Design Your Own Wool Sampler ~ Now at Wind Rose!

Starting today, you can design your very own wool sampler at Wind Rose Fiber Studio.  You may choose from the 15 colors of dyed Corriedale shown in the photograph.  I've made listings for one ounce and two ounces, but if you need more or less,  just contact me through the shop.  I'm always happy to customize a listing for you.  You may want to pick .25oz of four different colors or .5oz of two.  It's all up to you!  


I hope this will come in handy for all of your smaller felting projects!

Merry Christmas!

I couldn't let the holiday pass without wishing everyone a very merry Christmas!  Whether or not you celebrate this particular occasion, I hope the season is finding you happy and healthy.  

Not living close to any extended family, our little tribe of four has had a nice, quiet day.  My two boys have spent the day in their pajamas as they tend to do just once a year.  My husband and I have enjoyed a day of true relaxation.  The house feels peaceful and I couldn't ask for more.  


I tend to reflect on the year as it comes to a close.  I guess we all do some of that.  I always have more that I want to accomplish, but I try to take stock in what I have done over the months and to be satisfied.  


I seemed to have blogged a bit less this year, but at the same time, I've had more visitors than ever coming to Wind Rose.  Thank you to everyone who has stopped by and I hope you have enjoyed the patterns and the posts you have discovered here.


Next year I hope to continue to offer more designs and to improve upon the ones that I've already written.  As questions and comments come in, I see the opportunity to make them even better.  I just joined the Crochet Guild of America.  If you happen to be a member too, my user name is jennofwindrose as in Jenn of Wind Rose.  I'm hoping it will be a place to meet and mingle with other crochet enthusiasts and learn even more of my favorite craft. 


Of course I'll be dyeing plenty of wool in the months to come.  I've even decided to add a design your own sampler option at Wind Rose on Etsy.  The felting community often has need of very small quantities and this will make it possible to buy just what is needed in a selection of colors.  I'm hoping that will be a nice addition for 2012.


To all of the customers and visitors of Wind Rose Fiber Studio, thank you for a wonderful year!  

Tatted Mandala

A couple weeks ago I decided I to tat a mandala.  I have a drawing of a mandala that I like and I could see bringing it to life in fiber.  Designs always seem simple enough once they're complete, but I have to confess, I worked on this little 4.5" by 4.5" piece of fabric for a long time.  This piece represents the 4th do-over with some of the rows being reworked several times.  As a result, the tension is not perfect, but I reached the point where I was determined to at least complete my project.

In the center of the mandala is a circle surrounded by four arched chains.  These arches represent the four gates that you see on traditional mandalas.  On my final row, I have repeated the gates with the four large rings that point north, south, east and west.  They line up with the four arches in the center.  As a matter of fact, I decided that I would use the number four as the core of my design, so every chain and ring on the entire mandala has either four stitches or a multiple of four. 


A tatting over four inches wide is actually a pretty big piece, but it's small for me because my ultimate goal is to turn this into a large wall hanging.  By the time I'm done, it will probably be closer to two feet in diameter.  I also plan to incorporate more than one color.  That way the center will be more of a focal point and it will also help the other features stand out. 


I'm not sure when it will happen, this being the busy holiday season, but I'll be back to share pictures of the finished wall hanging. 

Because It Matters

What matters?  In this case I'm talking about The Grey Matters Foundation.  This is a "nonprofit organization created to support and empower brain tumor patients and their loved ones through encouragement and personal outreach."

I met the founder, Lanette, and her husband earlier this fall at an event.  I spent a few minutes talking to Lanette's husband.  I was moved by how he spoke of his wife and her journey after being diagnosed with an Anaplastic Oligodendroglioma.  When Lanette discovered that there was very little support out there for people with brain tumors, she became that support for others.  That's a short version of the story, but that's how The Grey Matters Foundation began.  

Not long after that meeting, I found The Grey Matters website and signed up to be a Brain Buddie.   I love that this is a way that my kids and I can help to support others.  Since it's the holiday season, I sat down with my son Wes and we made some ornaments to put in Christmas cards.  Can you guess which ones I made? 

I know that the crafting community is full of big hearts and everyone finds such wonderful ways to give of themselves.  I like to share the little things that my family and I do because you never who you may inspire.  I know that I find myself inspired daily!

Cyber Monday Sale!

Cyber Monday is almost here and this year you can save 15% on everything at Wind Rose Fiber Studio!  Just use the coupon code: 

CYBERFIBER1

Wishing you a warm and woolly holiday season! 

(December 28th from 12am to Midnight EST.)

My Son's New Room ~ The Great Boggly Tree

When I moved a little over four years ago, I promised myself that I was retired from elaborate decorating. My kids were getting a little older and I had already created a construction truck room, a farm themed room in which I painted murals, Madagascar (not the movie, but the country), and the emerald forest room. I guess I was feeling a little burnt out, but when my son announced that he wanted his room to look like the inside of The Great Boggly Tree, that was just crazy enough to spark my interest. I guess my basic approach to kids' rooms is that if you are going to decorate, go for it!

If you're not familiar with The Great Boggly Tree, it's part of the video game Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. This picture is of the outside. When you enter the tree, there are black trunks with white, arty lines on them and they're surrounded by water with bubbles floating up. It's pretty cool looking to tell you the truth.

My son's room was already painted a light blue which would represent the water well. I couldn't quite commit to freestyle painting all the trees, so I found some great decals at Dali Decals. I happily let Dali supply the trees and bubbles and this weekend I got to work. So far I have installed 8 trees surrounding three walls of my son's room. The fourth wall has a large window with shelves lining either side and his drawing desk in the middle, so we left that wall alone. Just doing the three walls has had a dramatic affect on the space.



Today I'll start adding leaves to the trees. The final step will be to have bubbles rising in the background between the trees. We also bought a little green, shag, area rug to represent the grassy floor. The best part is seeing his face light up when he enters his own space. I don't think he expected me to say yes when he asked for this particular room design. It's fun to keep surprising your kids!

Does Your Santa Need A Beard?

The Christmas craft season is underway and with it the hunt for pure white fiber. It comes in handy for all sorts of projects from Santa's beard to snow dusted pine branches. Many customers ask me for white wool, but the truth is, unless bleached, wool in it's natural state is more of an ecru. If you want seriously white fiber, Snow Mountain is a nice product for crafting.

Snow Mountain is a nylon that is prepared into a top like wool. It's soft and has a nice staple length of approximately 4 inches. It's easy to spin and though it will not wet felt, it needle felts with ease. The fibers can also be teased apart to create a snow covered landscape. It's a very handy craft fiber to have around and right now I have it listed in 1oz, 2oz and 3oz sizes.

If you like the idea of Snow Mountain, but you also like a little sparkle, there's a new fiber on the block. It's called StarBright. StarBright is a high luster tri-lobal nylon product that has more luster than Snow Mountain. StarBright is a 3 Denier nylon. If we transfer Deniers to Microns, that would make StarBright a 19 micron nylon, so it's a very soft fiber. The staple length is approximately 3 inches. It's a nice way to add a subtle sparkle to your crafts.

If you feel that there is no such thing as too much sparkle, then Firestar is the fiber for you. Firestar is also a nylon and when it comes to sparkle, it's one of the best! It has about a 4" staple length and it too will needle felt just like StarBright and Snow Mountain.

If you're reading this and thinking to yourself that all this is well and good, but you really just prefer natural wool. I hear you and I'd like to recommend Falkland top. It's natural color is quite light and it has a very long staple length. It averages around 5" so you could give Santa a nice long beard. Sometimes using natural wool gives your crafts a more homey or vintage feel. Whatever fiber you choose, have a wonderful, crafty time!

Firestar Holiday Samplers!

I guess I can't fight it anymore. Thanksgiving is just a couple weeks away which means Christmas is right around the corner. The requests for Firestar in holiday colors have been rolling in, so here we go!

Today I just added Firestar Holiday Samplers to the shop at Wind Rose. They include 1/4oz each of Merry Green, Yellow Gold, Silver and Holiday Red. As you know, a little Firestar goes a long way, so this should be enough to add sparkle to your needle felted holiday crafts. Of course you can also blend it with other fibers and spin it up for pretty, luminous yarns.

If you're a big fan of Firestar and 1/4oz just isn't enough. You can also find these four colors sold by the ounce in my Firestar & Craft Supplies Section.

Happy Holidays!

Reversible Scarf ~ Double Ended Crochet

Hi. I hope everyone's week is getting off to a good start. I just thought I'd take a moment to show you how my reversible scarf is coming along. This is the first real project I've done with a double ended crochet hook. Up until now, I've just made swatches to play around with different stitch patterns.

The scarf I'm making is one of my own patterns. It's basically a long, skinny triangle which I call The City Scarf because I saw people wearing scarves like this all over the cities of Europe. It's worn with the widest point front and center and then the ends are wrapped around the neck and brought back to the front. Wait, let me go grab a picture...

Okay, here we go. In this photo, the ends are tied in front, but you get the general idea. I fell in love with this style and so when I returned home, I designed a scarf of my own.

In this reversible version I'm working on, I'm keeping things simple, literally. I'm using the Tunisian simple stitch or Tss throughout. I guess this isn't very adventurous of me, but I didn't want to get tripped up at the points of increase and decrease. This is my first effort after all. I'll mix things up a bit more on the next project.

I have a couple of close-ups so you can see both sides:



I'm using two sock weight yarns for this scarf. One is Bamboo & Ewe made by Sensations. That one is solid grey. The other yarn is Poems Socks made by Wisdom Yarns. It's a self striping yarn and the colorway is called Aurora Borealis. I think I was as drawn by the name as I was by the colors. Interestingly enough, both of these yarns were manufactured in Turkey. I guess they've come a long way to be a part of my little project!

Stars & Squares ~ Interlocking Crochet

You know how when something comes on your radar, that wasn't there before, you start to notice it everywhere? Well, I've been thinking about reversible crochet, so now it seems to be popping up before my eyes. In the middle of making a double ended crochet scarf, I stumbled upon a book, Interlocking Crochet by Tanis Galik. I already had an interlock project on my bucket list, so when I found this book, I was compelled to put down my scarf and explore.

The author, Tanis Galik, has made this style of crochet her sole focus. As a result, she has compiled some 80 unique stitch patterns or 40 different reversible fabrics. That's impressive! She's also an excellent writer and covers the basics of interlocking crochet in clear in very easy to understand language. Illustrations are included for those of us who like our visual aids.

Anxious to get started, I grabbed some cotton in Christmas colors thinking I'd make a pot holder or washcloth as a first project. In other words, just a nice square swatch.



I think the best way to describe the process of this interlocking pattern, is that you are making two squares of filet crochet and weaving them together as you go. The red yarn is always worked into the red and the green into the green. The designs are formed by alternating whether you work in the front or back of the other color.



It's fun to watch the pattern emerge as you crochet from row to row. The book, in addition to being a stitch guide, has a variety of nice projects to try. If you enjoy crochet, you might want to add Interlocking Crochet to your holiday wish list.

Double Ended Crochet

Yesterday I spent a little time exploring double ended crochet or crocheting with a double ended hook. The easiest way to describe this form of crochet is that it's basically Tunisian crochet working with two yarns. You pick up a row of stitches, then slide your work to the other end of the double ended crochet hook. Then you give your hook a 180º turn and work the stitches off with a second color. Sticking with color number 2, you pick up the next row of stitches then turn your hook again and switch back to the first color.

I realize that this doesn't make much sense if you are unfamiliar with Tunisian crochet. In fact, the knitters out there may be nodding in understanding more than many crochet enthusiasts. Actually, Tunisian and double ended crochet are very similar to knitting in that you first pick up stitches and then work them off again. The fabric created is very much like knitted fabric only it's just one hook doing all the work.

The fun thing about double ended crochet is that you can make things that are reversible. One side will have one look and the flip side another, but there is no wrong side. This can make designing pretty interesting and fun. I crocheted a little example. The two swatches in the picture are actually the same piece of fabric. It's just been photographed from both sides. On one side, the blue seems to dominate and on the other, the burgundy is highlighted. Both sides have a textured, two-toned appearance making for an eye-catching look.

If you are interested in learning more about double ended crochet, Crochet Master Class has a nice tutorial. There are also quite a few patterns available. Try working with multicolored yarn or textured yarn for really fun results. Right now, I'm making a reversible version of my City Scarf with a solid color on one side and a variegated color on the other. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Ecru Bouclé Mohair Yarn

I love bouclé yarns. They add just the perfect touch of texture and they're so soft. That's why I'm adding Ecru Bouclé Mohair Yarn to my inventory at Wind Rose. I'm putting it up in 250 yard hanks that are loosely bound and ready for dyeing or painting.

Meet Hugo the Sock Monkey

Today I'm very proud to introduce Hugo! Hugo is the first sock monkey I've ever made. I made him out of a pair of Hugo Boss socks so that's how he got his name.

Typically, I don't spend much time with my sewing machine, but I'm always on the lookout for a service project that I can do with my kids. Craft Hope is one of my favorite groups. If you're someone who loves to craft and to help others, than Craft Hope provides opportunities to do just that.

Project 15: Sock Monkeys for Texas is the inspiration for Hugo. Craft hope is collecting handmade sock monkeys for the victims of the Texas wildfires. I asked my son to imagine losing all of his toys. This is a stirring idea for kids and one that naturally sparks empathy. My son was ready to help in an instant.

I'll be honest. I'm not all that confident in my sewing abilities, so I bought a sock monkey kit. Even with the kit in hand, I also purchased a pair of socks on which to practice. I had no idea how my first sock monkey would turn out. The instructions that came with the kit seemed good and made sense to me, but I always like a little visual courage. I found a Rockin' Sock Monkey Tutorial that provided just that.

Hugo turned out pretty cute and I'm ready to make him a bunch of friends. I'll do the sewing and my son can turn the pieces right side out and stuff them. Together we can help put some smiles on the faces of kids who lost nearly everything this year. That's a great feeling!

Cinnamon Merino

There's a brand new color at Wind Rose Fiber Studio and that color is Cinnamon! It's a really beautiful brown with russet undertones. When I was deciding on a name, cinnamon spice came to mind. I think it will look very pretty blended with all of the colors of autumn.

Great Skeins ~ Handpainted Sock Yarns ~ They're New!

I'm adding handpainted sock yarns to my inventory at Wind Rose and these are the first two! Crimson Wine has two shades of crimson red contrasted by a deep burgundy. Turquoise & Spruce ranges from a deep spruce to a light turquoise with shades of pewter grey.

All the yarn details are on their listings, but I wanted to explain why I'm calling them "Great Skeins". I gave them this name because of their yardage. Each skein comes with a bountiful 500 yards which is enough for a lot of sock patterns not to mention all sorts of projects.

To you, my blog readers, I'll share my inspiration. It's rather self serving. You see, maybe about a year ago, I got the idea in my head to spin a bunch of yarn and dye it so I would always have whatever I needed at my fingertips. Months later, it has become painfully clear that I just don't have enough free time to do all of that spinning. Well, I figure the next best thing is to at least paint my own yarn. I use fingering or sock weight yarn all of the time so I decided that it would be a good place to start.

So why am I selling my stash? I guess just because I enjoy making things and selling them. I also figure that there is no reason for pretty skeins of yarn to have to wait until I get around to using them. If someone buys one of my favorites, I'll just paint some more. I guess it's first come, first serve!

Alpaca/Cultivated Silk Top

This pretty fiber is 80% Black Alpaca and 20% Cultivated Silk. I've actually carried this fiber for quite some time at Wind Rose, but I wanted to showcase it again today. It's now being processed to show off the colors better than before. This product used to be a soft grey, but now the silk and Alpaca are a little less blended giving this combed top a gorgeous salt and pepper look. It is luxuriously soft and now incredibly striking too!

Basket Weave Tunisian Crochet ~ Market Bag Project Finished!

It's always fun to say "I finished it!" My life has been so busy lately that I'm feeling an extra sense of accomplishment whenever I manage to complete anything. I'm sure you can relate to that feeling!

This project went very smoothly and fast too for the size of the market bag. It measures approximately 14 x 19 inches. I really like the strap design because they are so comfortable. They were made by (Tks) crocheting long rectangles and then whip stitching them together lengthwise. It makes them very strong, thick and well cushioned. I can see using this kind of strap for other projects in the future.

In my previous post about this project, I offer the source of the pattern and the yarn details in case you're interested. It was definitely fun to make and its the kind of thing that would make a nice gift. We all use market bags for one thing or another. Right now I'm probably going to use mine to hold my other Tunisian crochet project until I manage to finish it. I think I may be on a roll!

Apple

Yesterday afternoon I sat down at my Mac for a quick check of facebook. I follow TED and that's how I learned that Steve Jobs had passed away. My husband and I spent much of our morning coffee time talking about the impact of Steve Jobs on our lives. As long as we have been a couple, Apple Macintosh has been in our home and part of our everyday existence.

I sat down at my first Apple computer in 1995. My husband was ahead of me by a few years and laughed at my newcomer notions and frustrations about computing. In spite of those moments, I still remember being awestruck the first time I chatted about the weather with a stranger from India. It wasn't long before I found the hours zooming by as I explored the world from my desktop. It's been 16 years and there are still moments when I get the chills. What an amazing time to be alive and Apple, in so many ways, has been my tour guide.

With Happy Mac holding my hand all the way, I have gone from wide eyed newcomer, to one of the geekiest women I know. I have two online stores, three blogs, a website, a YouTube channel and of course accounts on gmail, facebook and twitter. I do all of my accounting with Numbers and write all of my patterns on Pages. I keep track of my images on iPhoto and edit my videos with iMovie. Whenever I'm not working at my computer, iTunes keeps me company while I sit and work on my own creations. On the one hand, I'm old fashioned enough to sit at a spinning wheel and spin my own yarn, and on the other hand, I can't imagine life without an Apple in my house.

The profound contribution of Steve Jobs is something to be remembered, celebrated and honored. There was a suggestion that a great way to do this would be to go out and create something. I like that. What if we all focused our energy on creating something new and wonderful? What if our creation added beauty to the world or solved one of life's puzzles? What if it helped everyone to envision the world in a whole new way? What if?

Introducing StarBright!

It's always fun to welcome a new product to Wind Rose Fiber Studio and I'm especially excited about StarBright! StarBright is a blending nylon. More specifically, it's a high luster tri-lobal nylon that, although it doesn't have the luster level of Firestar, has far more luster than Snow Mountain. StarBright's softness is equal to a 19 micron wool which puts it in the superfine realm. It also has a great staple length of approximately 3 inches. I think you're going to enjoy this wonderful new addition to the blending nylon family!

More Tatted Wall Art

I finished this piece of chunky tatted wall art a few minutes ago. I couldn't wait to take a picture and share it with you. I'm proud of this one because I designed it on the spot. I took out a piece of paper and doodled until I had a shape I liked, then I jumped right into the tatting. I took my best guesses as far as the size of the rings and chains. My fear was that my outer chains would be too short and that the whole piece would curl like a bowl. If I made them too long, well, that wouldn't look good either. Everything turned out great and I couldn't be more pleased!

It's a pretty big medallion. The diameter measures a little over 12 inches. I'm thinking about doing something similar to use as Christmas wreaths for my front door this year. I may dress those up with some flowers and I found this free pattern for crocheted pine cones. How cute would that be?

As for this medallion, it's going to be the centerpiece in a montage of green tatted shapes. I have three others made:



These are all about the same size at right around 9 inches across. I'm planning on making one more smaller shape so I'll have a group of five. Hopefully I can arrange them in an interesting way. It's all part of my master plan to turn the home of Wind Rose Fiber Studio (me) into a fiber filled fantasy land!

Chunky Tatted Wall Art

Hello blog world! How have you been? People are always saying "What a crazy week I had", but honestly, my past week has had elements of true crazy. That, along with the fact that my other half was away on work travel, kept me very distracted.

As a result, I have little to show for myself in the way of creative accomplishments. My only offering is this piece of chunky tatted wall art I made yesterday afternoon. It was my way of celebrating Friday and the end of a rather maddening seven days.

I love the idea of fiber wall art, but I've only just begun to play around with it. This is a rather simple design. I like the contemporary feel of it and it's just the sort of piece I needed for my chosen wall space. In case you were wondering, my wall is not this pinkish red color, but more of an earthy yellow. I just needed a background that didn't wash out the colors and red seemed to do the trick.

In tatting, you can create very elaborate designs. When placed vertically, they make me think of scrolled metal art only much softer. The challenge using yarn is both making the tools to tat on this scale, and also creating a piece that will hold its shape. In making this leaf design, I was experimenting with the ability of the yarn to hold a more elongated shape. Though this picture was taken with the piece laying down flat, it does maintain this shape hanging on the wall.

I'm looking forward to making more tatted wall art. I have designs dancing around in my brain. It will be fun to set them free!

Hairpin Lace Project ~ My Personal Commitment

Here it is, in all its glory, my hairpin lace project! A couple nights ago, I went to my monthly guild meeting and this year they're introducing a challenge. The wise women of the guild have called upon our group to complete a project that has maybe been sitting around for a while. It could also be trying out something new that you've always wanted to do.

The idea is that we commit to completing our personal challenge by March 14th, 2012. At that point, all of our creations will be professionally photographed and made into a calendar. Of course we will then buy the calendar to help support our guild and all of the good things it does. We'll get the added kick of having our project featured on it pages. That is, if we finish our project.

I didn't have to think very long to come up with my own personal commitment. My hairpin lace project is both new, as I have never made a hairpin lace piece before, and sitting around. It spends most of its days in this basket. Nice basket, huh?

I started what will eventually become a colorful, hairpin lace sweater back in... gee let me check.... gosh, was it really January 9th? This is worse than I thought! This personal commitment is exactly the push I need to get back to work. March 14th. That gives me 181 days to finish my project. I think I can. I think I can.

Wind Rose Fiber Studio is Getting Social

Well, I did it. I made a Facebook page for Wind Rose Fiber Studio. You can now openly like me.

There's something so silly about Facebook and yet I can't help but be grateful that it exists. All of my family and most of my friends live in other parts of the country. Without a vehicle like Facebook, I know I would lose touch with some very special people.

I went back and forth on whether or not to create a page for Wind Rose. I even made one about a year ago and then deleted it. Since then, the page design seems to have improved, so I'm going for it.

I hope you will enjoy the convenience of being able to see updates on your regular visits to Facebook. It will be fun to have conversations with you and share our thoughts on all things fiber!

Yarn Just Keeps Getting Better!

It was the turn of this century when I began my own crafting business and became a real customer of commercial yarn. I had yet to begin spinning my own, but I was designing my own products and selling at craft shows. After a few years, I felt like I had sampled every yarn on the market. This can't really be true, but I bet I came close!

After a few years, my world turned to spinning and dyeing. I went from yarn snob to serious yarn snob. At one point I even decided to eliminate commercial yarn altogether. Then, a couple of years ago, my focus began to shift again. While my business had become a dyeing enterprise and still is, I began to focus more on design and pattern writing.

When I create a new pattern, I usually end up making several run-throughs of the design before I'm happy with my finished product. I found myself turning back to commercial yarn because it saved time and I could work up my first prototypes with inexpensive fiber. I also decided that I wanted to make my models out of yarn that was affordable and readily accessible to everyone. This meant going back to the big chain stores. I was pleasantly surprised with what I found. Commercial yarn just keeps getting better doesn't it?

So I opened my heart back up to commercial yarn and began to visit my old haunts. They are probably your haunts too, like Webs and Yarn Market. Not only has the variety of natural fiber yarns expanded, but the acrylics too. Once more, the acrylics are becoming more sophisticated and softer than ever and don't even get me started on the blends. There are so many wonderful blends! Here are some of my recent purchases.



The thick and thin on the left is by Universal Yarn. It's called Bamboo Bloom Handpaints in a colorway called Koi Pond. It's 48% Rayon from bamboo, 44% wool and 8% acrylic. It comes in nice 3.5oz, 154 yard skeins. I was looking for a variegated worsted weight to make up my Regensburg Scarf, and I think this is going to be very pretty.

On the far right is a sock yarn by Wisdom Yarns called Poems Socks in the color Aurora Borealis. I'm so happy that sock yarn has become as popular as it is because I love this weight for so many projects. The beefy skeins are nice too. This one comes with 459 yards which is plenty for me to make my City Scarf. I'm working on Christmas projects and these colors are just perfect for someone on my list!

Now I have no idea what I'm going to do with the crazy acrylic in the center. I first saw this Triana yarn by Katia when I was in Germany earlier this year. Sadly for me, the woman ahead of me got the very last skein in the little shop in Uberlingen, but the store owner showed me a scarf that had been knitted from this novelty fiber. I should have guessed that this style of yarn would become all the rage as it seems to be popping up everywhere. Even Patons is launching their own version tomorrow called Pirouette which is selling out practically before it hits the stores. There are YouTube videos demonstrating how to work with this style of yarn. So far all I've seen are a bunch of ruffly scarves. I'm sure over time, the creative community will come up with some cool designs for this new, funky yarn. I hope I do too!

Three New Drop Spindle Kits!

I just stocked Wind Rose Fiber Studio up with three new drop spindle kits. If you know someone who wants to learn to spin, this is a great gift to get them started. The kit comes with complete directions, a drop spindle and leader cord and an ounce of natural Bluefaced Leicester Top. Then to make things fun, I add a couple ounces of hand dyed, carded and pulled roving. I like to introduce newcomers to the joy of spinning with very pretty fiber!

If you see one you like, just click the picture and it will take you to the listing. :D