Tuesday 22nd June

Hello Fibre Fans, it is another lovely day here in Berrow and the perfect weather for dyeing.  Thus said the garden was filled with brightly coloured fleece yesterday, all drying in record time.  There are two new colourways now in the Etsy shop, see link on right, pictures below.

Jade Colourway

Spring Colourway

I am currently spinning up some of the lovely Border Leicester/Suffolk cross fleece that I have hand dyed for myself, in peach, mauve and blue colourway, blended on the hand carders

I shall use the resulting yarn to weave a blanket for the impending grandchild.

My weaving has taken a bit of a back seat lately with everything else that has been happening, apart from losing my dad, I have also had to change my car as it became quite poorly and would have cost more to put right than it was worth so that has now been sold and a new one acquired, a much smaller and more economical car all round.

Currently I am knitting a shrug for my daughter's birthday next month.  I am using Gotland yarn which I purchased a couple of years ago now from a farm in Devon.  Gotland sheep are quite rare,although Sue Blacker of the Natural Fibre Company has a flock and she will sell fleeces from these if you contact her.  Gotland is a mixture of shades of grey and the fleece is very curly, but very soft and easy to spin.  It requires little carding.  It can be dyed and produces lovely muted shades.

The knitting for the Etsy shop is a lace scarf knitted from hand dyed alpaca and silk yarn purchased from BlueFaced Leicester.com or I think the web address is http://www.bluefaced.com/ if that doesnt work let me know and I will check out the proper address. Amazing prices on their undyed sock yarns. 

Also a pair of fingerless mittens knitted from a handspun hand dyed Shetland wool top that I fell over on Etsy, dyed in rainbow colours.

So, a busy week so far and if the good weather continues, many more colours of fibre going in the shop.

Have a good week.

Friday 11th June

Its been a while since my last posting but sadly my father passed away suddenly on 27th May and it was two weeks before a funeral could take place due to bank holidays and vicars holidays!  Now all has been dealt with and life can settle down again, albeit without the presence of my lovely dad.

Our trip to the Bath and West show was very nice, especially as the sun was shining down on us for the first time in three years.  The only fibre purchase I made this year was 100g of Llama fibre which I have never tried before.  It spins very well and goes a very long way.  I am spinning it unwashed but find that it has much less dust than alpaca fibre.  I shall post pictures of the finished yarn later.

I have also just finished spinning up the rainbow dyed shetland tops that I purchased a couple of weeks ago but the weaving has taken a back seat over the last two weeks so I shall have to take that up again next week.  The online shop has been stocked with lots of new hand dyed fibres so do take a look.

More later, have a good week everyone.