Saturday 29 December 2007

Webshop

ARGGGGGG! The shop has been off line and I didn't even know it! Anyway its back online again now. Hope you all had a lovely holiday and you are looking forward to new years, I have a tonne of new years determinations, which I'll write out here later so I can look back at the beginning of 2009 and see if I have achieved them, lol.



Saturday 22 December 2007

Merry Christmas!

Right, all orders have been sent including the sock clubs in case you were wondering, please bear in mind the post is mighty slow in some areas!



I'm off to mom and pops for the weekend, and then to my little bro's. No one has any presents yet, I have to knit them all, or felt them at least.  I hope you all have a merry Christmas/winter solstice celebration, and I'll be back on line next week for some festive fun.



Oh the shop was updated yesterday, but there's not that much left, I did a load of fibers, but you need to buy them quick before they accidentally end up on my spinning wheel cause they are so scrumptious.....



Fyberspates_hand_dyed_knitting_ya_2



Thursday 20 December 2007

Our little trip into paradise.

So yesterday I took a little break from work; mainly because I don't have much time off, and I needed to get away from work to give my head a break. So we went to Burford, now Carmella as you might have guessed is Spanish, and so the cotswolds are the kind of things she has only seen in films, so I thought this time of year was perfect to take her. Off we set in the van, Put the christmas carols on, and drove to Burford, and exquisite place which was a favourite visit as a child. As we passed through the villages, they got prettier and prettier, until at last we entered Burford, and oddly at the same time we had the snowman playing on the CD as we drove in (which I think added to the effect) , it was stunning, the town is so beautiful, and Carmella was nearly speechless, 'its like being in film Jeni' she said, it was amazing with all the pretty white lights and the gorgeous shops. So seeing as it was freezing, we went for an afternoon tea in Huffkins, where we had lovely sandwiches and warm scones, cream, jam and hot tea, it was absolutely magical.



Here are some pics of the day:



This is Carmella!!



Burford_1



Carmella grinning over her afternoon tea:



Burford_2_3



Me in Hufkins, because Carmella insisted:



Burford_3



Christmas court:



Burford_5_3



Carmella outside the sweetshop



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So there we go, it was superduper.



There will be a nice big update tomorrow, but orders placed after saturday, I will post out next week though, the day after boxing day.



So hope you are all not getting to stressed out about christmas ;-) I'm suprisingly calm, but then again, thats probably because I am in denial.



Wednesday 19 December 2007

The Costwolds

Carmella and I are off today for a little twee shopping trip to the cotswolds, a nice lunch and a browse round some cute little shops in attempt to find some presents that are not off the shelf. I'll try and take some pics, seeing as I don't think you've met Carmella formally yet have you?! :-)



Monday 17 December 2007

Blimey its christmas, how did that happen? And the story of my mother and her gucci glasses

Lets start with something a little funny.   My mother.   I get at least 2 comments a day now on how similar I am to my mum, she is to say the least an eccentric, an extremely stylish eccentric, but hell she is eccentric, and thats why I love her, I wouldn't ever wish for another mum, she is why I love cooking, why I have done something crafty everyday of my life, and why I am a little bit crazy.



So on with the story. She needed new glasses, so she buys Gucci, not too sure if that was on purpose or not, but she got them and was rather conflicted about them, on one hand she was excited that she had Gucci glasses and on the other, was slightly concerned that they were a bit poncy.



Anyway the weekend before last I met her to go shopping, she told me to meet her in Evans in bristol, so I walked in and straight away I could see my mother. She was trying jewelery in front of the mirror, chatting to any person that walked past asking them what they thought, there she was, big black full skirt, huge belt, leggings, ballet pumps and a little kind of black sixties swing cardigan, and some pretty jewelery, and a huge smile on her face, she looked gorgeous! (I'm trying to give you a sense of her huge personality here), I twigged that she had new thick glasses with crystals on the sides, which I thought were fabulous, but was bombarded with hugs and kisses so I didn't say anything, then later after she told me what I was going to buy her for Christmas and we were in the queue paying for it, me a little bewildered, I looked at her glasses as she was chatting away and prancing around, 'mum, are those new glasses?" I said, I love the crystals on the side, they look so cool, "oh no darling" she said with a huge grin "these are my Gucci ones, but I thought they were poncy so I bought some stick on crystals from the village church bazaar and stuck them over the top, ever so cheap they were, I just have to keep popping them back into place because they keep slipping off!!!"



"Mum you are kidding me" and she just laughed and laughed and laughed, and thats my mum. She is as defiant as me and I am starting to see why people tell me more and more why I am like my mum.



I just noticed its christmas next week, and I kind of don't have any presents yet, but never mind, I wonder if my brother would like yarn for chrismas.........



 



Friday 14 December 2007

Shop Update

Right, I've started the shop update, I will do more tomorrow and Sunday, I am loving the colours this time, they feel very 'Grown up' not too sure why, they just do, added to that I have another new sock yarn! Yes I know, I never have enough, this one is lovely, its sort of normal, i.e. 4 ply, thin, made of merino super wash, but its a high twist, and it dyes with a wonderful texture in the colour, you'll have to see it to understand what I mean, but more importantly it takes the colour up in the most wonderful way, added to a new technique of dyeing I have perfected, I am never happy doing things the same way over and over again. Its called super wash merino in the shop.



There are lots of bamboo/merino and merino tencel, and cashmere lace, oh and some christmasy super wash dk.



Here is my fav ones:
14th_dec_022



And these super-de-duper Christmas brights:



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There is also some fibres and there will be some really fun blends tomorrow with all sorts of bits and pieces in them.



14th_dec_063



Finally, I have set up a fyberspates blog for the lace club and the 12 month sock club, so that people can post their projects as we go along, each person will be given a guest Authorship so they can post photo's and comments etc. How exciting huh?



Thursday 13 December 2007

Liquorice allsorts

Well, all sorts really, hehehehe.



OK, I thought I would post about Guernsey today seeing as I had lots of photo's mainly of jumpers and the sea, but still.



Guernsey is a really gorgeous island, despite the fact that the weather was pretty horrendous the sea look so beautiful all the time:



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P1010148



I think it must be heaven in the summer, there are lots of fish restaurants there, which is just too exciting for me, seeing as I would live on fish and nothing else if I had my way, I had the best crab sandwiches in a little cafe over looking the harbor, just perfect.



There were a couple of reasons for the trip, one of which was some research into machine knitwear and also into Guernsey jumpers, and generally just be around people who have had very successful large businesses, its amazing what you learn from just listening to people, and their philosophies on business, especially in textiles. Mr B (travel partner and woolly best friend) says I always suck knowledge out of people, like I have an invisible sucker which I plant in their heads, which makes always me laugh, seeing as I'm only happy when I am learning or improving. I was so grateful to be given the opportunity to be able to listen and learn.



Anyway, in the guernsey factory, they had some original hand knit guernseys, some were from before the war, its amazing, they looked like new, they are very hard wearing, the special features are the necks, the way the underarms are knitted, the fact that they are knitted in an extremely tight fabric, and a bit like the arans, the patterns differ from region to region, mainly so that if fishermen wore them and drowned, they would be able to identify the bodies from the patterns on the jumpers, which was amazing, also on a slightly more positive note, the patterns on the jumpers were a sort of competition between women, see who could do the most intricate designs, and 'be better than the woman next door' lol. I liked that.



OK, here is a close up of the neck, I'm not sure if its good enough to distinguish from normal necks, but its longer at the edge, can you see it?



P1010179 



OK, so next here are some of the originals:



I love this one, but it was more decorated that most of the other ones I saw:



Guernsey_jumper



Have a look at the detail in the arm pits, and also the rib at the edge of the arm holes.



P1010118 This is more typical of what I saw.



So there you go, and now I want to make a guernsey, I have some books to read, and I am going to try and get some yarn spun in a 5 ply, and if I can come up with some original patterns would any one be interested?



Any way I will be retailing machine knit Guernsey jumpers on the website, very soon, I just need to work out the prices, these will be shipped direct from Guernsey, how exciting huh?





Tuesday 11 December 2007

Morning!!!!!

I'm alive, lol.



I had a bit of a day off yesterday because I was knackered from traveling, it was seriously needed, the trip to guernsey was superb, but it was exhausting, the weather was very bad, which made flying a little hairy, but I'm still here so I guess they are used to it over there.



I went to research knitwear production, and see some guernsey jumpers made, what was amazing is that as a hand knitter we take for granted the flexibility we have with knitting, where as machines are so much more complicated to get the same effects and shapes, we had a go at making my wave scarf to see, and it took hours to perfect it, and the fabric was very different to a hand knitted fabric once perfected, but it was fabulous. The computers that program the machines are very very complicated, but it appealed to my programming skills no end, although it would take years to become a technician I would imagine.



I did see some original hand knitted guernseys made, and I have photo's, but not here in the house, so I will do a nice big post probably tonight or tomorrow, so you can see all the details of the original guernsey jumpers, and I will explain a bit about what I learned about what goes into making a guernsey jumper.



I have  had quite alot to update the site with, but people keep buying things before they get on to the website lol!! So next update will be Friday, and I have some fantastic colors to tempt you with.



Right off to go dye some wool.



Thursday 6 December 2007

Guernsey

So I'm not at home.



I'm in Guernsey................. doing a little bit of yarn/knitting research.



I have pictures and a whole lot of stories to tell, but you're gonna have to wait for Sunday.



Man I love my job!



:-)



Sunday 2 December 2007

Christmas theme to the update

Right, I just finished the update, and it took bout 3 hours, lots and lots of yarn, yippee!!



If you click on the little arrow on the top right hand corner of the big picture on the right that always appears on every page it gives you the list of the new arrivals! Alternatively click here



I have been slightly food obsessed, and inspired by Christmas, so I have done lots of ginger, chocolate and plums. Most of the colours are very rich, deep and warm, I am really going to find it difficult to let these yarns go!



Here are a few to quite literally taste.



Nov31st_097 Ginger plum pud



Nov31st_102 Ginger chestnut pud



Nov31st_018 Choc plum pud



Yesterday after water pouring through my kitchen ceiling from the shower, I decided I needed some food therapy, so I went into town and went only to the cooking shop, lol.



I purchased a thing to make crumpets, pancakes and welsh cakes, so this morning I made some silver dollar pancakes, they were super duper:



Nov31st_077



Right, I have 6 kilos of fibres to dye now, you never know, there might be some extras in the shop for next weeks update along with the carded fibres with sparkles, lol.



Friday 30 November 2007

Shop update

Right the shop will be updated later today, have a tonne of cashmere lace, sock and dk for you, but have to go into psychology this morning to sort some stuff out first, grrrrrrrrrrr.



**ADDED LATER** shop is updated with dry things (including new chunky scrumptious), lol, but there will lots more added over the weekend.



However I suppose this is a perfect time to highlight the new clubs in the shop, due to a great success with the fybers and that I often have a tonne of luxury fybers which never stay in the shop long enough for people to buy them, lol, I have a 5 month luxury fibre club which there are memberships for the UK (£50) US & EUROPE (55) and The rest of the world (£60)details as follows;



This is a luxury fibre club, each month you will receive 100gms of a different hand dyed fyber, and info about that fyber! You will receive 100gms of the following fybers: Cashmere, kid mohair, baby Alpaca, Silk and Blue faced Leicester/ silk blend. This is perfect for spinners, felters and people who just love fybers really! If you would like to purchase this as a Christmas gift, I can send you a voucher to pop in a card. Postage is included in the club price. Each package will be posted in the first week of the month starting in January.



Secondly we have a spinners Fiber club UK (£25) US and EUROPE (£30) and The rest of the world (£35)details as follows:



You will receive 100gems of hand dyed fybers each month. The fybers are Blue faced Leicester, Merino and Super sorted Shetland. This club is perfect for beginner spinners because the fybers are nice and easy to spin. The price includes postage. If you would like to give this as gift please let me know and I will send you a voucher.



I also have a 12 month sock club, seeing as the other two are a great success and lots of people renew their subscriptions UK (£99) US and EUROPE (£109) and The rest of the world (£120) Details as follows;



This sock club runs for 12 months! You are saving £36 of the full retail price! Each month you will get 100gms of the new fyberspates 'dream' sock yarn, with hand dyed to colours which are inspired by the month of the year! This club starts in January and will make a wonderful Christmas present for a sock knitter. Each hank of yarn will be sent out on the first week of the month. 12 months postage is included in the price!!!!



And finally a lace club!!! Yay Finally UK (£30) US and EUROPE (£35) and The rest of the world (£40)!



This is a 3 month lace club, for those who love lace, you will get one hank of yarn each month, which will be wound into balls if you want it! Yippee! You will receive 100gms of yarn each month, there will be one hank of silk lace (950m) a hank of lace Blue faced Leicester (1200m) and one hank of alpaca lace yarn (600m). Postage is included in the price of the yarn :-) If you would like to purchase this as a Christmas present I can send you a voucher to pop in a Christmas card. This club starts in January.



OK so I think thats enough for one morning, be sure to check the shop later, there is some great yarn today.



Wednesday 28 November 2007

Do I do this, or do I do that?

So I packed every package I possibly could physically pack before 4.45 and took them to the post office and posted them all. I am always stunned how much I spend at the post office, the guys behind the counter call me 'little bo peep' which I don't mind, I really sure they could think of worse, lol.



So I am in a dilemma, the house is quiet, so I have about another three hours of work I could get done (I really have to get a better work life balance), but whats calling me is some delicious little spinning batts for the shop, I need to go and raid the shed and see if I can fix my electric drum carder, I also need to put another section on my website for my new products, hmm, so I do boring stuff or do I do some scrummy little spinning things and make a horrendous mess because there will be fibres everywhere, and little bits of sparkles.



Yep, Its sparkles every time! I'll see you tomorrow with spinning photo's and the cabled mitts which I forgot to photograph today.



xx



Tuesday 27 November 2007

En Francais.

That title probably doesn't mean what I think it does, anyway basically  I have been getting my most popular patterns translated into other languages, and we are starting with french, so the mini shawl, the wave scarf and stole and the basic sock pattern is now available in French from the webshop. Yipee, I am really chuffed about this, I would love to have multiple versions of my website that were in other languages, but until I improve my language skills, the world will have to read it in English.



I have packed up all the order which need to be shipped, now I just need to get dyeing tommorow ready for the friday update, I'm feeling in the mood for some warm sock yarns this week, to knit toasty socks for the cold weather.



OOOOOOH! I designed some cutsy cables fingerless mitts in scrumptious while I was away, i'll post a photo tomorrow when its nice and light.



off to knit a new design now.



:-)



Sunday 25 November 2007

As Alice would say, I had lovely lovely lovely lovely time

Well, thats the last show of the year over, and I have to say it was really fabulous. I enjoyed it so much, and made lots of new contacts and friends, and have some new ideas for going in some slightly different directions, but thats going to take a little bit of time and work before I reveal any of those plans, mwahahahahahahahahaha, lol.



Right! So I did buy something really really cool, I love felting, and I love slippers, so when I saw a kit for some felted slippers, I had to have it! It was a kit from knitting4fun, and I had a few lovely chats to these guys but it was especially lovely to chat to people about their products freely. So I feel extra happy about recommending their products, their kits are really great. I will photo my kit tomorrow, and am sure I will start knitting it tomorrow as well!!!



Next up, there was an exhibition of textile insects by fibrefusion, its sculptured textiles, I can't seem to get the link to work, so if any one knows it, can you send it to me?



They were much more amazing in person, but here are a few of them, they were absolutely superb:



Update_203



Update_200



Update_201



The details on some of them were so clever and they were huge and even eerie!



Right too tired to write any more.



xx



Saturday 24 November 2007

Super de duper.

I had a fabulous day today, it was really quiet until about 11.30, I think thats when all the coach parties came, but after that it was busy and I saw lots of lovely customers who I realise are becoming my regulars, and it is so lovely to see the same faces again and again, I guess it means they like knitting my yarn! LOL. One customer told me a very beautiful story of what she had done with some yarn she spun up from the bfl silk blend, it was extremely touching and bought a tear to my eye.



Its so weird how different things sell on different days, I sold so much Squishy and scrumptious today, it was great!



I also taught the guy on the stand opposite to me to knit socks, and guess what? Its the first thing he has ever knit. Yesterday I was finishing off a Christmas stocking I was making for some kits (they'll be on line on Tuesday) and he wanted to make one for his children. So he learnt to cast one, then knit about 10 rows, then cast on for a sock, and has been knitting in the round ever since. I have to get him past the heel tomorrow, but I am so amazed, because so often really good knitters are too scared to attempt socks, and this guy, who has never knitted, has just cast on and started with no fear. I am so impressed. I asked him if I could take photo's and he said yes, but only of his knitting, lol!



So all in all a lovely day, despite still having a few weird tummy probs, think it might just be doing 4 shows in a row that might just be making my body a little bit tired perhaps, but I am happy in my head so thats all that matters, and so inspired to just knit knit knit!



Right off for a glass of wine and an early night, and tomorrow, I have some super photo's to share with you of some of the creative work I have seen on display at the show, its exquisite!



Nite folks, happy knitting.



xx



Thursday 22 November 2007

Yippee, having fun!!!!

Mary, one of my customers who regualarly comes to see me at shows, and sometimes shows me some of her fabulous creations, touched the silk hanging from my stand and remarked on its dampness and my love of living near the edge, Ahem! I may have the odd skein which is 'Airing' lol, well it was raining in Cardiff before I left.



Today was great, the stand looks alot tidier and more organised than it has ever been, and the new deep coloured sock yarns are going down a real storm!! I'm very pleased. I was feeling  bit delicate today, not too sure why, but the facilities here are better than allypally, and I'm right next to the toilets so I was extremely grateful. Lol!!



So off to get an early night ready for tomorrow Don't forget to come and say hello :-)



xx



Tuesday 20 November 2007

Van is packed and ready to go to Harrogate

As usual I am still trying to get the yarn dry despite the rain, but van is nearly packed, so I'm nearly ready to go. The house is empty today, Carmella is working her first day, sole and marchin are at university, I have got tonnes done, and I have to admit I was listening to classic FM because I couldn't cope with radio 1 this morning, I was a little bit hyper and pop was making me loopy!



  • OK, come and say hello, my stand number is: B645.


Happy knitting.



xx



Monday 19 November 2007

Harrogate

Right, just getting ready for harrogate, have a few new fun things, but i'll keep it a secret until I get there, lol.



I ate so much food yesterday, we went out for a pub sunday lunch, which was superb, and then we went out for a 3 course dinner in the evening, I am still stuffed today, but it was fantastic!!!



Its pouring with rain here, completely pouring, not that I really mind the rain, its just a bit crap for dyeing wool, and I have a bit more to dye for the show, still, I think i'll dye in the nice warm kichen today, I only have a few things to do, including adding a few other colours to the pallette!!!



I did some knitting on socks over the weekend, including the new dream sock yarn here is progress so far, its  bit more purple than in the pic:



Update



I'm feeling a little bit serious today, so sorry if the post is a bit bland, I think it as Carmen puts it; my 'Ormones', lol



Saturday 17 November 2007

Quick post today

Have updated shop with a small selection of treats, AHEM, you may see a slight theme, and if you don't like mauve and green I would refrain from looking at the shop, lol, I had a completely obsessive day of dyeing on thursday and its all on a sort of Irish theme!!



Update_182  Dream sock





Superwash merino sock:



Update_188



Scrumptious, Silk lace and superwash merino DK



Thursday 15 November 2007

Dream sock and quote (s) of the day.

So yesterday was a perfect day, I think I discovered the secret of happiness, I dyed sock yarn all day till about 7pm, then Sole and marcin came home, and we had wine and Polish tapas; delicious sausage with horseradish with apple in it, amazing!! Oh and grilled Polish cheese, and um AHEM wine, and jazz music in the background, and last night we laughed until we cried, it was fantastic.



Anyway, back to the sock yarn I can't stop knitting, I had to dry it quick and start knitting it because I am so in love, so in love that I was dreaming about the yarn in the night, so I am calling the new yarn Fyberspates 'dream sock' yarn! Its high twist bluefaced Leicester, but its also very soft when knitted, the best of both worlds.....want to see some?.............................................



Update_151



Update_152



Update_170



So as you can see, I'm a little obsessed, it'll be up in the shop tomorrow along with some other autumy colours, its gorgeous gorgeous yarn. *SIGH*



Right, so I decided to start a 'Carmencita's quote of the day', mainly because I spend most of my day laughing, not at, but with Carmen, she has the most incredible sense of humour, and she makes me laugh so much, I just have to share the conversations with you, (she agreed by the way, lol)



So  I have two for you today the story of the sock leprechauns and the story of the ice.



So I'm sat on the sofa knitting my sock this morning with the new yarn sat in front of me, just trying to breathe because I love it so much, and we were talking about socks, and she picks up the yarn and says, 'when I think about people knitting socks I imagine little people in tree's knitting the socks' which I raised an eyebrow at, thinking of all the sock knitters in the world knitting  socks in tree's, and it transpired she meant leprechauns knitting socks in trees. I'm still not too sure about that one, but anyway the new colourway was going to be called Iris, and when I told her that she said "yes!! Irish!!!" not quite what I meant, so now we are going for a compramise "leprechaun".



Second and the best quote of the day so far, she goes out to the garden to have a cigarette, seeing as smoking is totally banned in my house, and she comes back into the house with a lump of ice in her hand and says the following:



"Jesus Jeni, have you seen the water"



I raise an eyebrow, I mean, the girl lives on a liquid diet of Gin & tonic, I'm sure she has seen ice before!



"yes, its ice" I say,



Carmen "Oh my god jeni, we are gonna die"



I guess they don't get much ice in Grenada.



Happy knitting xx xx



Wednesday 14 November 2007

Today is a serious dyeing day.

Sometimes when I am tired or stressed, I find it really hard to really get stuck into dyeing, but to be honest, it really is my favorite thing to do, and what I love even more is when I get completely obsessed with either a yarn or a new colourway. And today I have the luxury of having both!!! I have a new colour called Iris, its based on  set of Chinese paintings which I am totally in love with (yes I know I am supposed to be doing autumn ones) I had an email about the show I went to where I saw the paintings yesterday, and it got me dreaming of them, so bright and intense with different greens and deep purples, and I was bursting to paint yarn in it today. Then I wound some hanks off of a cone I have of a new yarn (a high twist superwash sock yarn), I just had to see how it dyed, and then I started dyeing, and more and more and more, I had so much fun, that I was starving and had to have chip butties for mid afternoon snacks to celebrate. I've basically done the colourway in all my yarns, so there may be a slight theme on Fridays update, lol. I'll try and post a pic later because I have some already drying because I want to knit it so much.



I also want to post a pic of Carmen untangling a ball of silk, yesterday she was meant to be winding it into a ball, and it kind of went very very wrong, and I told her I could dye more, but she decided it was a personal challenge, she's still going and she won't stop!!



Its been a bit weird in the house, because I've been megga busy giving up work, Carmen has been stressing about getting a job, and sole has been finishing her PhD so its not been our usual party house, minimal alcohol, which my liver is actually thanking me for, I was a little worried that perhaps we would not all have as much fun as we usually do. But I am starting to settle in to my new life with no problems at all, Sole handed her PhD in, and got the all OK yesterday, and today Carmen got a phone call to say she now has a job in Benetton, and she is running around the House screaming with happiness, and planning a dinner, and tomorrow we will have a party to celebrate, so things are starting to shift up a gear, and the house is becoming crazy and fun again, even yesterday we had a huge pack of food arrive from Poland, with the most delicious sausage, which you have with a type of horseradish with apple, its amazing, just amazing. I will take some pics of them all so you can see their lovely gorgeous faces.



Right off to go and get more yarn dyed before the light goes.



Happy knitting people.



xxxx



Tuesday 13 November 2007

So I kind of lied.

Remember I said that was it for the shows until February? I was telling the truth at that particular moment, but now, not quite sure how it happened, but I agreed to do Harrogate, gulp! Its probably the most time I have ever had to prepare for a show, at least though I am getting used to what sells, so I have alot of work to do. But I am determined to have a really good shop update this week if it kills me!!! I have been redoing some of my photo's because they don't demonstrate my yarns properly, especially the space dyed ones, although this winter light is not making it easy to get bright photo's.



OK, whats new? I have a new range of Blue faced Leicester solids to add to the fyberspates collection, the colours are quite deep and rich, mainly because I hate pastels in the winter because we need warming up with strong colours, there are nine cherry red, olive, chocolate, caramel, black, cream, spring green, deep purple, and teal showed here:



Update_130



The kimono aran pattern is designed by Katherine from K1 yarns for the aran, and there will also be some designs in magazines featuring this yarn, its soft, warm and delicious to knit with, and seems to go a really long way, and its gorgeous British blue faced Leicester, and £6 per 100gms, can't be bad can it!!!! It is also perfect for felting!



I also got some of the scrumptious in black, I can't get solids very well, so I had some dyed for me in Black, and its just pure heaven!



Update_131



Its all knit knit knit in this house, Sole is knitting a full winter set completely from space dyed yarn: feather and fan scarf in the squishy in fiesta, it takes about 2 hanks, and she has just cast on with the fiesta dk to make fingerless glove to match and will then probably make a hat in chunky or aran again in fiesta! Its going to look cool! I'll post a pic tomorrow.



Happy knitting. Off to get hair cut spiky finally!!!!!



Monday 12 November 2007

Stitch n'bitch London.

OK, this event was equal to the fun of the one in Rotterdam, it was absolutely fantastic! There was a superb vibe there, a real buzz, I can't wait for next year! I met all the usuals, and hopefully soon there will be random pictures of me with badgers and monkeys on the net. By the way, if you happened to be there and take any photo's of the fashion show, please please send me some, there were two models I have to have photo's off, lol.



I was chuffed because Debbie Stoller bought some scrumptious, can't say I wasn't just a little bit proud lol.



So thats it now until Paris in Feb, I've now got time to work on lots of kits, clubs and regular updates in the shop, and wholesale. If you have a shop near you that you would like to see stocking fyberspates yarns please let me know. Every recommendation that results in an order comes with free yarn as a thank you!



I am so excited about getting stuck in now, just need to sort out the house, THERE IS WOOL EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!



Nearly finished my first glove in my DK cashmere, I'll write the pattern up to go with the yarn. I dyed the yarn to go with my new green coat, as soon as its finished I'll do a proper photo, I haven't decided what to embellish them with yet, it'll either be buttons or flowers.



Friday 9 November 2007

Stitch n'Bitch London event.

OK Guys,



Off to the stitch and bitch london event, I'll be exhibiting tomorrow, so please come and say hello!



I do have my camera ok this time, so I'll take a pic of my ginger hair, LOL, and I didn't have time to get my hair cut today, so its spiky but not as cool as it could be. Apparently I look like an Irish imp now, what ever one of those is!



Have a lovely weekend,



xxxx



Thursday 8 November 2007

Hair again

So I got bored with my new hair, 1. because it's not cool enough, and 2. because the colour has faded, and it looks bland. So I decided to colour it again, with henna this time, because it takes rather well on my hair. I went to Lush and got the cacau maron, because it had red in it, and I wanted something a bit spicy.



I got home, asked carmen if she wanted to dye my hair, gave her the dye, and she burst into laughter.



Me: "what's so funny?"



Carmen: "its cacau maron"



Me: "and......."



Carmen: "Jeni, do you know what it means in Spanish?"



Me: "No!"



Carmen "It means S**t brown"



I, like the previous time should have taken a hint from this, if Carmen finds it hilarious then its probably going to be a disaster.



So we slapped it on, wrapped it in clean film, and forgot about it. I then went to have a shower, and washed my hair. Henna is not a good thing to wash out in the shower if your shower gets blocked and you end up standing in your shower water, let me just say one thing "cacau maron shower water" lol.



So anyway I washed it out, dried it and then looked in the mirror, I'm generally pasty to say the least, but I was staring, not at my mother this time, but an Andy Warhol Picture, white face and orange hair. Yep, seriously orange, the colour is stunning, rich orange bright hair, but my goodness I look odd with such a pasty face. And Carmen's comment, was "well you don't look ugly"!



Anyway I am going to have it cut tomorrow, in a seriously short cut, because I am bored with my classic hair style, that can wait till I'm 40, I need a spikey princi cut asap, not sure whether to tone down the orange though or keep it...........?



Plus I have no stock for Saturday stitch and bitch day, so I am mildly panicking, not to worry though, I am sure I'll rise to the occasion.



Wednesday 7 November 2007

Out on the road.

I am off to visit shop a shop in Hereford today with an order, one of my favourite things to do, I would go mad if I stayed at home all the time, I love the dyeing but I have to mix it with some traveling, and communicating with my customers. Not only that I would get into lazy habits being at home all the time. but before that I have yarn to dye, and get drying, and a pattern book to prepare for my customer. Oh and add a couple of things to the website, I am so low on stock its shocking!



Right so here are some pics of the gorgeous spindles I am now stocking from Sublime spindles, I am chuffed to bits with these, I have been looking for spindles to sell for an age, and here are a couple. They are prices at £19.99 inc VAT



Update_096



This is a beautiful bottom whorl silk weight spindle made of Ash, and comes complete with bowl. Its so cute, I am desperate to have a go with these.



The next is more suited for wool and is made of walnut, GORGEOUS GORGEOUS GORGEOUS.



Update_098



Right, had better get working. Thanks for the links by the way to the Nauni stuff and especially Emma who pointed me to a blog of Ruth whose work with these yarns is exquisite.



Tuesday 6 November 2007

Stitch n'Bitch Rotterdam was cool!

Well, I had such a fantastic time, and now have two new wholesale accounts, the feedback on my yarns was really good, so I was happy. Everyone organising the show, and participating was so wonderful, they were such a lovely bunch of people. And the knitters are serious knitters! Some of the colour work I saw was unbelievable, there was one in particular which blew me away, I even bought some yarn from them so I could have a go, nothing has ever inspired me to do fair-aisle before, but I was itching to start, I just need to find a chart. The wool is rough as hell though, so I will make a cushion I think its a good place to start. The company name is KAUNI the website doesn't demonstrate the yarns very well, and I need to try and find some pictures of the jumpers people have made with the self striping yarns to show you. If any one has links or pics from Holland, please let me know, I'd love to link to them.



Here are the cones:



Update_095



Update_094



The main reason I was so excited was because Elly and I worked on some patterns using solid back grounds with self striping yarn, which were fab, and we are still working on more, and it was kind of a similar idea, apart from the back ground and the pattern is both self striping in these.



Anyway, Mr Bluefaced Leicester came with me, because he was meant to have a stand as well, and wanted to see some customers there too, so it was nice to have a wooly partner in crime to help me. We certainly had a few adventures, one in particular made me laugh, we were wandering looking for somewhere to have dinner on Saturday night, and there were a load of armed police running up and down the road, not exactly sure what they were looking for, but we dived into a Thai restaurant, the whole restaurant turned around, and looked horrified, and someone even asked us if they were looking for us!! We just laughed, then they started taking the P**s out of us for being typically English and  being under dressed for the cold weather, thats the first time I have been subjected to a British stereotype, I was completely embarrassed! (my job in psychology was investigating stereotypes and attitudes and racism, so I'm slightly fascinated with peoples perceptions of other nationality's).



I couldn't seem to figure out what the sort of national dish was, although I realized that ham and smoked cheese figures heavily in the cuisine, thanks so much for the food suggestions, unfortunately I didn't get much chance to investigate the traditional aspect further, although we went to the bazarr, which was a fabulous place, thanks for that recommendation.



All in all it was a great trip, but I am glad to be back ready to focus on being full time and having some balance back in my life. I haven;t had a guilt free weekend off for over a year, so after next weekend which is the stitch and bitch event in London, I am having a proper weekend off of work, I am going to eat, knit, go shopping and just chill the hell out.



I am also now going on a health kick because my body is starting to struggle, my skin is crap, so I am going to eat lots of soups, vitamins, water, herb teas, early nights, and start going running, and start yoga, its something I have been meaning to do it for years, so now is the time to start looking after myself. Yippee!!!!!



Oh and I have some new yummy scrummy yarns, I will update the shop slowly this week but first thing I will do, is put the new gorgeous wooden spindles on the website this afternoon.



Right, Happy knitting guys.



xxx



Thursday 1 November 2007

Stitch n'bitch Rotterdam!

So guess where I am  going tomorrow?



Yep, you guessed it, Rotterdam, for their stitch n'bitch day. I get the ferry tomorrow morning with my little van, I am so flippin excited!!!!



I didn't quite finish work yesterday, even though I stayed until 9.00 in the end!! Anyway, I have alot of dyeing to do, and now that takes precedence, and I'll have to pop in later on today to finish off, once my dyeing is done.



Oh I can't wait to go tomorrow, I promise I will take tonnes of photo's!! Does anyone have any suggestions for places to eat in Rotterdam, and what is traditional dutch food, so I can try some!!!!!!



Ps, have some gorgeous hand made wooden spindles, they are scrummmmmmmy. I'll take them to rotterdam, and then they'll be in the shop on monday, I want to keep them alllllllllllllllllllllll.





Tuesday 30 October 2007

You know you are nearly 30 when

STILL AT WORK. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr so to distract me, I am being silly about some observations I have been making in the last couple of weeks.



You know you are nearly 30 when:



1. You honk your van horn and wag your finger at big scary men for dropping litter/fag butts out of their vans.



2. You look in the mirror and scream because you are looking at your mother.



3. Every small child you see makes you go completely stupid and broody.



3. Continuing in the theme of babies, you imagine your designs made in matching mini size.



4. You refuse a glass of wine because it means you won't be able to do your work so well the next day.



5. You are coveting that £160 luxury tagine you saw in the christmas present suggestion section in the sainsbury's magazine.



6. You set aside a savings pot for the tagine.



7. You turn the heating off and make your lodgers wear jumpers so you can save money to afford the fricken tagine.



8. MOVE AWAY FROM THE TAGINE!!!!!!!!!



9. The toffee from your toffee apple melting down your dashboard makes you take a big bucket of hot water and you end up washing the wholevan.



10. You sound like your mother.



11. You loose your inhibitions and tell people exactly what you think and don't guilty.



12. You wear things which are much more riske than when you were 20, because that day when you look perfect to wear that dress will never come in your head, and you'll be nearly dead and realise you should have just worn it anyway.



13. You start to realise that time goes so fast, thats its pointless wasting your time on things that are not good for you, and that wasting one drop of time doing something which you don't want to do seems like sacrilidge.



14. Did I say I look like my mum? lol.



15. Policeman really really do look like children.



16. A 28 year old bloke is too young to go out with!!!!!



17. You feel like a mother to the postgraduate students.



I think thats enough don't you?



 



Monday 29 October 2007

Wednesday 24 October 2007

Experiment

As some of you know I am a psychology researcher as well as fyberspates queen, well not too be researcher much longer, just 4 days left, but anyway the last part of the project I am working on involves an online study. I will not be analysing the data, but I promised my bosses that the lovely knitters that read my blog would help me get us the numbers we need to do the research, as its difficult to get participants from the UK; (you can still do it if you from elsewhere though). Its not knitting related but in aid of a very worthy cause ( I can't tell you what, you have to wait until the debreif), it will only take you about 10  - 15 minutes.



So I want a nice mixed sample. Its all anonymous as well, so if you have a little bit of spare time, please can you help?



Click here for the Experiment



Thanks



xxx



Tuesday 23 October 2007

Sock Machine.

So cherubs what do I have for you today huh?



Well, firstly something very gorgeous and wonderful arrived today..........this:



Update_092



Its going to take a little while to get a pair of proper socks out of it, its going to take alot of practice, however I do understant how to start, make a heel and do toe, not bad for a 2 hour lesson huh? Its gorgeous, and I am chuffed to bits to have it. The main reason I wante it apart from a selfish desire for socks, is I want to knit samples of my colour range, people often want to know what the colours knit up like, so now I can!!!! Yipeeeeeeee.



I also have some brooches to put up on the shop, they all vary in size and weight so remember to click on the photo's for details of them, I am so in love with this little sheep!



Update_033 



Ok, I am trialing a new yarn, its 80% merino and 20% bamoo, bamboo is good for socks because it is antifungal, he he, I might see if I can whip some up on the old sock machine before the week is out, I think its higly in likely though heres some in the shop:



Bamboo



and finally, I dyed some little fibre treats for the shop, sigh, I so don't want to sell these, they are gorgeous!



Update_024 



Monday 22 October 2007

colour inspiration

So, I am edging towards being able to run my business properly with organisation, lol, something I am desperate for, and it involves applying proper research and development to everything I do. I am a researcher after all!



So yesterday I decided to go and spend the day working on some colours, not in the workshop, but in the countryside, I have about 200 photo's of trees and leaves and mushrooms, from one of my favourite places in the UK. Its called Westonbirt Arboretum its such a beautiful place all year around, but in the Autumn its just mind blowing, the colours are stunning, and they will be new yarns colourways in the next couple of weeks, here are some:



Westonbirt_008_2



Westonbirt_013_2



Westonbirt_004



Westonbirt_020



Westonbirt_031_2



The weekend, was fab, we had a polish theme for eating, Marcin cooked us some yummy dishes. After the day dyeing wool on sat, I came in completely freezing to some wonderful polish sausage soup, which was kind of sour, with sausage, eggs, mushrooms and potatoes, I can't remember the name off hand, but it completely contrasted to my idea of a soup, the flavor was amazing! We are lucky living in Cardiff, because there are a few polish food shops, which means we had the proper ingredients. Then Sunday morning we had polish style eggs for breakfast, with sausage (there is a definite theme here), onions and tomatoes, it really was yummy yummy yummy!!! I am very excited, because I am hoping we will go to Krakow for new years, and we can try all sorts of amazing things, lol.



Friday 19 October 2007

Shipping

Ahem! A cherub has bought it to my attention that the shipping in my shop is a little steep, I appologise, I just checked it and its a little out of kilter, mainly because I've been adding extra shipping zones and its messed all the table rates up, apologies, it will be fixed in the next couple of hours, I had wondered why all my orders were only from Australia and south Africa, lol.  Anyway you can shop in the knowledge that it will be at the normal postage rates for royal mail by lunchtime.



*gets php manual out, and a huge cup of coffee to keep me awake*



(PS, I love feedback, so if you ever experience a prob with the shop, please let me know, I'm not a scary person honest, mwahahahahhahahaha)



(PPS All sock clubs have gone today, 3 month and 6 month subscriptions, I deliberately avoided the postal backlog because I lost so much money on lost packages in the last one)



*added later* ok, all the shipping seems to have been corrected, prices are back to normal and in accordance with royal mail, and now I have correct shipping to the uk, europe and every blinking country you can think of, even greenland!



Thursday 18 October 2007

1 week left to go - gulp.

OK, so its 1 week left to go before it's 'el quitos la workos', yeah well, I noticed that if you add 'os' to the end of the words and put them the wrong way round, sometimes sole can understand me, lol, well, she laughs at least, he he.



I had a meeting with my bosses yesterday, and we worked out where I wanted to go for a dinner to say goodbye, I felt mildly anxious, I am going to miss it alot, well, the social side of it anyway, its the only place I have ever had a proper job, I went straight from my degree into working as a research assistant in 2001, I now feel like I completely know what I am doing, ironic really, I always feel its time to change when my boundaries are not stretched any more, but I'm going from at least knowing my wages just cover my mortgage (little tip here, don't buy a house with your husband and then get divorced when you move in, and take the house on on your own, its a little scary) I actually have no idea how I have done it, I mean how do you survive when after mortgage and bills, your wages leave you with £7 a week for food?, and trust me I have a good lifestyle as you probably know from the crap that I write, lol. So its even more scary when those wages won't be there any more, but I'm not scared, just excited, very calm and know that if I've managed to build the business up till now whilst having a full time job, when I can focus on it properly I will build an empire (mwa hahahahahahahha,  little finger on mouth like doctor evil).



So, the one of the most popular things on my stand at ally pally was my shrug I made in Italy,



Allypally_022



its cute, really easy, and perfect for adding your own little embellishments, and use all sorts from your stash. I intend to make some more and pop beads on them and things, but for now you can buy the kits in two colours: black and white, there will be some more coloured ones in a little while, I need to do some dyeing, I virtually sold out at ally pally, and I have a tonne of wholesale orders, in addition I have the stitch and bitch show in Rotterdam, gulp, and then the stitch and bitch show in London in the next 4 weeks, lol.



Tuesday 16 October 2007

Alexandra Palace knitting and stitching show 2007.

What can I say? It was amazing! I had so much wonderful fun, chatting to such lovely people, I never ever get tired of chatting away to customers, seeing their wonderful projects, and just enjoying their pleasure at being in such an inspiring place. The knitting and stitching show is just magical, you drive up to the show amongst the beautiful autumn trees, and potential of all the beautiful yarns and projects, its just perfect. Thankfully I was feeling autumny in my last dyeing session so there was a tonne of autumny colours.



I met so many people, I would love  to list them all, but I'll be here for ages. The other thing I love is the friendships between stall holders, ever though many of us are sort of competitors, it never feels that way, we chat, help each other and do lots of lovely swapsies!! he he. Oh by the way, just wanted to say thanks to my little helper, you were a star, especially looking after me so well!!!!



OK, so you wanted to see my hair so I'll show you with a pic of my stand, which I have to say was unbelievably tiny, people were fighting to get in, so I'll have a bigger one next time, lol.



Allypally_008



I changed my stand around about 4 thousand times, I think this was the first way around, lol. Lots of people didn't recognise me which was hilarious, I do look a little different, I need to change my photo on my blog now!



I did accidently make a couple of purchases, especially when I saw that cherry tree hill had 20% off on the last day, I bought a skein of sock yarn in colours I wouldn't normally go for, I need to challenge my knitting with different colours:



Allypally_017



Then I went to check out Socktopus and accidently purchased a scrummy skein of fleece artist, totally in my fav colours, I had to start it immediately:



Allypally_016



OK, so what else do I have for you today?



Well, shop will be updated again later with all the treats, plus we have a tonne of new brooches, some of which I don't think will get in the shop, seeing as Carmen is trying them all on with her outfits!



Oh I have to post this photo, when we were getting all the stock ready we had rather alot of wool everywhere, Guapita decided that she had to find somewhere safe to sit seeing as there was no carpet, and she might get packed in a box!



Allypally_001_2



Tuesday 9 October 2007

Purple hair

Last year at Ally pally, I was chatting to Lucy Neatby and she grinned at my blonde white hair, and said, 'thats just a blank canvas waiting to happen' to which I laughed and felt mildly anxious.



I went to get my hair but last week, I had all of it cut off, it was driving me nuts, and getting way too scruffy, as I had let alot of dark roots coming though, I ended up with badger hair after it was cut, and I decided I needed to switch colours and go for a totally new look, so Tristan, my cutsie hairdresser told me to put a red colour on the blonde, and then go over it in a dark brown colour, otherwise the brown will go badly on my bleached bits, and it would look crap. So carmen decided to dye my hair, we got the red on the bleached bits, and after about 5 minutes, she started looking nervous, "what's up" I said.



"Um nothing"......and then she shouted, "jeni, its purple" and she wasn't joking, it came out the same plum as I use in alot of my sock yarns, and having over dyed my yarns to achieve different effects I wasn't panicking yet, so anyway we popped the brown on top, and it looks great, but there is definately a hint of purple in there big time. Its a major contrast though, and when I went shopping for some new clothes at first I hated it, because it looked crap with everything, then I relaxed and pretended I was choosing colours for yarn, and it was then that I fell in love with my hair, lots of reds and greens, really complimented my eyes and skin tones, you'll see it at allypally anyway.





Wednesday 3 October 2007

Blah blah blah.

Thanks for all the comments left, I really appreciate it, I keep hearing so many stories of people being screwed by the banks at the moment, I am going to fight it all the way. I'm am not going to let it worry me though, its all part and parcel of having a business, its a huge learning curve, and my goodness am I becoming tough, I had no idea at the beginning of this journey just how much I would grow. I can honestly say though that I would not recommend starting a business just anyone, it is seriously stressful, but I think I have the temperament for it, lol!



Right, I have about a thousand things to talk about, ally pally, new yarns, cashmere, sock machines so I will do it in little paragraphs, cause I am loosing the plot, and it won't make sense.



Ally-pally.



I'll be there, damn I need to find my stand number, please come and see me, and say hello!! I am offering 10% off to blog readers, just tell me the password 'sock machine' and you can have 10% off your purchases!! Yippee!!!!!



New yarns



OK so, I have a new range of solid arans, they are gorgeous deep colours and are perfect for felting projects, they also compliment the space dyed arans, so you can mix and match solids and multi coloreds. Pics later.



I am also getting some solids in the scrumptious, which will be the same as the solid arans, they haven't arrived yet, apart from the black one, its gorgeous!!! I will have them all at ally-pally, then they will be on the website after that.



Cashmere



The British spun cashmere has arrived, its lovely stuff,  there is a sock weight and a lace weight, I intend to dye most most of it for ally-pally, it will retail at £20 per 100gms, so you need to let me know if you want any in specific colours asap, or just put some aside, which ever is fine, it takes a little while to get more.



Sock machine



I pick my sock machine up on Monday, and have lessons, which means, yes, it will be at ally-pally, and hopefully I will be able to show you, fingers crossed, I am so excited, I am desperate to see how some of my colours knit up, and I would like some fricken socks, for meeeeeeeeeee!



I am so busy at the moment, I feel a little screwy, I felt like I was going to have a major cold yesterday, so I went for a little reflexology, seeing as it would be very very bad if I was ill at the moment, and it worked a treat, I feel mcuh better. Psychology work is probably the busiest it has ever been due to the project ending, so we are working like mad to finish everything, I might need your help soon for one of my experiments, it will be on the Internet, and I need participants desperately for the last one, I'll post details when its up, it'll only take 10 minutes.



In addition wholesale orders are also coming in thick and fast, I have to say though that my wonderful lodgers are pitching in to help me, helping with dyeing, fixing my winders, and making up wholesale packs, labelling yarn, cooking me the most wonderful food I have ever eaten, and putting up with the chaos, they are all wonderful, I am very blessed to have them around.



I'm so busy that my Kirk Geiger boots and my skinny jeans are still in the bag, I haven't even had chance to wear them yet!! Thats unheard of for me, I haven't had my hair cut yet, but Friday is the day, and I'm afraid its all coming off, in a serious way, I hate looking messy, and I am going for a major chop, I need to wake up in the morning and look the same as I went to bed, especially seeing as I have a house of boys, I hate getting up and putting a woolly hat on to control my hair so I don't look like a numpty with sticking up hair, come to think of I probably do anyway with a woolly have on, lol. So the hair cut is booked in for Friday lunchtime, man I can't wait to get rid of it.



OK, off to carry on, I am so excited about next week,



see you guys soon!!!!



xx



Monday 1 October 2007

Banks are *&%**&^$*&*&$

OK, today I have to write a serious post about banks, mainly because I need to let a few of my customers know about a problem I have had.



This only applies to customers who payed by card at wonderwool and woolfest.



OK, so most of you know that I always accept cards at shows, often I use the proper electronic terminal which is fine, it all goes through electronically, and its all done and dusted.



Sometimes, when there is no electric, I use the manual machine for backup, this again, should not cause any problems, I take the banking slips to the bank not my bank, but the one I have to use, and then they pay me the money for the slips, and then take the money from my customers account.



Most of the shows I have done in the past nine months, I used the back up because generally there is no electric, like wonderwool and woolfest. In march when I was in Paris, I phoned the merchant company, quoted my account number etc, and asked if it was OK to take cards from other countries, yep, they said, no probs at all!! Great!!



I kept on using it for wonderwool and woolfest, the bank paid me for the slips, all OK I thought.



About 6 weeks ago, I get a phone call from the bank, telling me that they cannot process the cheques. I went to see them, they kindly told me that my merchant account had been closed last December. I laughed, and said don't be silly, I have been using my manual card machine for 9 months, and they never notified me that my account was closed, I even phone them in march, and they never said a thing!!!!!



They shrugged and told me I have to pay them back all the money and if I open a new account they can claim the money back from the customers, and then they will refund it again. At which point I nearly started crying, basically because some of them are from Feb and march, which is 1. give my business a bad reputation, and secondly the slips are over 6 months old so they are not valid. "Oh, well, you'll just have to pay us the money back then" I nearly had a panic attack, cause it amounts to thousands of pounds, it could seriously affect me being able to carry on with the business, especially wth giving up work in the next 4 weeks, and no more wages, but I am a hard arssed momma when it comes to stuff like this so, there is no way I am going to let a bank affect it, they can go to hell.



Anyway we agreed in the end that I would open a new merchant account, and then the slips that were valid could be processed, I wasn't so worried because they were from woolfest and wonderwool, which at the time wasn't so long ago, and then I would have to pay them back for all the other shows, which I decided I am not going to pay until I have had legal advice, however, the shocking thing is, they know how improtant it is to process the slips quickly, and guess what? I'm still waiting for them to process the slips for wonderwool and woolfest, still now, after all this time! Which means that more of them will be invalid, and the people that paid at the shows are going to be confused about money coming out of their accounts so late. I am pulling my hair out, and now I am going make a massive complaint to the bank, because they failed to notify me that my merchant account was closed, failed to contact me for nine months, and not telling me when I phoned up that my account was closed.



I can't contact the customers directly that paid by card at wonderwool and woolfest because I don't have their information, I just hope that the handful of customers it affects read this, its not allot, and the average transaction is low but still, I am so upset about this and very sorry. Please contact me if you are worried at all about this on FyberspatesATbtinternetDOTcom



It will not affect any future card processing transactions at shows like ally pally, because I will only use the electronic terminal from now on, and check before every show that my account is open.



Yours, a very stressed and p******d off Jen.



Monday 24 September 2007

Alexandra palace knitting and stitching 2007

Right people, My last dyeing days for the next few weeks will be this weekend, so I want to know what you would like to see on my stand at allypally (alexandra palace knitting and stitching show in october), you have the choice of the following, please emial me if you want anything special, but let me know what colours, and what kind of yarns you are planning on, here is a list to give you some ideas, oh and is anyone interested in fibres for allypally?



Sock:



Alpaca,



Bluefaced leicester with nylon (to dye for)



alpaca merino (again to dye for)



merino tencel (yummy)



cashmere (hopefully)



Lace



Lace mohair in small or big hanks,



lace silk and



lace bfl.



dk



scrumptious,



superfine merino (superwash)



Aran;



Solids, (lots of new colours coming) and space dyed.



Chunky:



Squishy and chunky wool.



Emial me fyberspatesATbtinternetDOTcom if you want any custom orders to pick up at the show, asap!!!!



Sunday 23 September 2007

Messy paradise, vicuna and shopping.

Thanks for the comments princi's!!!



AHH, its 12.38am and I'm still working, still, its helped with vino and nice food, lol.



OK so those of you who are spinners, may or may not subscribe to spin off magazine, it is my favourite magazine of all time, mainly because of its lack of prescriptivness, and fabulous articles, most of the designs are not to my taste, but they leave me feeling inspired and excited, anyway my point, sorry! So I read about all the fibres, and I remember one particular time when I read about Vicuna, I read it and I wanted some, and ever since I have been on the look out for some. Recently, I have learnt alot more about why it is so expensive (starts at about £100 for 100gms), mainly because it is an endangered species, meaning you need a government certificate to export it and import it, and it has a fibre micron of about 12.5, really good cashmere has a micron of about 14, so you can imagine how yummy it would be.



A certain person (thanks cherub, huge hugs) managed to get me a sample, a real sample, (and a legal one I might add) lol, probably because I have been pestering him for a very long time for it, its probably not enough to make anything with, well, perhaps it is, the fibres are so flippin short, I think I need a new spinning wheel to spin it on!!!! Anyway, its by the table by my bed, I just can't stop touching it, it'll be felted by the time I come to do anything with it! he he. Its been giving me lots of ideas for new products, more about which I will divulge in the week, once I have worked out prices, I also have lots of other cool stuff to tell you, but I need to spread it out, he he.



Anyway onto house life; I live with girls, I'm not that used to being around girls, I am usually surrounded by men, anyway, I'm loving it, guess what I did this afternoon? I went shopping, and did some serious shopping, it was wonderful, I needed it so much, I was feeling like I never stopped working, so I needed a little retail therapy. I don't think I have been shopping with girls for years, anyway I now have kirk Geiger boots, skinny jeans, and a cute knitted stretch dress, I just need to get my hair chopped off, and I'll be ready for ally pally.



OK nite nite people, signing off from my slightly messy, but happy warm house.



 



Wednesday 19 September 2007

Hola princesa y principe!!!! (that took ages, phew!)

OK, so I  am having way to much fun, but more on that later.



I span up a load of blf/silk up quite roughly, with the idea of making my self striping cardigan, remember me telling you?



here is the progress so far:



12_sep_07  The singles are really lively, but it looks fabulous, and has such a gorgeous shine that contrasts with the rough spinning, and looks fabulous. I have some stripy blue as you can see above and then some green, I might add some turquoise I did inbetween, its growing so quick because we have so much chatting time, lol.



So about 5 years ago, I used to work in the museum shop in Cardiff, I loved it, mainly because I used to get to read books about artists. There was one which stuck in my mind, I wish I could remember their names now, but basically it was about a couple of artists ( I think it was two blokes, but I can't remember) that shared a big old house in the welsh country side, their house was messy and they always had friends to stay, with lots of parties and dinners, the friends would come and go, and I remember thinking I wish my life was like that, instead of the boring routine I was subjected to, if you know me, you will know, I don't do routine, lol. Anyway, Carmenthita today declared my house as a paradise, full of wool, knitting and craft books, and endless inspiration, Sophie also loves my huge book shelf of cooking books, and we are having the most wonderful dinners, every night we take it in turns to cook, we start cooking about 9pm, the wine comes out, the music on, and endless chatter about languages, cooking, knitting and the world, we never go to bed before 12.30, there is too much to say!!!!!  This for me is heaven, the house is so full of life, and its messy; as soon as one huge order goes out, another one is being prepared, so its just a little eclectic and happy, everyone is knitting, they are learning about everything wooly, I am living my dream, I am so looking forward to sole coming too.



The only thing I am missing is the fact that my house is in the middle of Cardiff and not in the country, but with my garden,....... well, you'd never know!!



Monday 17 September 2007

just popped into say.......

have van, have v large bruise about 5 inches in diameter, had a lovely weekend at Voirreys, and spun a tonne and have started on hand dyed, hand spun tank (notice its gone from cardigan to tank, lol!)



back later with pics of everything!!!!



hehe.



xx



Wednesday 12 September 2007

A date with a shop!

Yippee, been a little while since we had a nice shop update, there are alot of fibres today merino tencel blends, alpaca, merino/silk roving's and blue faced Leicester blends. I have dyed some of them with large spaces of colours so that you can spin up a nice self striping yarn, here is my favourite:



12_sep_07_006  I don't normally love pinks but this would make such a pretty yarn. To see them all its best to go directly to the fybers section.



I also dyed some scrumptious, and I am completely in love with these greens check out the dk section for all the colours:



12_sep_07_029



There is sock yarn too, Phew!!



PS got price for van!!!! Fell down the loft ladder stairs and got a million bruises, but more importantly did it with my laptop in one hand, suffice to say its gonna have to go get fixed again :-( , on the bright side, I pick up my van tomorrow!!! Yippee!!!



PPS getting some more broaches with sheep, and a little snail!