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| Voluptuous Clouds of Lovliness |
Along with the increased popularity of knitting, spinning too has received a resurgence of popularity. Wheels are being snapped up in garage sales, on Trade Me & Ebay and more and more yarn lovers are having a go at spinning their own yarns.
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| Chasing Rainbows - Available last year |
I learnt to spin after my first son was born, but I had to put it on hiatus when he started to get mobile, the temptation to jam little fingers into moving parts was just too much for my wee man. So my wheel went away until I attended the Unwind Fibrecraft retreat in Dunedin a couple of years ago. Spinners there travelled with their wheels & I got to see what could be done with some of the amazing hand painted slivers now available.
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| My Chasing Rainbows & Clifton Stone homespun skeins |
This got me inspired to make sure that we have some slivers available from skeinz.com for all those that love to spin or, like me, were getting back to their wheels & starting for the very first time. We always have some good kiwi crossbred sliver available. This is mid micron and draws very easily - making it easier to refine your technique if you are learning. It spins up easily & quickly and is perfect for the classic farm style homespun projects.
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| Starting to knit up my Chasing Rainbows |
In recent months I have been skulking about the mill looking for other gems to entice spinners. At the end of last year we did a colour trial for a new yarn (coming soon) and I was able to snaffle some deliciously vibrant fibre, called Chasing Rainbows, which sold out in record time. I was one of the lucky ones who had this fibre and I have been s pinning it up across the Summer break, I also have been knitting some of the Silver Lining Sliver from our popular DK range which I rescued from the blending bins.
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| The new Arapawa Slivers |
This year I have pounced on the gill ends of the new batch of this yarn before it was reblended. There are four natural shades of 19 micron rare breed Arapawa Merino (in this case, last batch was mostly Stewart Island Merino with Arapawa) and it is simply TO DIE FOR! It is so soft and spins like a dream. If you are wanting some special sliver for an heirloom project - this is the sliver for you. Make sure you check it out before it all spins itself out he door!
