New skeinwinder

Yay! My new skeinwinder arrived this week. I ordered it from Maggie at Woolwing on ebay. I can make longer and better skeins now. I love it - except when I STILL get in a tangle, but I'm getting better.

But the arrival of this new contraption means redundancy for my trustworthy Niddy Noddy. Reckon he looks a bit sad. Awww...

This week, I have been mostly winding: four Cupid's Breath pink cashmere/silk skeins, two Betty Blue cashmere/silk skeins, two Grecian Blue cashmere/silk skeins and two Smugglers Cove cashmere/silk skeins. All to gradually appear on Etsy as the week progresses. Here's a sneak preview:

Cupid's Breath, Betty Blue and Grecian Blue

The Grecian Blue is more of a turquoise shade than the Betty Blue. I'm selling these solid colours in twos so buyer will get over 100g. Have decided to keep two of the Cupid's Breathe for myself as have always wanted to knit a pair of pink cashmere socks and have just acquired a lacy pattern from Violet Green at http://www.violetgreen.co.uk/ this week along with some gorgeous undyed superwash merino and laceweight merino.

And here's the Smugglers' Cove - this is one of my absolutely favourites, and was so tempted to keep it, but alas, too late, it's on Etsy (not any more - sold):

I had a lovely, creative dyeing day yesterday and came up with three new colourways.

Maharajah - rich shades of purple, red, gold and green inspired, of course, by the richness of India.

Empress - red, orange, gold and black (haven't quite mastered the black yet, so it's more like brown) inspired by the country of origin of the yarn and by the wonderful novel Empress Orchid.

Both of the above are in the luxurious cashmere/silk.

Old Rose Print - brilliant pink, pale pink, shades of grey and white. More on the inspiration for this in the next post. This colourway I tried out on the superwash merino and it's come up really well. Again, next post for photos.

Here's the work in progress on Empress and Maharajah:

Check out the new cheapo chips-and-dips tray - ideal for separating out the colours and the different dye baths. The second picture is the yarn steaming away in clingfilm.

And finally, I believe in supporting fellow Etsy artisans (well, that's my excuse for a lovely spend on things of beauty), so I acquired this from fellow Brit, Nina from Artquirk http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5039982 - it was picked for a Treasury and I just had to snap it up. I love her stuff and will definitely be back for more... This is called `A Row of Colourful Houses.'