These beautiful yarns have been in my studio for a while now, just waiting to get their picture taken. On the left is a 100% Highland Peruvian Merino Wool that has been spun into a bulky Thick and Thin. On the right is a luscious Boucle made from 35% Baby Alpaca, 30% Merino, 30% Bamboo and 5% Nylon. Both are products of Ashland Bay.
I have long admired Ashland Bay for their high quality rovings and fibers, so when I decided to expand my inventory to include Ecru Yarn, I didn't think twice about my source. I think Ecru Yarns will be a nice addition to Wind Rose for two reasons. It will supply dyers and painters with a gorgeous canvas and it will also provide a ready made product for anyone who prefers dye free.
Brand New at Wind Rose today is this wonderful Wild Raspberry Soy Silk. I just love the way the Soy took to this color! I got so excited that I even included some free Firestar in the dye pot. Starting in 2009, I was only planning to give Firestar away with my Merino, but sometimes I just can't resist adding that sparkling fiber!
Also new today are .5oz listings of Wild Raspberry and Night Blue Firestar just in case you need a little extra bling!
It's quite possible that I'm the last person in the world to discover this cute idea, but just in case I'm not, I thought I'd share. I was picking up a couple things at my local market today and the bakery had these for sale. I thought it was such a cute idea that instead of buying the ready made ones, I bought what I needed to make them with my kids.
This is such a kid friendly little project. The nest is just one of those sponge cakes you buy in six packs usually marketed near the strawberries for shortcake. On top of that is whipped white icing from the baking isle. I probably don't have to tell you that the grass is sweetened coconut with a little green food coloring added. Then just nest your little chick right in the middle. I like to put a couple jellybeans around the chick as though there are still a few eggs waiting to hatch.
I've always got something in the works. Today I'm boosting my designer roving section of Wind Rose Fiber Studio with two new listings. Both in 22 micron Merino wool, on the left is Rusty Pink ~ a hand painted roving using Crimson and Burnt Orange. On the right is Green Royale ~ also painted using Kelly Green, Teal and Purple. Both were created using a space dyeing technique which creates a self striping yarn when spun. I'm having fun with my paint brush, but I have to admit, I'm missing my kettles too.
I'm excited about two things today. I know I've already shown off this new skein of yarn, but today it was included as a related item in an Etsy News article. So for that, thank you Etsy!
I'm also excited about the actual content of the article. Etsy sales are up in March from last month. I know March has a few extra days, but the increase is significant. I felt this in my own personal sales which more than doubled in March from February.
I hope everyone else is feeling the same rise!
I rarely use shopping as my go-to mood elevator, but today is an exception. Today I treated myself to not one, but two pairs of these adorable Flower Power Earrings from SunFrog Originals!
First of all, what a great picture! I think earrings can be really hard to capture. These flowers look so alluring hanging on that branch. How could I not be compelled to buy?
What a minute! It gets better. You get to choose your color combinations. There's orange and pink like you see here, but you can also select from red, dark blue, light blue, white, black and yellow. I'm probably missing a color in there somewhere, but you get the idea. It took me all afternoon to pick out my flowers. I was fighting this internal battle between the color combo's I loved and the ones I knew I would wear. *LOL
I know this is a crazy big picture, but I just couldn't help myself. I worked so hard on this new Sparkling Studio Mosaic yarn!
I've been enjoying spinning yarn out of my surplus fiber lately. This weekend I did what I do most weekends. I spent a little time tidying up my studio from a busy week's work. In doing so, I discovered that I have quite a generous stash of Firestar in addition to my fiber. I knew right away that I would have to spin a Sparkling Studio Mosaic.
So I went through both collections and made pairs of all of the fiber that had matching colored Firestar. I used the same method in the design as before, only now after each plain color, I spun a length of that color's Firestar twin. The result is still a colorful self-striping yarn, only this one has tons of Sparkle.
I also didn't want to skimp on the color, so this ended up being a much bigger skein. I'm a little torn about whether to break it into two skeins or leave it as one. I only charge .20 a yard for my singles, but with 388 yards, that's a pretty high priced yarn. On the flip side, It's so nice to get an art yarn with enough yardage for a bigger project. For now I think I'll keep it together and see if it finds a home.
Hi all. I just updated my listings for Blue Faced Leicester over at Wind Rose. You can now purchase this fiber in 1oz, 2oz or 4oz lots.
If you've never worked with BFL, I cannot recommend it highly enough. It has long been one of my personal favorites. I loved it as a beginning spinner for it's generous 5" staple length. I love Blue Faced Leicester now for the soft feel and the fact that it has just a little more texture than Merino. What can I say? I like soft, but I like a fiber that can hold shape and has some strength.
BFL will wet or needle felt with the best of them. It also takes dye like a dream. This is one versatile wool!
How adorable is this?! My good friend Jenn (not confusing, lol) sent me this wonderful little gifty she found in a pottery in Sperryville, VA. Made by Felting Frenzy, they call this "Soap In A Wool Sweater". It looks like they are still building their website, but I linked it anyway for the future.
As I sit and write this post, the little sheep soap is sitting next to my keyboard and the smooth scent of sandalwood is filling the air. So nice!
The little card attached has a lovely write up. It talks about the wool being a mild exfoliant for the skin and that it will shrink along with the soap as you use it. One thing they mention that I hadn't thought of before, is that when the soap is all gone, the wool can till be used and a scrubbing pad. Very clever. It's like wool and soap were meant for each other!
I also like that the card talks about every fleece having its own story to tell. Fiber Frenzy likes to tell that story through their fiber art.
Here's the third skein of Studio Mosaic Yarn that I managed to spin this week. This one is 1.3 oz and 130 yards. To give you a little better idea of what this yarn is like, let me describe my method.
I rarely do things in a completely random way so there is some order and design that goes into my Studio Mosaics line. I start with one fiber, in this case it's the green color you see here. Then I go from one color to another making sure that there is a balance of light and dark and that the colors that join together, bring out the best in each other.
Once I have 8 to 10 colors, I go back to my beginning color. I start over again using all of the same colors and fibers in the same order. Finally, I end using the same color with which I began the skein. I feel like this lends a harmony to the overall finished product. Also, lets say I decide to knit a scarf from my skein. It will look nice to have both ends of the scarf be the same color. So you see, there's always a little method in my madness!
