Bathroom curtains finished

I've posted about this project so many times while it's been in progress, but at last I can say that it's finished!

Woven from merino wool / silk, spindle spun. Warp is commercial cottolin, woven on a 4-shaft 32" loom. Pattern is a herringbone twill, the draft is among the photos on Flickr.

More photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/shieladixon/sets/72157631870368704/

Pretty and environmentally-friendly!

Tried a new colour on my hair yesterday. Now that it's shorter I only use half the bottle. What else to do with half a bottle of left-over chemical hair dye but squirt it over a 100g of white merino?

I can feel another shawl coming on!

Needle felted characters round-up

Baby hedgehogs are so cute, and this little fella is so realistic! After seeing him a week or so ago I remembered some of the other lovely needle-felted items I've seen and decided to make a little round-up.

Instructions for the hedgehog are at http://master-klass.livejournal.com/486345.html It's in russian, but should be easy to get an online translation or just follow the photos.

I featured this cute fella in April's Hand Spinning News, no information other than "shetland + suri alpaca made by my daughter". Found on spinalatte's Flickr stream here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43713413@N03/7035702203/in/photostream/

Created by Jen Scheer and found on Etsy, this Hubble Telescope is complete with little astronauts. Unfortunately now gone from Etsy and only the odd photo remains online

Another cat, this one is by Robin Andreae, needle felting artist. She uses her art to make a difference; she sells her work on eBay and donates 20% to animal charities. Her own blog is at http://needlefeltedart.blogspot.com/ and is well worth a good browse; she's made so many beautiful creatures. (from January 2012 HSN)

One I've spotted just this week, this Halloween witch is Carey Brett and is available on Folksy now http://folksy.com/items/3703510-Halloween-Witch-and-her-Magic-Cauldron

These cute and friendly pandas are part of a range of felted wool toys made by woolroommate. She is inspired by nature - birds, animals, flowers and by fairytales. Found on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/woolroommate/4715471872/in/set-72157624186848199

radmegan felt inspired to make one of her childhood heroes (and mine) Kermit. She takes us on a litte needle-felting tutorial: http://radmegan.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/lovers-dreamers-and-muppets.html

This cute ET and other characters made by Ray Cannon were on show at an exhibition a couple of years ago with little word since.

And finally an item from the most recent Hand Spinning News, this lovely bag is part of a round-up of felted bags - all wonderful.

Woolly Wednesday

Thank you to Lydia for letting me know about Woolly Wednesday. On the first Weds of each month, bloggers can join together to share their creative adventures.

As well as the sharing aspect, I thought it might be useful to have a regular look at my current projects. So here goes.

I've two 'active' spinning projects right now, both spinning by drop spindle. My friends will be sick of me posting pictures of this loom which I warped back in April. It's still in progress - partly because of getting distracted by other projects, and partly because... it's just taking a long time. The warp is long,  long enough for two curtains, hems and tabs, but I can see the end of the warp on the back roller now!

Warp is commercial cottolin, weft is merino / silk mix handspun with a spindle and woven as singles.


This next one is a secret, so don't tell anyone. It's the first picture I've posted of the project because I've not officially started it yet. I'm trying to resist picking this up but the fibre (from YummyYarnsUK) is so beautiful, I sometimes do a little as a break from the other project.

Merino with bamboo, 'water sprite' colours. Spinning very fine, to navajo ply for socks. (Another one that'll take ages!)