From pastels to rich hues

I have some new additions to list in my etsy shop over the next couple of days and here's a sneak preview:

First up, we have a beautifully, soft cashmere/silk which I have named Pitter Patter for obvious reasons:
Next up is another pastel colourway, this time in the long-promised cashmerino which is so soft and gorgeous and lovely to work with. This one is called Fondant



Third up is another cashmerino number, this time showing its flamboyant side in rich, vibrant, passionate colours. Let me introduce Flamenco:
And finally for tonight, we have the ever-popular Superwash merino yarn in marine shades of aqua, turquoise, deep blue and citrus green. This is Rock Pool:
And that, ladies and gentleman, is all for tonight. Thank you, and goodnight.

Recent dyeing activity

This is what I've been up to this week.

I got myself onto Flickr at last. Here's my Flickr page. Sure there must be some way of creating a mini link but will get to that some time. So far have joined 4 groups - Yarn Porn, For the Love of Fiber, Hand Dyed and Pimp their Etsy. If anyone knows any other good ones...



Fragrant stocks

Gorgeous cashmere/silk in pastel shade of pink, lilac, lemon, pale green and white.

Already sold in Etsy, but it's my favourite yet and will definitely be repeated this colourway - or as close to it as I can get. I was inspired by a beautiful barrel of stocks just bloomed in our garden, but realised afterwards that if anyone bought it and knitted it into socks, well, the name could be very appropriate, put it that way!

Also this: Sugared almonds

This is in my newly acquired lambswool, cashmere and angora and I cannot emphasise enough how gorgeous this yarn is to work with.

And finally, a beautifully soft 2 ply laceweight yarn in a colourway called Lagoon. This one also sold quick sticks which is fantastic.

Pastel slub yarn

Despite being injured after pulling a muscle in my shoulder during Body Attack on Saturday (this is after falling over in the mud in Running Club on Wednesday and being covered in bruises -is exercise supposed to be good or bad for you?) couldn't go a whole weekend with no dyeing of yarn, so decided that some lovely pure wool slub yarn I'd purchased recently needed some pastel shades added to it. The result is subtle and makes me think of misty landscapes.

Purple Haze and New Forest Mist

I've added them to my etsy shop this evening. Speaking of which, had the most flattering feedback from my first customer, moohlah. Was really encouraging and has spurred me on to keep trying.

Popped into Hobbycraft at lunchtime and apart from getting loads of bits and bobs for making my fabric hearts like this:

Also purchased some gorgeous crafting papers and some clip frames and created these for our spare room/office.

This is my favourite one - pink birds:

Not bad for less than a tenner for all three!

Very loved knitted teddies

Once upon a time, about four Christmases ago, the Skein Prince saw some brightly coloured wool in a shop and wished for a teddy. Henceforth, `Colourful' was born, according to my own made-up pattern.

He started off all blue, pink and yellow and very fluffy. He's been much loved, so much so, his hand has nearly been twisted off.

That same Christmas, `Flossie' came into the world for the Skein Princess.

This started off something of a tradition, and now every Christmas, a new teddy or rabbit comes into the Skein household:

`Marshmallow' `Wonderful' `Olivia'

And of course, Blue Kangaroo:

(Think this could've been from a Debbie Bliss knitted toys book.)

And now, the Skein Prince is making his own. This is Hooting Henry from Lucinda Guy's Kids Learn to Knit book:They absolutely love getting their knitted toy at Christmas as they know it's taken me ages to knit, they usually get to pick the colours and yarn and they know they can't be bought (probably a good thing!)

And finally, the gratituous stash shot (though be warned, I have another box plus a duvet-sized box full of wool I got given from an old lady moving house. I'll save those for another day.) This is all my handpainted stuff:

In fact, I liked it so much, I put a copy of it at the top of my blog.

Skein or skein? How do you pronounce it?

You live and learn.

Today I found out there are two ways to pronounce skein - some say skayn and some say skeen. I think the proper way is skayn but I like to think that skeen sounds more Scottish - like scone and scoone (little curranty bun thingy).

Check out this survey on pronounciation: http://www.menwhoknit.com/node/1703

Anyway, I digress.

I meant to show this:

This is my River Thames colourway as described in last post. I've added it into my etsy shop but am tempted, as usual, to keep it for my stash, speaking of which, gratuituous stash photo coming in next post.