Blue Faced Leicester, Wensleydale and Alpaca

Above are some of the fibres I have been enjoying lately - the brown yarn is some handspun alpaca that I am spinning for a customer. The white roving on the left is blue faced leicester (mmm) and the white roving on the right is wensleydale, which I can't wait to see once it is dyed - such long fibres, too. More therapeutic fibres making their way here in the next week or so. I am fascinated by all the different fleece characteristics of different sheep breeds, and other natural fibres as well. Love it!!

Spin and Knit - along

I'm really enjoying checking out the fun progress of the spinners participating in the shawl spin/knit-along on this blog. If you haven't seen it, check it out! For beginner or experienced spinners, doesn't matter...

Knitting and Magazine News

Hi all.

Sahara is finished - photos soon. Yay! Got a wee bit tired/irritated/impatient with the project by the end, or was that just due to the torrential flooding storms that hit Sydney and forced the children inside for DAYS, and the sick little croupy child that has been glued under my arm for the past week, as well as the building renovations going on at our place? Hmmm, not sure. Anyhoo, Sahara is DONE... and straight on to SOCKS (again!!) This is Lorna's Laces Shepherd's Sock yarn in Purple Iris colourway, and I am knitting the Conwy pattern from Nancy Bush's trusty book "Knitting on the Road" - full of super sock patterns. I tried the long-tail thumb cast on which was fun, although my daughter thought I was knitting very "weirdly". According to my Mum I always knit weirdly, as I taught myself to knit and crochet from books as a child, complete with odd yoga-like hand configurations to complete stitches! Nevertheless, the finished product seems to work out OK.

I have recently felt somewhat burnt out so splurged on some sock yarns and patterns that OTHER PEOPLE MADE. Feels very decadent, but therapeutic.

Speaking of burnt out, there will be no June issue of "Spins & Needles" magazine, and probably just newsletters to those on our emailing list, rather than magazines, in the future. As this venture is a one-woman-show, my children have suffered through the enormous amount of time I have needed to spend on the magazine. As the magazine does not produce direct income, I have to reduce that in favour of other writing projects I have been working on. I will try and do some tutorials and articles from time to time, though, as I am keen to promote spinning, as always!

I’m sorry to disappoint our readers, and appreciate the enthusiasm and feedback about the magazines. I’ll still be listing goodies for sale on the website, of course.

Catch you soon,
Wen.