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hand dyed yarn

Dye, spin, weave!

by Kelly 3 Comments

My first 100% hand dyed, hand spun and hand woven item! I’ve been working up to this for a while, practicing my spinning to get a more consistent yarn.

I decided on a “long and skinny” style. It is a plain weave but the interplay of colours makes it appear more complicated than it is. 

I used First Edition fibre to dye and then spin, it’s lovely and soft.

One of my dreams is to do many more of these types of items and be able to sell them. I love the authenticity of making the item from start to finish (OK, I didn’t shear the sheep!) But from my experience as a handmade artisan I seriously doubt that customers would be willing to pay the amount I would need to charge to cover the time invested – many,  many hours. Still, I may just do the occasional piece and make it available for sale. I’d love to do some pieces for exhibition or competition as well.

This was the original yarn.
What’s next? Perhaps a shawl? Phew, that’s going to take a while, I’d better start spinning!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: hand dyed yarn, spinning, weaving

Charity auction Monday

by Kelly 1 Comment


My next charity auction for Mary’s Meals will take place on Monday 21st on my Facebook page. I’m offering these three 100gram skeins of 8ply superwash merino (I think they look fab together!) 

The auction will start on Monday morning and finish up at 8pm. All you have to do is go to my page and bid, there will be a reserve price and you can go from there.

I hope we can raise some money for this beautiful charity!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: charity, hand dyed yarn

Completed cardi and more spinning!

by Kelly 2 Comments

Hooray, the cardigan is finally done! And it’s perfect, there is room to grow and she is just so warm in it. It’s hard to believe this little sweetie is turning 5 on Sunday, can’t I wind back the clock just a little? 

I knit this with my hand dyed 8ply merino. The buttons are from Buttons by Benji, and though it’s hard to see from the photo, they are totally gorgeous. The pattern is “Annie” by Tikki.

On the wheel currently is my “By the shores of Lake Violet” colour way on merino roving. Loving these colours!

And here is an idea of what it looks like randomly spun and plyed. 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: hand dyed wool, hand dyed yarn, Knitting, spinning

Brrr, it’s cold!

by Kelly 2 Comments

Yes, Winter is well and truly here but thankfully I have many activities to keep busy and warm. This is my last handspun skein.

I used my hand dyed “Mixed Berry” roving and employed the fractal spinning technique and it worked out beautifully!

The garden has slowed down but we are harvesting all those lovely winter veg now. Our son and I (so lovely to have a kitchen helper!) cooked up a big pot of garden harvested veggie soup with barley tonight.

And garlic bread made from scratch was the perfect accompaniment.

This is my newest colour way, now in the Etsy shop.

And I dyed some of that gorgeous First Edition roving in the same colour way. This is now on my spinning wheel and looking splendid.
So, Winter isn’t all cold hands and noses, there are many delightful things about it too šŸ™‚
What about you. Cool weather? Or warm?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: hand dyed wool, hand dyed yarn, Recipes and food, spinning

Fibre, glorious fibre!

by Kelly 6 Comments

With Winter in full swing here it’s all about the fibre for me at the moment! I had a go at dyeing roving for the first time. The colours are beautiful (mixed berry I think), but not exactly what I anticipated- there was a lot of residual dye. Some online fibre dyeing friends recommended more vinegar and a longer steaming time. This roving is from Bendigo Woollen Mills.

I’ve since dyed some more roving, applying the recommendations and it seems much better this time. I’ll show you the new roving when it’s dry, we’re not exactly having the best drying weather here of late.

This is the first bobbin spun from the first roving and I think it’s really pretty! I’m trying out a spinning technique called fractal spinning – can’t wait to see the results.

I ordered some roving from First Edition Fibres and got the most beautifully soft and fluffy fibre. I think I will spin some of this in this natural colour as well as dyed, wouldn’t it make a gorgeous baby blanket?

I’m calling this project my “crazy scarf”. I’m using all different bits and pieces of hand dyed and handspun yarn in a somewhat random fashion (similar to the “crazy quilt” technique). Just for fun šŸ™‚
Anything fibre related happening at your place this weekend?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: hand dyed yarn, handspun, spinning, weaving

Gossamer Dreams stocking

by Kelly 3 Comments

I’m very happy to be participating in this month’s Gossamer Dreams.

Here are some sneak peeks of my items for you.

Lots of warm and woolly goodness!

Sunday at 8pm, hope you can make it.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: gossamer dreams, hand dyed yarn

Roald Dahl showcase

by Kelly Leave a Comment

Tomorrow evening on Facebook is the Yarnification showcase. The theme is “Roald Dahl” (great theme!) I have two submissions and there are so many fibre or fibre related items to choose from. Hope you can make it!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: hand dyed yarn

Last day to enter

by Kelly Leave a Comment


Last day to enter the 500 likes celebration giveaway, I’ll be drawing the winner this evening. Good luck!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Giveaways, hand dyed yarn

500 likes giveaway

by Kelly 49 Comments

I’m celebrating 500 likes on my Facebook page!

I’m giving away 2x 100gram skeins of my hand dyed yarn.

You can choose between 4, 8 or 10 ply superwash merino.

And you can choose from any of my existing colourways.

You can view my current colourways here.

To enter, please leave a comment here (not on my Facebook page) telling me the colourway you would choose and what you would do with it if you won.
Entries open for one week, winner will be notified so please ensure I can contact you šŸ™‚

*Open to Australian residents only.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Celebrations, Giveaways, hand dyed yarn

Breaking knitting rules.

by Kelly 5 Comments


I have a golden knitting rule. At least, I did. Now I’ve broken it. The rule was only one knitting project at a time. Then the cooler weather happened and I started to think how I needed to get a move on with my little one’s cardigan considering her old one is too small now.
Project number 1: Annie (pattern by Tikki) cardigan in my “Pink Princess” colourway. 

Then the news of a new niece or nephew mid year came. I immediately thought of the beautiful (and free) pattern by Julia Stanfield, and how I had been longing to have an excuse to knit it. I’m dyeing most of the yarns for this one too.
                                         Project number 2: Western Hills Baby blanket. 


When we went on holidays in early March I was itching to take a relaxing knitting project with me, and I did have that beautiful wool I dyed with madder just sitting there and a crafty friend suggested a scarf, that also happens to be by Julia Stanfield (did I mention that her patterns are fantastic?!)
Project number 3: Fernleaf Scarf

So these will keep me very busy knitting over the next few weeks (months?!) but i have been thinking how much I’d like to knit a cardigan just for me, at least, it wouldn’t hurt to pop over to Ravelry and browse some more patterns…..

Linking up with Natural Suburbia Creative Friday.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: hand dyed yarn, Knitting

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