for painting and spinning lots and lots of orange and peachy shades - I think autumn has already kicked in for me :o) Yesterday was the first really chilly day, and I will probably have to turn on my central heating quite soon. Today, however, is another warm and sunny September day, and I have got all the doors wide open, Sam is taking a sunbath outside, and the last few flies are buzzing around. It will be cold, dark and wet soon enough, and I am NOT looking forward to it :o(

So, here is my latest ooak Bluefaced Leicester yarn design which I have called "Maasai Bride":

I have displayed it in my Etsy store at www.alltheprettyfibers.etsy.com .

The next one is a handspun and handpainted extra soft Merino slub yarn, which I have called Parrots (surprised??), and it is displayed in my ebay store -  Feel free to Visit My eBay Store for more details:

Hi everyone!!

Just popping in to let you all know that I have made up 3 wonderful creativity mixed bags with LOADS of goodies inside!!! Various colours of merino, bluefaced leicester, silks, fleece, natural shades and so much more!! All most suitable for felting projects and for handspinning art yarns! The bags come with a set of 4 felting needles, and even if you want to use the fibers for handspinning, just save the needles for later because those bags will keep you busy INDEED :o) and you might just want to do some felting after you finished your ooak skein! The bags are displayed in my Etsy store at www.alltheprettyfibers.etsy.com , and I have a few other creativity mixed bags in my ebay store as well.  Here are some photos of the new ones, #1&2, #3&4, #5&6 are pics of the front and back of the same bag:

 For more details please view these yummy fiber bags in my Etsy store.

Everyone have a very good weekend!!!!!!!

Last week was a bit chaotic - I received a second very late bulk of greasy fleeces (they were 10 weeks late because of all the rain and the possible foot-and-mouth outbreak, so farmers were not allowed to move any of their stock and fleeces etc.), so those had to go into the buckets. Then I decided to trim a good size hedge in front of the house, and let me tell you, if you haven't got a chainsaw, and you need to do it with an old-fashioned hedge trimmer it is less than no fun! But I am afraid of chainsaws, I would most definitely trim anything around me but not the hedge!!! I somehow managed to give the hedge a very nice and even shape, having ended up inside the hedge and on top of the surrounding shrubs several times, I finally crawled back into the house to lick my wounds and sore arms. The next day I decided to let the fleeces soak for half a day and packed up Sam to visit Melrose which is just over the border in Scotland - THAT I thought... well, if you plan to visit England, Wales and Scotland by using the scenic routes, meaning getting off the motor ways, you will need much more time if you want to get from A to B. Sometimes you simply have no choice but to take a scenic road because it is the only road that will indeed take you from A to B! In my case I ended up on the A7 from Carlisle to Galashiels, one lane, loads of trucks and tractors in front of you, and serpentines up and down the lowland hills like there is no tomorrow.... after 1 1/2hours and 30miles on I had managed to get half way to where Sam and I wanted to end up and it was already late afternoon. Sam is not fully travel-proof, and if there are a few too many curves and round abouts he will turn green in the face (believe me, even a dog's face turns its colour on these roads!!!!) So I decided to stop, look on my map, and there it was!!! Hermitage Castle, 7 miles away and marked with a beauty star - off we went!

I believe that Hermitage Castle is one of the most beautiful and most gothic ruins I have ever seen in my life! It seems to have quite a bad history, full of blood and battle because it was built in Border Country (which is never a good idea now, is it?), but I have taken several photos, have a look:

Note the tiny entrance in the bottome middle of the wall in the top picture!

Now, is this magnificent or what!!! Surprisingly the huge gateways on either side of the building were never meant to be an entrance but simply a show-off addition to the architecture, which was changed and so many times during the centuries - whatever was fashionable at the time...

A beautiful view from the chapel ruins

I so had to take a photo of this grave sign - hope you can read it well! Serves the b*****d right!

I have seen thousands of Cheviot sheep in the Teviotdale where Hermitage castle stands, which is right next door to the Cheviot Hills.

Well, before I finish today's blog I would also like to turn your attention to newly painted yummy yarns that I have displayed in my ebay store, plus 2 handspun yarn designs that were displayed in my Etsy store last week, well, they are already sold but I still want to show you how gorgeous they are, one is an elfyarn design and the other a fingering weight Merino yarn, all handpainted and handspun, have a look:

"Hillfolk&Pillywiggins" Elfyarn

Fata Morgana II - extra soft Merino

and brand new for sale! Visit My eBay Store for more yarn details:

"Buddhist Monk II" Merino knitting yarn/sock yarn

and "Papageno II", Merino knitting yarn/ sock yarn.

I hope you like the colourways!!

Everyone have a very good Sunday and Happy Fibercrafting!!! :o)

Just to let you guys know that I have now displayed a wide range of absolutely beautiful handpainted and close to the skin soft lambswool yarns on my website www.needleworks-pleasure.com ! Here are 3 of my latest designs:

"The Dark Lady"

"Pink Demon":

and "Persian Cloth II":

and loads more gorgeous colourways, feel free to have a look!! Most of the designs are sold in 7.2oz lots (=200g) which is a very good amount for a knitting project :o)

Everyone have a very good Sunday!!!

It has taken a very long time but here it is, my latest OOAK extra soft handpainted and handspun Merino yarn design - FATA MORGANA, and what a beauty it has become!! It took forever for this wool to dry, and only within the past 3 days did it actually loose all the moisture - I can tell you, it's not an easy job getting yarns and fleeces dried in Northern England, where the sun doesn't shine very often... But I can't really complain. The past few days have been gorgeous, warm, sunny, yes, indeed, SUMMER!! Now, here are some pics of my Fata Morgana, which is displayed in my Etsy Store at www.alltheprettyfibers.etsy.com - feel free to view all my other yarns and rovings there :o)

Everyone have a very good bank holiday weekend!!