Forgive me, interwebs, for I have sinned.

It has been over two months since my last post! Working in the US is to blame. I am, however, full of updates...

I have been spinning! These are all Falkland wool:

Scotch Mist - approx 200g £30

Heathered - approx 200g £30

Wunderland - approx 200g £30

And, my, I have had SO much fun with these fibres!

This Wensleydale was a joy to dye. The colours were just slurped up, and it has this lovely sheen to it.

That's not cheese, Gromit - 100g £8.00

And these two braids of BFL/silk should, I'm sure, be spun and then plied together. The photos do them no justice, unfortunately! Squishy and so soft...

Wenceslaus - approx 100g £9.00 SOLD

La bohème - approx 100g £9.00 SOLD

Oooh! Merino! Unbelievably fluffy.

Nymph's grotto - approx 100g £9.00 (two braids available)

Lady of the Lake - approx 100g £9.00 (two braids available)

And, my favourite of all, Falkland. I honestly couldn't come up with a reason why it would be my favourite. I mean, it's not quite as soft as Merino, is not lustruous like a longwool, nor is it as bouncy as other breeds from merino, like Corriedale. But there's something that keeps me coming back to Falkland each time. I love its qualities for both spinning and dyeing.

Antheia - approx 100g £8.00

Kleio's lament - approx 100g £8.00

Rhodanthe - approx 100g £8.00

Spill - approx 100g £8.00

And, finally, I have a couple of sock yarns to add. I have a lot more, so will be taking photos this weekend and adding them very shortly.

Ember - approx 100g/375m Merino £9.00

The Fisher King - approx 100g/375m Merino £9.00

It seems that the summer is well and truly over. The evenings are drawing in and there is a definite chill and dampness in the air, which is a bit of an impediment when it comes to dyeing - my airing cupboard will, no doubt, be working overtime! I am dyeing up some new sock yarns this weekend - a beautiful medium-high twist 80% alpaca/20% silk sock yarn - and I hear that the showers should be intermittent. Hopefully, I can manage to dry them with relative ease. I am also spinning up some BEAUTIFUL alpaca fleece (photos to come). I started when the weather was grotty, so decided against washing it first and am just flicking the locks out and spinning them. I'll just make sure that the yarn is very well washed as they just love to roll in the dust.

The next few months are looking rather exciting! I continue to attend the farmer's market at Shabden Park Farm and, whilst the number of knitters and spinners who attend is limited, there is such a huge interest in the old art. Strangely enough, quite a lot of yarn was bought in July, on what was probably the hottest weekend of the year! In addition, I will be attending Heathfield Ecology Centre's Green Fair on Saturday September 18th, (such a worthy cause) and the Christmas Fair at the Fairfield Halls November 27-28. This is not to mention Unravel in February. Lots more to come!

What's been cooking

The steamer has been working hard over the last few weeks, and I'm hoping to dye some more fibre and yarn before the craft fair on Sunday. These are merino rovings, all approximately 100g:

Oceanus - SOLD

Floralia - SOLD

Sophocles

Fish pond - hand-painted 2-ply merino DK, 100g (approx 300 yards) - SOLD


Oceanus - hand painted 2-ply merino DK, 100g (approx 300 yards) - SOLD


And this is about 100g hand-painted Falkland roving spun up to approximately a DK weight called Jellybabies' Picnik. It was chain plied to preserve the colours which came out very prettily.

I don't have any yardages, but will definitely be measuring these and updating when I post again with my newest hand-spun. Am so looking forward to the craft fair on Sunday!

Spinning and more...

Well, the past couple of weeks have been filled with major fibre shenanigans, (updates and photos to follow, I promise!) including spinning Falkland and merino/silk blends and carding some GIANT batts. My lack of updates here, though, have been down to all the preparation, following through and post-processing of another project which came to a head on March 6th when I was my friend Hannah's wedding photographer. Here are a few of my favourite shots of the day:






Back to fibre-y stuff: I will be at the Fairfield Spring Fair in Croydon on Sunday March 21st! My wares will accompany those of my friend Tess of Silkwood, and one or two of her Angora bunnies. The fair is only on for one day, and will be open from 10am until 4pm. It promises to be a great day!

Normal service will resume this week.

Productivity

The weekend was really quite productive. While I didn't dye as much as I had hoped, (only about 500g of spinning fibre) I did manage to spin up over 200g of Falkland wool, half of which has been plied. It's looking rather lovely, in a sock-to-DK weight. The light was terrible all weekend, though, much as it has been for many weeks, now, so the opportunity for photographing anything did not present itself. It seems absolutely typical that, today, the sun is shining and there has not been a single cloud in the bright blue sky and I won't get home until it is dark. Before the end of this week I will definitely have more photos to show.

Meanwhile, the socks seem to be coming on well enough. While I love the colours and the striping of Noro, I am fast falling out of love with its unyielding rigidity once knitted. There just seems to be no give in the sock I am working on right now, which disturbs me a little. Well, only time will tell so I had better finish it off quickly...

Hand spun

Well, it has taken me longer than I had hoped to post some of my yarns and fibres but a full time job means that I have much less time to spin and dye than I would like. I have, however, got some hand spun and hand painted yarns to show you:

This is hand painted Falkland wool, spun to a heavy DK to Aran weight. I have called this Mephisoto's Magik and it is one of a kind. There's approximately 200g here (I will update the post with the exact weight).


Aphrodite's Arboretum is also hand painted Falkland wool, hand spun to a sport/DK weight yarn. Also soft and squooshy and approximately 200g.


Lastly, this is hand painted Falkland wool hand spun and plied with hand spun Yak down. This is so, SO soft. It's chunky weight and again, approximately 200g.


A lot (although not all!) of my hand spun yarns are Falkland wool. It's a hardy sheep of mainly Corriedale (and, more recently, Polwarth ancestry) and I like it not only for its softness but also for its staple length and the fact that it will knit up very comfortably as singles just as it does plied. It really is my favourite wool to spin.

All of these yarns are for sale. I have not priced them yet, as I haven't got the exact weights to hand, but this info will be available very shortly. If you're interested in these, or any other yarns or hand-dyed fibres for spinning, I am generally able to accommodate! Please contact me at lavendercottagefibres(at)googlemail(dot)com with any queries.