The Wool Sack Project

I just wanted to give you a bit of info about http://www.woolsack.org/ which is a really fun project we can get involved in;

 

 

Woolsack is part of the Cultural Olympiad. The project enables anyone to contribute to making a cushion from British wool. It is intended that these will be given as a personal welcome gift from the people of Britain to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic athletes.

 

Those participating in the project include schools, colleges, community groups, individuals, craft groups, smallholders, farmers, breed societies, British Wool yarn producers and processors, hand-spinners, dyers, the knitting, crochet and craft press and media.

 

Making these cushions is designed to help people gain craft skills using a sustainable material and also to learn about the production of British Wool, on which the British economy and early industry were originally founded. The project can thus involve a wider range of people, able to be inspired by the 2012 Games, but not all able to participate directly in sports and athletics.

 

We'll be sharing this with the athletes by making personal gifts for them that are beautiful, functional and are a little bit of Britain to take home with them.

 

Please don follow the link to http://www.woolsack.org/ and get involved.

New products, features and Sale coming soon!

I'm back... miss me?

 

I have so much to do after my holiday, a task of which is updates! So what and when can you expect updates? Well here's a list;

 

Products, will arrive daily over the next few weeks;

- new fleeces and hand dyed options

- hand dyed tops and yarns from teh shows

- hand spun yarns from the shows

- limited edition batts

- custom batt options/create your own!

- hand dyed silks and knops

- new sale items!

 

Features (over the next few months) will include;

- purchasing in Euros or US Dollars.

- fibres by colour option completed

 

So please keep coming back to me here at www.SarasTextureCrafts.com

The view of the day

Taken at Dartmouth Fort

Moment of the day... Hello you!

Taken at Dartmoor National Park

Moment of the day... Still coming

Taken at Dartmoor National Park

Moment of the day... Still coming

Taken at Dartmoor National Park

Moment of the day... Here he comes!

Taken at Dartmoor National Park

D enjoying a Venison burger

I made my own handmade soap at Dartington's Cider Press Centre

D found this cool moth in Buckfast Abbey's Lavender Garden

I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of Elderberries!

My Moment of the Day

My Moment of the Day

All ready to set and dry... Then weave!

Taken at www.sarastexturecrafts.com

Colour Trends: Autumn/Winter 2011/12 and Spring 2012

It's that time of year when I start to think about colours, shape and pattern for the new seasons. As an indie dyer and fibre artist these affect the way I approach my work... and it's always interesting to see how they come through to the high street, where most of us buy our clothes.

Normally I don't post this sort of thing on my blog, but as I already started following some local high street, knitwear trends last fall, I thought it might be nice to carry that through to projections for future seasons too.

Today I want to look at some trend information for Autumn/Winter 2011/12 & Spring 2012.

For the images and purposes of this blog post I’m going to refer to information readily available on the web. I will reference each source as we get to it.

Womenswear Autumn/Winter 2011/12 Colour – sourced from www.pantone.com/fall2011

Pantone suggest a cool palate punctuated with rich, luxurious colours.

Shaping and design details on knitwear and wovens fall into a few basic categories;

·         Structure – Interesting pattern or stitch constructions taken to extreme to form interesting structure.

(designer Mark Fast)

·         Lacy vs. chunky knits – From reversed thrum knits to obscure lacy patterning.

(designer Mark Fast)

·         Graphic weave and knits – Using plains against graphic weave structures, there is a play on muted colours vs. bright and bold shades.

(designer Jonathan Suanders)

(designer Christopher Kane)

·         Punctuating Colour – Wearing muted shades with one element of a bright or bold is key this season.

(designer Gucci)

A good source of show information and the above pictures can be found at http://www.fashiontrendsetter.com/content/fashion_shows.html and http://www.firstview.com/index.php and http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/trends/2010-11-autumn-winter/trend-report---autumnwinter-2010-11/gallery

Spring 2012 Colour – predictions from http://www.pantone.com/downloads/support/FCR/PANTONE_FCR_Spring2012.pdf

Over the seasons I will follow these trends and see how they are reflected on the high street and also how I have reflected them in my fibre, tops and yarns.

Keep coming back to www.sarastexturecrafts.blogspot.com for updates.

Sara x

Customer's Photos: Mammoth Woolies, yarn and felted hair falls

Meet Mammouth Wollies, a new dread fall company set up by a customer of mine. The main shop is on Etsy at http://www.etsy.com/shop/mammothwoolies based in London. Each dread fall set is one-of-a-kind and you can also ask about creating a custom order especially for you!

I love this one... http://www.etsy.com/listing/77164767/kinkies-levi-felted-hair-falls-le Look at those crimped ends!

And this one I love for the colours... http://www.etsy.com/listing/75971698/kinkies-roses-violets-felted-hair-falls

If you want you own dreads at reasonable prices, visit the store today.

Love Wool UK: Day 7

Final day... Not much done. Instead here's a photo of the headband I finished yesterday.



I've enjoyed Wool Week overall... I hope you did too.

Next week I'll catch up on some customer focused blog posts and some fashion trend research for the new season... I shall of course concentrate on all things wool related!

Bye for now,
Sara x
Www.sarastexturecrafts.com

Love Wool UK: Day 6

I just finished my headband...


From my Limited Edition Merino blend top range.

I just need to press it and wear it. Loving the colour!

I might pick up my jumper project... See how the mood takes me.

Bye for now,
Sara x
Www.sarastexturecrafts.com

Love Wool UK: Day 5

See the full gallery on Posterous

I didn't make it to the Crediton Spinning Group today, as this morning I woke up with a cold, all stiff and achey... So annoyed... I had been looking forward to seeing everyone after our August break, but I didn't want to pass this on.

So instead I finished work early and settled on the sofa... Needless to say I can't sit still for 5 minutes, so I started to prep my warp threads for the loom project. I have to say I was glad the ball of wool ran out half way through, as the process of warping the frame took it out of me.

I sat down again... Then realised that the yarn I had on the dryer out back was probably dry. So I've just done a few rows of a new headband, made from my Blackberry Bush Limited Edition Merino Blend at www.sarastexturecrafts.com

I'm back at the sofa now waiting to close up shop for the weekend at 5:30... After that I might ask to be nailed down... Otherwise I might get up and fiddle with another project!

What did you do today? Anything crafty?

Sara x
Www.sarastexturecrafts.com

Love Wool UK: Day 4

So late last night I started developing an achy neck... a chill I thought and wrapped up. This morning I woke not really being able to turn my head as far as I'd like. It's very autumnal here and I think the cold has caught me out a little. Now by the end of the day the ache has spread across my shoulders and down my back... (I'm feeling old!)

The upshot of course is little progress to today's wool craft endeavours. Although I did put a final rinse on some more fleece, card some batts for a custom order and do a little hand sewing on my sister's Christmas Angel (still no sneak peeks, just in case she's watching!)

So instead of talking about my woolly efforts, I’m going to link to a couple of interesting blog articles, a local group and some wool industry news;

Shearer’s Girl talks to us about the MOT on her Rams today at http://talesfromthesheepshed.blogspot.com/2011/09/mots-for-rams.html

The independent talks about the wool industry and the Wool week exhibition at http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/ripping-yarns-celebrating-the-rich-heritage-of-wool-2349257.html

Here are some more details on Wool Modern, an exhibition by the Campaign for Wool in London - http://www.campaignforwool.org/woolmodern/

The Craft Hub in Exeter are celebrating an Eat, Knit, Love, wool gathering tomorrow - http://www.wix.com/thecrafthub/exeter#!eat-knit-love-wool

As for me… an easy night I think (no knitting, no spinning), because tomorrow is the Crediton Spinning Circle’s meet up! (http://sarastexturecrafts.com/page/5402-groups-tutors.aspx)

 

What did you get up to today for Wool week?

Sara x

www.sarastexturecrafts.com

Love Wool UK: Day 3

See the full gallery on Posterous

Ok, so day three and I began to ply the Shetland wool. I decided to do this against cotton, because I wanted to preserve the texture of the curl elements in the fleece and make the differences in colour of the fleece stand out. It plied beautifully, so I have one skein ready to set.

I started a new bobbin, but needed a break halfway through... Time to continue needle felting my Sister's Christmas fairy. I have taken some pictures, but I'm not going to post them yet as I know she occasionally catches up with me on-line and I'd like it to be a surprise.

What did you make in wool today?

Sara x
Www.sarastexturecrafts.com

Love Wool UK: Day 2

I was out an appointment for most of the day, so I didn't get any spinning done... Although I did put some more fleece on rinse.


What I did achieve was buying some yarn for the warp of my first loom project... This goes well with my hand dyed Shetland, which I will later spin for the weft thread.


Last night I also started what I call my next 'mindless' knit... Simple stitches, simple jumper. This is using James Brett's marble chunky in a purple/fuchsia marl. It's not wool, which I feel guilty about blogging during Wool week... However, with the weather so gloomy and Autumnal chilled I'm desperate for an easy, machine wash knit. So forgive me!

So not all wool today, but I am finding that I am enjoying Shetland wool in it's various forms this week!

For Shetland fleece, roving and yarns visit me at www.sarastexturecrafts.com I locally source, so fleeces are hand selected direct from Farms I visit and rovings/tops are British milled.

Bye for now,
Sara x
Www.sarastexturecrafts.com

Love Wool UK: Day 1

Here is my first bobbin of Shetland fleece being started... Dubbed the 'Farmer's Daughter's Hat'... im spinning directly from the washed fleece. I left just enough lanolin in it for ease of spinning. I'm also leaving the texture of curls in it. I figure that she will want to recognise her sheep's own fleece and hopefully that will make the hat all the more special.

So far its spinning up well.

What have you been making today?

Sara x
www.sarastexturecrafts.com

Exmoor Fleece Fair, a Loom and late Lunch

Today has been a very busy Saturday...


I got my new Loom! I went for the Ashford 4 shaft, 24" width... As you can see I am one happy Lady!! I just need to put it together now...



I also made it to the Exmoor Fleece Fair... Well we just made it, as we nearly ran out of petrol (oops!) Fortunately a very kind car dealership in Dulverton stayed open an extra few minutes for us (thank you!)

We were a little late to the fair so stocks had been ravaged, but I did find myself two more BFL fleeces full of curls and great for dyeing. These will be in the shop as soon as I've finished them.

D and I did watch the expert spinners having a go at the longest thread challenge... Spindles and flyers spinning furiously! We couldn't stay to the end, but I think it was possibly a very close call between some very fine spinning.

The fleece fair was the idea and hard work of Lesley Prior, of www.DevonFineFibres.co.uk and it is part of her local initiative for the Love Wool UK project this week. It was a fantastic local show... and a great start to the week of wool promotion locally. Also great way to buy fleeces direct from the farmer.

Turn out was good, so my ear is to the ground hoping there is a future event. I definitely recommend it.



By the time we left it was almost two o'clock and bellies were rumbling! We thought we might make it back home, but succumbed to a cute little inn www.the-Exeter-inn.co.uk in Bampton. We definitely recommend the food. I had chilli and garlic infused Rainbow Trout and D tucked into Lamb leg steaks with mint jelly... Mmmm.


On the drive back we came across www.covegardennursery.co.uk a really nice little garden come arts and crafts stop, complete with an artist in residence!

We were taken with Wicked Willow's willow garden...


This is me worried about the black clouds gathering ahead!

What did you get up to today?

Bye for now,
Sara x
Www.sarastexturecrafts.com

Love Wool UK: Prep for Week of British Wool!

A short while ago I mentioned the Love Wool UK event (part of the Campaign for wool. Blog post here.) Since then I have been thinking about what I could do as my main 'play along at home' project... and then I remembered!

On a trip to visit a Farmer for some fleece, he mentioned that he had just one Shetland fleece... would I take a look at it. I did and of course I feel in love with it immediately! He then mentioned that it was his daughter's pet sheep and she'd always wanted a hat from the fleece, but couldn't spin or knit... did I know anyone who'd be able to do it for her? Always a tricky question, as most spinners and knitters I know are knee high in wool stash... so I offered my services, if I could buy the rest of the fleece for the shop. I think he was a bit surprised he'd be able to sell the fleece, as Shetland was not his main breed and after explaining the value I think he was much more relaxed about taking money for it.

Having had such a busy summer I haven't had chance to start on the fleece, but now September arrives I have a little more time to play. I sorted and prepped the fleece for washing a week or so ago and have been washing small, manageable chunks of it... just waiting for it to dry. I love the fact that the sheep had a touch of morrit in her fleece and I think I might play on that in the spinning.

Anyway, that's my plan for the Love Wool UK project 5th to 11th of September. I shall blog as I go.

What are you making?

Sara x

Don’t forget you can buy British fleece, tops and yarn at www.sarastexturecrafts.com

Campaign for Wool - www.campaignforwool.org

Love Wool UK - www.facebook.com/lovewooluk

Customer Photos: Verity Isabelle Baby Gifts

Listing http://www.folksy.com/items/2010497-Crochet-Mystic-Baby-Elf-Hat?shop=yes

http://www.folksy.com/items/2171753-Crochet-Baby-Girl-Mystic-Elf-Hat?shop=yes

Aren't these just the cutest thing ever?! You can find the shop at http://www.folksy.com/shops/VerityIsabelleBabyGifts

These were knitted with some of my Boucle yarn;

I was thrilled to get these pictures... what a wonderful way to use the boucle yarn! Thank you very much for sharing.

Sara x

www.sarastexturecrafts.com