These are the most recent spinnings of a beautiful batt from Phoenix fiber, the batt is soft and shiny and spins extremely easily

Still no sales in my shop woolnlove on etsy but I am still hopeful 

The next stage is to send photos to local or semi local yarn shops and hope they are interested

Spinning batts and rolags

I am really loving this spinning now, I have recently bought some batts and rolags from various source, including Bullywool fibres and so have plenty of work to keep me going over the next few months.

I especially love spinning with the fibres created by Phoenix fibres as she makes the most beautifully soft fibres to spin with.

See www.etsy.com/ca/shop/woolnlove

Spinning, spinning,spinning

I am really enjoying improving my spinning techniques
I have bought a lovely rosewood  drop spindle and it's great!
I think that the skeins I have spun from various batts that I have purchased from various other etsyians are very pretty and I have categorized them as "art yarn"

I have not had any purchases of these yet but quite a lot of comments and interest.
Awaiting batts from Bullywool yarns, hopefully next week.

Hand Painted Uruguayan Yarn

This gorgeous uruguayan hand painted yarn has just arrived!

It's fantastic and is now for sale on etsy, see www.etsy.com/ca/shop/woolnlove

My pages and shop are getting lots of views but no sales recently, but I am hopeful

I am thinking that this yarn would be suitable for knitters, crotcheters and felt making as well

Bully wool fibre

This is a box of fibre that arrived today from Bullywools fibre in Port Moody
I now have to decide what to order for the shop but it's so difficult!
I think I will have to have some alpaca but the merino is gorgeous too
Also visiting the Campbell River fibre fest this weekend, it's been so long since I could go to any fibre event.

First spun yarn by me

This is the first yarn that I have spun from my own custom designed dyed Blue Faced Leicester fibre, specially imported from the UK
I love it and I think I am actually learning to spin on my drop spindle, although I can see why spinning became mechanized lol
It's very satisfying to produce your own yarn though and I can name it as well
Here's to a lot more projects, I think I am addicted

South African Yarns Cotton and Bamboo

This is the 100% cotton yarn dyed and hand balled by a women's co-operative in South Africa

It is beautifully soft and would be great for new babies and reborn babies knitting

Below is the 70% cotton with 30% bamboo yarn! the bamboo gives a lovely sheen and again ideal for new babies and reborn baby knitting

The pastel colours are great 

Salish wristwarmers

I have decided to pull out the Salish wristwarmers and start again, it has been a while since a did knitting in the round and the joins between the needles was not satisfactory, too loose.
Sigh! Will start again tomorrow

Rare Breeds Black Shetland with Tussah Silk Roving

I really love this mixture of black shetland and Tussah silk, the silk really mellows the slight harshness of the Shetland roving and makes it so much softer to spin.
Just got to learn to spin now
Anybody out there with any experience of spinning this mixture

Rare Breeds Roving Shetland

Here is one of the first Rare Breeds Rovings, this is Shetland Roving.
The Shetland Islands are located off the North of Scotland.
Some very remote and beautiful islands.
The Shetland sheep are a hardy breed and there is a long history of sheep rearing, spinning and knitting from these islands
The famous "wedding ring shawl" a shawl knitted with such fine yarn that it can be pulled through your wedding ring originated here.
See listing on 
Www.etsy.com/ca/shop/woolnlove

Blue Faced Leicester Roving

This is the Blue Faced Leicester roving that is part of a large order that I have imported from the UK
I have had it specially dyed for "Woolnlove" and so it is unique and called "Purple Evening"
I have 500g of this gorgeous roving available to spin although I may use one myself.
I have set aside this Easter weekend to try drop spindle spinning again
Www.etsy.com/ca/shop/woolnlove

UK Rare Breeds Fibre is Here!

The rare breeds fibre is here from the UK and it is great!
I ordered a Blue Faced Leicester rovings unique dye mix, which I called Purple Evening and it is absolutely gorgeous, I wish I was expert enough to spin it myself but I need much more practice so the roving is for sale on Etsy
There are lots of different types of rovings but especially some Jacobs sheep roving, Corriedale, 
Shetland and Blue Faced Leicester

Hop over to Etsy now to view it
Etsy.com/ca/shop/woolnlove

Wool Winder

 I am loving my new wool winder, it takes a bit of elbow grease but the effect is lovely, the question is do people prefer their yarn in skeins or wound into balls?

Recently hand dyed yarn

Recycled Silk Sari Yarn

This is recycled sari silk yarn.
It is the edges of the silk material that is used to make saris, collected and sorted and then spun, usually using drop spindles into a thick and thin, very textured yarn
The women are usually working in a co-operative in order to provide for their families

Uruguayan Yarn Wrist Warmers and Mat

This is a pair of wristwarmers that I knitted along with a little mat I crotchet from the same 100g skein of uruguayan yarn, after I had hand dyed it of course!
I love the softness of this yarn, I have only got 4 skeins of the undyed left, so have ordered some more.

Uruguayan hand painted yarn

Just had an email from my uruguayan yarn suppliers to say that the yarn is nearly ready and should be shipped next week
I love the squishy feel of the uruguayan yarns and the beautiful colours
So excited, can't wait for all this yarn to arrive

South African Organic Cotton Yarn

So, I have ordered the South African cotton and bamboo yarn. This is very exciting, and it think the company in South Africa are excited too to have their first Canadian order 

Hope it doesn't take too long to arrive!

Salish wristwarmers

Presently I am knitting a pair of Salish wristwarmers 

It is quite a long time since I have knitted with four needles but although the progress is slow it looks quite good I think, the most difficult part is keeping the yarn that you are not using woven in as you move up the rows. I will post more as I progress.

Has anyone out there had experience knitting with Salish First Nation kits. The yarn is lovely and quite heavy, I saw one of the jackets that are knitted by the First Nation ladies and they are extremely heavy.

Etsy shop

It occurred to me that I haven't put the link to my etsy shop on my blog, so here it is
Www.etsy.com/ca/shop/woolnlove
In fact you can just google woolnlove at etsy and remarkably it will find me!

Hand dyed cotton yarn from South Africa

Just came across a great potential new hand dyed cotton yarn from South Africa
100 percent cotton, or a mix with bamboo or totally bamboo!

The colours are gorgeous and the company started off as a dyeing in the garage experiment 
What do you all think out there about cotton and bamboo
The cotton and bamboo are organic but the dyes are not so it can't be totally classified as organic but still looks gorgeous

Qiviut yarn

So the next unusual yarn may be muskox yarn
This is one of the softest and warmest yarns in the world
The arctic qiviut producers in Alaska have agreed to sell me their yarn, and it looks beautiful.
The natural colour is a rich brown but there are many gorgeous dyed yarns as well
I will have to wait a little til I sell some of  my other yarns before I can buy any though
What does anyone think about this yarn, has anyone tried it?

Wool n Love

Wool n Love is now an official business in canada with a business licence woohoo!
I can now start ordering wool from more wholesalers and get interesting and unusual yarns from even further afield, any suggestions as to what you would like to see stocked, Rowan, Debbie Bliss, Bamboo yarn, etc

Blue faced Leicester Yarn

Before we relocated to British Columbia, I was doing quite a lot of knitting for the big yarn companies, such as King Cole, Designer Yarns and Debbie Bliss.

I had quite a team of knitters myself whom I sent work out to and they mailed back the completed article.

This was a very enjoyable part of my yarn business and it would be great to get back to that point again.

I have applied for my business licence formally for BC  which should come today and then I can order the Blue Faced Leicester wool from Yorkshire Spinners and also some more patterns from King Cole.

Local Yarn Shop

Just been for a visit to the local yarn shop which is actually 3 hours driving from where I live!
It was very well stocked with lots of interesting yarns and I managed to pick up some double pointed needles for my Salish wristwarmers.
Just got to cast them on now

Tibetan Yak Yarn

This is the yarn that is on the way

View from my knitting room

Beautiful British Columbia

This is the view from my knitting room

We live on a small island in the north of British Columbia

Tibetan Yak Yarn

Tibetan yak yarn is coming soon!
This will be very exciting as it is from co operatives in Tibetan villages and is hand spun and very very soft
The main thing is the hand spinning, you can get machine spun yak yarn but this is a much better product
I can't wait for it to arrive

Previous Debbie Bliss shawl

This is a previous Debbie Bliss shawl that I have made
I use to knit for Designer Yarns which is the firm which is the UK distributor for Debbie and I once met her there which was quite thrilling
There are lots of designers out there, I find it difficult to have the patience to design but I can knit anything including entrelac now, thanks to another baby pattern shawl of Debbie's

Debbie Bliss baby shawl

This is the current project I am trying to finish before my uruguayan and Tibetan yarn arrives
It is a baby shawl designed by Debbie Bliss which I have knitted several times before in different colours
This is a lovely light beige

Hand warmers

This is a pair of hand Warner's that I knitted in my own hand dyed uruguayan yarn
They are beautifully soft and cozy!

New Wool n Love

This is the new blog for wool n love and coolyarnz
I have decided to try and obtain unusual yarns to sell
I have been selling uruguayan yarns for some time,but recently a client purchased all of my undyed single ply yarn, leaving me with only some lace undyed.
I have managed to find a wholesale supplier of hand dyed and kettle dyed uruguayan yarn and have placed my first order 
She says that it will be about 3 weeks til it arrives!
Also I am investigating Tibetan yak yarn which sounds fascinating, I can buy that from canada as there is a source in Alberta
I wonder how much interest there is for these yarns
Please comment if you are interested