Mammoth Shop and Fyberspates doubles/well kind of tripples actually

OK, TODAYS UPDATE is mammoth, and I really mean mammoth, tonnes of everything. Its going to take a few hours to take the photo's so I guess it'll start in about late morning. I'll update this post as we go too. And there is no rain, no trauma, no wet yarn to stop me today, feeling slightly anxious as its not normally this easy, lol! Think it was all that cleaning, its sort of cleaned my head out as well.....

And the second reason I am bubbling over today, is because Elly (chief Fyberspates Designer and owner of Magpie Eyes Designs) arrives in approximately 72 hours to join Fyberspates HQ, (including me and special invisible secret person, ofcourse). She is coming for quite a  while, well sort of semipermantently, and well I am so excited I can not tell you, it means that finally this little company which has nearly full grow wings will be getting them out and flapping into the huge big world of wool with a bit more force. It will result in a large presence in the the UK market and help with the US one too, and that makes me extremely excited. She is a super worker, amazing designer and a lovely freind who like me loves gin and tonic, and always helps me keep focused and inspired. You will see lots and lots of her, and her new haircut means she is an official fyberspates groupy, even though she will kill me for saying that!! Of course she will be at all the shows with me. How exciting!!! Yipeeeeee!!
See you later.

ok so finished most of the yarns, and some spindles, but there is more to go, Struggling to get the density of the colours with the camera, I need to sit down and read the manual this weekend, the pictures don't do the yarn justice, expecially the greens and golds.

So this week we have the addition of a new yarn, called shimmer, its a fingering weight silk soft as anything, and 400m to 100gms, its gorgeous, completley gorgeous. I decided to stock it because I keep seeing lots of lacey cardi's and camisoles, and really there is nothing better than to knit something so luxurious. There is as always enough yarn in each colour to make a garment, I always dye at least 500gms of each colour in each yarn so that garments are do-able.

Here are some of my favourites in this update:

Shimmer in Marshmallow:

Shimmer in Gold (way more gorgeous in real life)

Shimmer in Plum:

Also loving this new colour (have been messing about alot with Lime recently)

Merino Bamboo Dream sock in Lime flower:

And finally the spindles, everytime I update these, I find more and more gorgeous ones in the box, this though is totally my favourite so far.....Disco.....

So not quite finished yet, as I have more wooden hand turned spindles and niddy noddy's to add, but I need a cuppa first!!!

If you want to see all the new items added to the shop, click here

xxx

Life

Funny how things turn out sometimes. Especially when you decide to look after the people around you more. I can be quite an elusive friend sometimes because I always feel like I don't have time to give to people, but recently I have been changing that alot, and spending time with people and just taking notice of them, and obviously it started with my brother and that was wonderful. Yesterday was weird it took lots of courage because I have a friend who needed help. I wasn't sure how the 'help' was going to happen but it turned out OK, I decided to take action and then really had to have some time to take it in. I was OK, and thanks so much for the lovely comments/emails, I smiled every time they came in, and knew I was getting good vibes, and I really needed them, so thanks.so much :-), the situation couldn't have turned out better, it was exactly what I had chanted for, it will be an ongoing situation,  but I feel like I can contribute to the best of my ability.

So I spent the rest of the afternoon just taking stock of what happened in the morning went to lunch with a dear friend, got home and cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned, and then I watched TV and spun yarn. I haven't had an afternoon/eve like that since I can remember, not for a few years anyway. I even dusted between my radiators, washed the skirting boards, tidies shelves that hadn't been touched since Anth lived here, I suppose it was symbolic of changes, of growing. I'm a bit philosophical today, lol!

So I also decided that I seeing as I always knit my yarns, I would interject them with fun projects too, because it puts a strain on your knitting Mojo to have to knit for work, and so I decided to knit all the gorgeous yarns I have. So this is my 'taking on a car/train/bus project': its just a simple feather and fan in Koigu that I purchased in the USA:

This is hand spun by babylonglegs, if you fancy something yummy and fun, I totally recommend this hand spun, its soft, even, and stripes in the most gorgeous way, I am very very in love with this yarn, she is a truly talented spinner, and a sweetie pie to go with it, I am making a tank top......this is my mindless thing I can knit anywhere:

And yarn closeup:

This yarn inspired me to spin, I managed to fix my wheel, and this is the result, its not great, little bit uneven, but I like it:

Its the scrumptious blend in Leprechaun.
I need to spin the rest up, and then I think I'll make a hat.

And then maybe once these are finished or when I just feel like casting on, here are two of the skeins I got  from the USA, I have 3 Tilly Thomas disco lights (the one on the left) and 2 of the bamboo yarn on the right. I have enough of each for some pretty tank tops. I do have a pattern, but does anyone know of anything really really cute I could make, suggestions would be gratefully received, especially seeing as its not everyday you have 3 skeins of Tillie Thomas, lol.

Eventfulness

Things are a little on the eventful side at the moment, especially today, I am taking the rest of the day off, feeling a bit delicate. So Sock clubs will all go tomorrow, etc, but I won't be answering emials today. Will be back on track tomorrow as normal.
xx

Shop update!!

Its started,

there are fibres, new hand dyed sparkles,  mini hand turned niddy noddy's, spindles, yarn.

yum yum yum

gotta dash off on a buddhust course,

more on monday
xx

Childish humour - names

I am sometimes extremely childish, and sometimes the different meaning of words in different countries makes me howl with laughter.

This will probably only be appreciated by Brits, or people living in the UK.

I just hope that this yarn company, never ever try and sell this yarn in the UK people might wince, hahahahaha

CLICK HERE AND TAKE A LOOK AT THE NAME and weight together of the yarn on the left

New treats.

So I got some treats for you guy's to spin on, oh yes, gorgeous gorgeous treats. And there are lots of them, but they are not easy to photograph so I will upload them into the shop a few everyday. They are Dragoncraft drop spindles, each one is different and unique and hand made. I am absolutely in love with them.....they are perfect for spinning yarn and are really very portable. They are nice weights too each one varies in weight, and they would make perfect presents.......
I will of course bring them to shows etc, but if you see one you like grab it, its the only one of its kind :-)

want to see some?

They are in the new arrivals and the spinning section :-)

xx

Back to the Rainy Isle!

So After we went to Seattle, we journeyd to Portland, and then onto Sheila's. Boy I was so damned happy to get there. And we had a great time, we met her Husband Walter who was so much fun, and the gorgeous dog Teddie, and it was lovely and restful, she has a lovely work area. We worked, ate, and chatted and had so much fun, and we planned world domination for Fyberspates in the US, and so we are starting.....its all really exciting, and will be launching a range next year, which means more travelling, and doing some shows in the USA, but I am becoming a pro at travelling now, so I don't mind, I am about 5% scared, and 95% totally excited. So as long as it stays in that balance I'll be fine, lol.

I had to show you this picture of Teddie, he's the cutest...

 

Well, I was due home on Thursday, which was meant to give me a days rest on friday before I did my dyeing workshop at Getknitted, and then we missed the flight connections in New York, and got stuck there, and seeing as the flight was 10pm at night on thursday, we decided to go and have a shopping trip around new York. There were two places I have always wanted to go in New York, the first is Purl Soho, which is a gorgeous yarn shop, so Gorgeous in fact, that it made me spend money on yarn, I know that sounds a bit bizarre, but I have immense self control normally, but the way this shop was laid out broke my will. I took lots of notes, I can tell you!! I accidently bought enough tilly thomas yarn to make a tank top, and some gorgeous hand dyed bamboo, again enough to make a tank top for autumn, so I need to get knitting, once I have finished my scarf and a little 4 ply cardi I am designing (although sort of can't find it) I will pop pics of all the yarn and books I bought tomorow :-).

The second Place I wanted to visit was Redlipstick, this was the home of the first knitting blog I ever read, and I remember it just blowing my mind, it was the first thing that made me realise that maybe there was a world for me outside of psychology, and to this day remains one of my favourite blogs. So I wanted to visit Stacey and her shop, and I have seen so many pictures on the blog over the last 6 years. So we went, and the shop was superb, just as I had imagined it, and it was so great to meet Stacey too, she was so lovely, I am definately taking more time out to spend with her next time I visit, it would be great fun, I just know it.

So there we go, a little summary of our trip, which is the last one for about 7 months, it will be nice to have entire months at home now, I have travelled approximately 1 week out of 4 in the past six months, which is fine, but now the crazy season is coming up I need to be there and get all my plans into action!

So I am updating the shop with things today because there are actually lots of things I didn't get time to put in the shop before I went, including some totally unique gorgeous resin spindles to add to the spinning section, and fibres and things. Then I will update on Friday as usual.

All orders will get shipped today too, thanks for your patience on those :-)

Oh and new website is being worked on, so I am hoping that will be ready in a week or so, I just need to finish the design and get it hooked up to credit card payments, and we are away, its a zillion times better than the one I have now, and it will have so much more information on it and better layoout.

Ok thats enough

xxx

Am much better :-)

Phew! Feeling much better in the past few days, think that might be because I am at Sheila's, and I am relaxed. Flying doesn't aggree with me, and seeing as we have done 7 flights in the past 4 days its not so good, still, only 4 on the way home :-(.

Anyway I will start with the fun, so we met up with Cascade yarns, and they took us, yep, actually took us to a baseball game with 800 knitters!!! Its called stitch and pitch!! It would be so cool to have something like this at the rugby games in the UK, not football as it would be the wrong atmosphere. Anyway it was so much fun!! Especially seeing as the game is quite long, so lots of knitting time, and there were lots and lots of stands of wool. But, the only thing I bought was some rosewood dpn's. None of the yarn really inpired me, the hand dyed was ok, but it wasn't anything unusual, or different, than we can find in the UK, (we are going to more yarn shops in the next few days though, so I am still hoping to find some special things).

ok, so you want some pics?

ok so where do I start.... before we got into the stadium, there was a market outside of the yarn shops:

Of course there were a few of these:

um can you see the silk garden sock yarn below.....if I see some more I will buy some, and do a blog competition for it.

A baseball...

and my free stitch and pitch teeshirt which I will keep for ever and ever:

Ok, and then for the baseball....

Here is the screen, see if you can read what is says on the top third screen....

(pacific fabrics).

Ok now for the actual baseball.....

And the most important part....the knitters.....

And this lovely lady I was sat next to worked for pacific fabrics, which was sponsoring the event:

It was hard to get good pictures of the knitters, but there were about 800 lol!!

and this was a moose what knitting needles.....what can I say?

And well, I just had to put this one up......

Recognise this sheep oops I mean person......

xxxx

USA

I am sick, have a fever and can't stop being sick, damned aeroplanes, I am sure its the recylcled air, anyway, all I can manage is watching the Waltons on TV, have no idea about what the USA looks like yet, or what the food tastes like :-(

Just want my belly to stop hurting and my temperature to go down.

Hope you are all ok, had a few emials about the clubs, everything went out, I was packing the clubs 2 hours before I left lol, and literally chucked them through the post office door with a wadge of cash, so they should all be with most of you.

This is the last time I am travelling for an entire year, I never ever want to go on another plane ever ever ever. :-(

As long as I am better by the time I get to Sheila's I don't mind, I am so looking foward to meeting her and spening time I don't want it to be spoiled by me being ill. grrrrrrr.
xx

Shop update on Monday afternoon instead.

ok, due to some family stuff, I couldn't update the shop properly over the weekend, but will do it tomorrow afternoon instead.

Funny how you can wake up thinking things are going to be a normal day and then your whole life changes, lol! And its funny how endings mean new beginnings. Lets just say, there might be a new addition to the house of wool pretty soon, and even though its because of the end of something, deep down I am truly excited. Not only that but I am sure you will get to know this new addition really well. So I will say no more for now until I am sure about things.

So obviously I am off to the USA on business on tuesday, GULP! Its my first trip there, I am excited and nervous, I'll be away for the week, so all orders in the shop placed after 11am on tuesday will have to be posted when I get back.

xx

Shop update lol

OK, so the shop update has started but will continue tomorrow morning too, and next weeks shop update will be on tueday as I am flying to the US on wednesday for 7 dys, I will ship things ordered wed onwards when I get back.

I have a few new things in the shop today, like some cute little kitchener stitch dogtags. If you are like me, you take your knitty printouts of kitchener Stitch everywhere, this is a super solution, it has the full printout on an A5 card, plus a little dogtag with the stitch abreviated on it, its total genius!!! You never need to carry a print out again!

Then what is even more cute, and I only have a couple of these to see how they go, if they all sell and you want one, I will order more, just emial me. Its based on the keychain sock blockers, its a mini sock peacock, you may have seen my massive one at shows..... well here is the mini version.....

Ok thats all, have solved drying problem, and will now go and do some dyeing and carry on updating.

have a lovely weekend.
xx