Wool and Craft Fair at Coldharbour Mill

We had a fab time today... Thank you so much to everyone who came out on such a beautiful day.

I'm planning a new podcast and in that I hope to cover the fair in more detail... Not forgetting Fibre-East and the fleece day at the beginning of the month. I'll let you know when it's published.

Have a lovely weekend,
Sara x
Www.sarastexturecrafts.com

Spinning Dark Chocolate makes me want to eat Chocolate!

Taken at www.sarastexturecrafts.com

www.SarasTextureCrafts.com checkout issues

Sorry for anyone who experience issues with payment over the last week, all the issues have been resolved now and new checkout features have been added to make the process of payment easier.

If you have any problems at all, please email me at info@sarastexturecrafts.com or via the contact form at http://sarastexturecrafts.com/contactus.aspx and give me full details of any issues that you come across.

Thanks for bearing with me,

Sara.

Hand dyeing Falkland in 'Bohemia' for Fibrefest

Taken at www.sarastexturecrafts.com

Customer Photos: Two Crafty Mamas

How adorable, eh?!

Check out Heather's work at http://www.etsy.com/shop/twocraftymamas, the ultimate in cute accessories for new borns... Here is the most recent listing using my fibre http://www.etsy.com/listing/75421970/newborn-little-rockstar-mohawk-hat-gray. I soooooo want one!

Merino wool used is from my range at www.sarastexturecrafts.com

Wool and Craft Fair, July 30th 2011

I shall be there with a small selection of fibres, yarns and kits. I will be deomnstrating spindle spinning, so come and check it out!

Fibre-East 2011 - Saturday

We got set up ok this morning after the perfect bacon bap for breakfast!


I ended up knitting over spindle spinning as I was a bit too hot (nice, bright weather). It took me all day to knit my sample as it was super busy, but it did get done.

We have had a really wonderful day... New show, new friends, new customers... And of course some very welcome familiar faces too. Big, big thank you to everyone who made the journey and came to say 'Hello'. I hope to see you tomorrow.

At the moment my feet are up waiting for the lamb roast to cook! Ahhhhhhh and relax!!

Bye for now,
Sara x
Www.sarastexturecrafts.com

Nearly finished my Fibre-East Stall

Here it is, nearly finished.


As usual I seem to have packed far more than I have space for!

Hope to see you tomorrow...
Bye for now,
Sara x
Www.sarastexturecrafts.com

Tour de Fleece 2011: Update

See the full gallery on Posterous

I was trying to count days against my spun yarn, but to be honest on the run up to Fibre-East I've had less time for spinning. I'm glad I didn't over challenge myself with an amount of finished yardage by the end of the race!

The pictures show the yarns I have had chance to spin, set and wind. Mostly Merino blends, but I did also do a sample skein of Camel and am working on Shetland.

What have you been making?
Sara x
Www.sarastexturecrafts.com

Crediton Courier end June 2011

We had a lovely day at the Farmers market at the beginning of June and was lucky enough to find myself in the paper a few weeks later :)

Don't forget you can find me at www.sarastexturecrafts.com

Customer Photos: Pixie Doodles

1. Kai and Ovi, 2. Rose, 3. Lester, 4. georgie 009

Check out these cute little critters made by Emma at http://www.pixiedoodles.co.uk/, who also makes gifts and accessories to sell on her website and on Folksy.

The wool used is from my range at www.SarasTextureCrafts.com Thank you for sharing them!

Customer Photos: Arlenkern's Needle felt.

1. kingwinter, 2. Pump

Aren't these fab? I love the softness of texture... cute stuff!

You can find more of this lovely work at http://www.flickr.com/photos/44691942@N03/. I also love this cute flower at http://www.flickr.com/photos/44691942@N03/5877676906/in/faves-8477820@N06/

Wool used is from my range at www.SarasTextureCrafts.com

Zwartbles and Massam Fleece

I'm very proud to announce the arrival of some new fleece breeds at www.SarasTexturecrafts.com ... Zwartbles and Massam (which has previously just been in top, or batt form).
Zwartbles can be found here at http://sarastexturecrafts.com/products/4138--zwartbles-fleece.aspx and as you can see without prep just begs to be spun!

If you did choose to prep this you would discard some of the coarser hairs for spinning, but don't remove too much texture as it would be a shame to loose the colour changes.

I think this would also be very good for feltmaking too and if there's any left I intend to make some batts for blended texture.

As it's not a lanolin rich fleece, it won't take much washing so great to try out if you have never washed a fleece before.

Let me know what you think if you try some.

This beautifully lustrous Massam fleece is an award winning fleece I found at a sheep show. Having tracked down the Farmer i realise now that she keeps sheep mostly for fleece production, so I really hope you will like the first of many fleeces from this source.

I shall visit the farm soon, so hope to add a few new breed fleeces to the shop!
You can find the Massam at http://sarastexturecrafts.com/products/4136--massam-fleece.aspx

Sara x
http://www.sarastexturecrafts.com/

Customer Photos: dans mon corbillon

2 broches "Fleurs étranges", 2. "Sautoir Vegetal" Fleurs jaune Orange, 3. sautoir "un jardin extraordinaire"

Wow, these are stunning! Please do check out more at http://www.alittlemarket.com/boutique/dans_mon_corbillon-4234.html Thsi shop I full of such texture and detail... I love it!

Wool used is from my range at www.SarasTextureCrafts.com

Customer's Work: Jewellfelt's creations!

1. folksy 014, 2. folksy 104, 3. iris 1, 4. case

Caroline of http://www.folksy.com/shops/jewellfelt certainly has an eye for texture and great colour combos! I'm really pleased she has shared some of her work with us... my favourite from this lot is the Iris, although I love the idea of filling up that felted bowl with yarn!

Caroline uses wool from my range at www.SarasTextureCrafts.com

A new website at www.SarasTextureCrafts.com

Welcome to the launch of the new website www.SarasTextureCrafts.com!

So what’s new? Well I’m sure you have noticed a few things already, but I thought
it useful to give you a list for you to explore;

• Website layout – there are four new shop categories; Felting Making & Spinning Shop, Knitting & Crochet Shop, Sew & Embellish Shop and finally Weaving & Tapestry Shop. I felt it better to reorganise products into craft areas, so to help you with you projects better. You may of course find that a few items appear in more than one category, depending on their end use.
• Clearer Shopping Cart – My shipping prices are on most pages, as well as its own page http://sarastexturecrafts.com/shippinginfo.aspx this gives you full details of the relevant policy. I have also managed to work better options for overseas customers, so please take some time to read how this may affect your next order.
• Customer Accounts & Club Membership – Customers, who want to join the Club, can now sign up for an account. Each account is password protected and will include; Order history, Reward point scheme, Newsletter options and Exclusive offers and competitions.
  Details can be found at http://sarastexturecrafts.com/conditionsinfo.aspx
• Compare and Wish lists – A new feature to make shopping and final order decision making a little easier. Non-account holders will be able to compare products, but account holders will be able to save their wish list options for future visits.
• General product sharing options via email.
• Product reviews.
• Manufacturer, or Brand filtering – I am in the process of filtering products by manufacturer, or by source so that you have more of an idea about the products origins, especially if you wish to source locally.
• Gift Vouchers – available in the shop this is a new product that I hope will help if you aren’t quite sure what to buy that special someone in your life!

This is a new website, so come in and take a look around. It's been long in the writing and process, but there may still be initial user glitches. If you experience any bugs, glitches, or anything strange, let me know at info@sarastexturecrafts.com

This is the same email you can order through if you have problems at the checkout.

Thank you,

Sara x

Tour de Fleece 2011: Days 3-5

See the full gallery on Posterous

Yesterday I managed to catch up on what I missed. I choose something easy to spin... Merino Silk blends from the shop at www.sarastexturecrafts.com

I also started today's lace weight Shetland, which is coming up lovely. Not sure if I'll get it finished as I'll have to ply it too... But there's always another spindle free for tomorrow!

What's on you to make list today?

Sara x

Hundreds of Merino Balls - 25gs of colour

Oooops I spilled the box... Could walk away, but it's just me here to pick them up. Note to self - needle felt a minion!

Oooo The Temptation!

New books and a new issue of Mollie Makes just arrived!


Tell me... How am I s'posed to get any work done today!

Bye for now,
Sara x
Www.sarastexturecrafts.com

YouTube Video: Spindle Spinning Part 4

Here is the next part of my spindle spinning video tutorials. This one dicusses joining fibres during spinning to extend your yarn. Written by Sara of www.SarasTextureCrafts.com

Tour de Fleece 2011: Day 2

See the full gallery on Posterous

This afternoon I picked up my spindle and started on a new spindle yarn for my Tour de Fleece project.

I spun a 30g batt of Merino, silk and sparkle. I finished it far quicker than I thought I would, so decided to gather some of the commercial blends I sell as back up.

Can't remember if I said yesterday that my intentions were to produce yarn for both commercial stock, sampling and some personal stash. Today's effort will go in my commercial stock, which will form part of a new feature on my show stands (and later in the shop.)

Been nice to get back to my spinning and with my thumb healing nicely I might even manage a second yarn this afternoon!

Hope you are having a lovely Sunday!
Sara x
Www.sarastexturecrafts.com

Tour de Fleece - end of day 1

I'm starting late... But have chosen one of my hand dyed Merino and trilobal (firestar) batts.


Spinning up nicely on my spindle


Hoping to finish it tonight.

Bye for now,
Sara x
Www.sarastexturecrafts.com

Tour de Fleece - Day 1

Day 1 starts at 12pm.


And already I'm naughty, as I'll be starting late as D's taking me on a date to watch Transformers 3. I'll catch up later today, promise!

I'm hoping after knitting yesterday that I'll be able to try spindle spinning... Thumb is looking a lot better today.

I'm in just two groups;
Lantern Rouge - for those who may not spin every day.
Team Social - for those of us who can also be found on social networking sites.

Come and join in... No pressure to spin everyday... Just some fun and hopefully some new friendships.

Www.ravelry.com/groups/tour-de-fleece

Bye for now,
Sara x
Www.sarastexturecrafts.com

Spinning group knitting.

I had a really fab afternoon at the Crediton Spinning Circle. I managed to get some knitting done (my thumb was ok with big needles, although aches a bit), met some new people and shared one of my favourite 'yarn porn' books (Interwined by Lexi Boeger). Of course I managed to write myself a shopping list of other books to buy later too!

It feels like a great start to the weekend... Just a little bit of admin to do and then feet up and a very quiet weekend. Following Doctor's orders never felt like such a good idea!

Have a fab weekend, Sara x
Www.sarastexturecrafts.com

New cast on...

Aha! I managed to cast on a new project even with thumb problems... Thank good I had some super chunky hand dyed yarn to swatch from! These are on size 10mm needles and is one of my new dye experiments.

So if nothing else, I can knit at spinning group today... Although very slowly!

What are you making?

Sara x
Www.sarastexturecrafts.com