Sunny Shop Updates

I'm sitting here in the sunshine typing this blog post.  It is truly wonderful having this heat wave here in the UK, for once I feel as if I've had a summer! 

Life has been a bit hectic recently and very up and down over the last few weeks, I've had a funeral, a 21st (not mine!) and I've been busy with both shops.  I'm trying to find time for knitting, crocheting, my art work and I also want to lose myself in a really good book.  There really are just not enough hours in the day - I need to win the lotto and give up work!

Below are the latest new colourways to Twisted Limone and I've added a few more earring designs to Silver Moonflowers today.

Gothic Rainbow





Mountain Moon



A few new designs at Silver Moonflowers.

Have a lovely sunny day.

Karen :)

A Flowery Update

Nothing wildly exciting has been happening in my crafty little world recently, which is why my blog hasn't been updated as much recently.  I haven't picked up the needles or crochet hook for months, so sadly my current projects remain dormant.  My main focus continues to be Twisted Limone and the weekly Saturday updates.  Dyeing, winding and packaging takes up much of my time during the week.  There continues to be a little splurge of new colourways.  I tend to be crazy with ideas during the summer months!

SAFARI

SHERBET DIP
Not to be confused with Sweet as Candy - there is a subtle difference,
a peach stripe replaces the white one.

A TOUCH OF LIME

MARDI GRAS

KEY LIME PIE

The inspiration behind my colours comes largely from nature, food or anything in the environment which inspires me - this could be anything from a piece of fabric or a picture in a magazine.  Mostly, though, my ideas come from flowers and when anything catches my eye I snap away for future reference!

One day I will treat myself to a macro lens, but for now I'm reasonably happy with the effect I'm getting from a bog standard lens :)

I'm continuing to work on the re-launch of Silver Moonflowers, my Etsy earring shop.  I'm hoping to have lots of lovely new earring designs in the next month or two.  Next to knitting and crocheting, making jewellery is something I adore and is another outlet for expressing my love of colour!  More about this in a future blog, along with a sneaky peak at some designs.

Karen

Pastels and Petals

At last!  Some lovely sunny weather here in the UK.  My pastel skinny jeans are all lined up and ready to wear and talking of pastels, two new pastel colourways have been introduced to the shop.  A far cry from my usual vibrant colourways, but summer inspired these are really pretty colours and I just couldn't resist dyeing them up :)

Sweet as Candy
5 really pretty pastel shades in yellow, aqua, mint, white and pale pink.



Petals
7 pastel stripes of peach, mandarin, pale pink, pale blue, lime, white and mint.

Stuck for a present?  Wouldn't either Sweet as Candy or Petals be wonderful gifted with my pastel stitch markers? :)

The Petals colourway and the stitch markers are still available in the shop as I'm typing this - they are sooooo pretty :)

Karen

New Colourways

I've been brimming with new ideas for stripy combinations recently, a few have been introduced to the shop over the last few weeks.  This weekend Sweet as Candy and Flower Strewn made an appearance, these have now sold but don't worry more to come soon.  Pictured down below, Floating By is another new one, which will be in the shop on Saturday. 

FLOWER STREWN
7 stripes in deep magenta, pale magenta, yellow, aqua, deep violet, green and red

SWEET AS CANDY
5 stripes in pretty pastel shades of yellow, aqua, mint, white and pale pink. 

FLOATING BY
5 stripes in bright grass green, aqua, acid lime and turquoise
(available on Saturday, 1 June)

 I frequently get asked if I'm still taking custom requests, and yes I am.  I no longer put custom slots up in the shop, but tend to do requests as and when I'm asked and then invoice via PayPal.  Just convo me via Etsy and I'll answer as soon as I can.

Karen

Drawings from the Past

It's been quite some time since I did any really serious artwork.  I used to do pet portraits, and whilst this was incredibly time consuming it was something I loved to do.  When my Etsy yarn shop took off in 2007 my art was temporarily put on hold.  I recently stumbled across some of my pencil drawings I have scanned in a folder on my computer.  All of these have been done in graphite pencil and most of them were commissioned pet portraits.

These few below were done with coloured pencil.  The Christmas designs were for an animal rescue centre I was involved with at the time.

Looking at these old drawings and my obsession with Pinterest has rekindled my passion for art. Because of all my other crafty endeavours, and the success of Twisted Limone, I still don't have a great deal of spare time, but I'm squeezing in some moments each week to maintain an art journal - my 'painted thoughts'.  I recently purchased a Moleskine art pad from Amazon, Ooooh these books wonderful!  You can also make your own journal, which is much cheaper and there are some beautiful handmade ones out there. 

However, I'll blog about my art journal in a separate post at a later date, along with some of the doodles/watercolours I've done so far. I intend to fill up lots of them, I'm bursting with ideas.  Go to Pinterest and search art journaling!  My Pinterest journaling folder full of ideas is here.

Happy drawing!
Karen

Mini Update

Unfortunately there will only be a mini shop update this week. I’ve made a huge boo-boo and ordered my undyed BFL/nylon a little later than usual and sadly it didn’t arrive in time for this weekend’s dyeing. I usually buy all my undyed yarn bases as and when I need them, but I’ve learnt my lesson now, and so that this doesn’t happen again I’m keeping a surplus stock!

However, I did have a small stock of 100% Organic Merino left, which I have dyed up for part of this update. This is gorgeous, soft and bouncy yarn. If you’re heavy on your socks, and prefer extra nylon for strength, don’t forget this yarn will also make lovely gloves, hats, scarves……why not try something different ? I ALSO have some sale yarn in BFL/nylon all listed below too.

Okay, first the 100% Organic Merino, these are all variegated, although Plum Pudd does knit up into a stripey 'effect' of 1-2 rows of knitting (shown in the photo).

Myriad - So many colours, I don't know where to begin!
100% Organic Merino - Variegated

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Hot Pink Lime - Bright Pink and Acid Lime
100% Organic Merino - Variegated

Plum Pudd - Pinky Purples
Will knit up in a 'stripey effect' as
shown above.
100% Organic Merino

Next my sale BLF/nylon yarn.  In the sale because it's got a naughty knot :(  All these will knit up into mini 4 row stripes. I’m currently using this 4-row striped yarn for my Choco-Strawberry Ice socks – see side panel for a photo.

Rock Pool - Bright Turquoise and dark Charcoal Grey - 4 row stripes
75% Bluefaced Leicester/25% Nylon

Fruit Salad - Bright Pink and Acid Yellow - 4 row stripes
75% Bluefaced Leicester/25% Nylon

Conch - Dark Charcoal and light Coral Pink - 4 row stripes
75% Bluefaced Leicester/25% Nylon

Just in case you're wondering.....I find my mini stripes easier to wind into skeins than my usual balls!  So, don't worry, more balls next week :)

Finally two more stripy sale BFL/Nylon colourways to add but I've not yet balled them up/photographed them.  These are Cranberry Juice in wide 12 row stripes and Mad Hatter, knitting up into 3 stripes each 6 rows wide (see the Sold items in my shop for both colourways).  These will be added to the shop in the next day or two.

Full descriptions of all yarn is listed in the shop. Apologies this is such a ‘bitty’ update, but all should be back on track next week ;)

~Karen~

Whoops I've done it again.....

I'm so sorry folks, but I just can't seem to get my act together!  My intention was to blog BEFORE I updated my shop, but it seems demand calls for me updating the shop first! ;)  I'm finding it soooo difficult to do both after a weekend of intensive dyeing, so many apologies, but pictured below 'WAS' this week's update!  There may still be some yarn left.......however, if not, please convo me on Etsy and if there is a colourway you would really like, I will do my best to dye it up for you and reserve it in the shop for you in the next week or so.

It's looking like updates will be on a Tuesday or Wednesday - I can't set an exact day as it's usually as soon as the yarn is dry and balled up!

I also have some more Sale yarn (narrow stripes) and variegated yarn coming into the shop over the weekend, so please keep checking my shop ;)

A big hug to everyone buying my yarn :)

~Karen~

Cor Blimey!

WOW!  I updated the shop yesterday and before I even got the chance to blog about it most of it had been snapped up! ;)  Cor blimey, I'm completely bowled over :)  Thank you all you lovely people :)  So, I guess I'll just have to blog about what is left....pictured below.  This includes yarn from the last few updates.       

 

Jubilant

   

Neon

Summer Daze

Chocolate Mint

Periwinkle (sale)

Crystal Waters

As a little bit of light relief from all that time-consuming winding of striped yarn, I have been working on some bright and eye-popping variegated yarn, which I will be adding to the shop over the weekend.  So far, these are in my vivid colourways of Viola, Aztec and Carnival.  This range of yarn is called 'Variegated Brights'.  THERE WILL BE MORE - watch out for them! :)

Sneak preview...

Have a lovely weekend :)

~Karen~

Just updated new yarn...

I've been extremely organised this weekend and all my yarn has been dried photographed and added to the shop early!  Well almost.....I have a few more balls to wind up and add to the shop by Friday.  Anyway here's what I've just added.  All in my Tangy yarn base, which is 75% Blue Faced Leicester and 25% Nylon, and all in 0.5" (1.25 cm stripes).

I do apologise for being so brief in this post, there is a lovely Indian takeout smell wafting in from the kitchen, so got to go!  Watch out for those few extra balls of yarn I will be adding in the next few days, which I haven't managed to add tonight.

~Karen~

Naughty Little Knots!

This is a little interim blog post to mention I have just added a new SALE section to my shop. You know those really irritating little knots you sometimes find in hand-dyed yarn? Grrrr! This unfortunately does occasionally happen from time to time. Sometimes they can go undetected, but if eagle-eyed old me spots one I just can't ignore the pesty little blighters. It's for that reason I'm offering these naughty balls at a discounted rate. Currently there is a Carnival colourway in the Sale section and a new colourway called Pixie. THERE IS ONLY ONE KNOT! Remember, the same extremely hard work goes into producing these balls of stripey loveliness, so please take pity! ;)


Carnival


Pixie

I have been SO busy this weekend dyeing. Thankfully the weather has been kind and all skeins are now almost dry and on target for my update next week. And no knots - hurray! I have a few Halloween stripes coming in next week, unfortunately they are a bit limited as I ran out of black dye; I did order some earlier this week, but unfortunately it didn't come in time :(

~Karen~

This week's update and stuff...

I only seem to blog at the moment when I'm updating the shop! However, that will hopefully change soon once I start getting a bit more knitting done. I hate to say it, but colder weather will soon be upon us and I'm itching to see how my stripes knit up as a hat or shawl. I'm still plugging away at my Bear Hug socks and Carnival stripes (pictured in the side panel), which I should finish over the weekend.

Right , back to the update. This week all my hand dyes are in my medium 0.5" (1.25 cm) stripes and in Tangy Sock Yarn (75% BFL/25% Nylon). My Liquorice stripes were a big success last week (thank you!), so I hope to dye some more of those very soon. This week's update is biggish (well, biggish for me so don't get too excited!). I was feverishly dyeing away at the weekend to make it a bit more substantial than last week. I've gradually been adding a ball or two to the shop since Monday and hope to complete it by Friday. Unfortunately, my Cheshire Cat colourway has already gone - you will have to be a it quicker next time! ;)

I have to say I have such a nightmare with this update every week, trying to download all the yarn photographs. Every time I download a photo it pings to the top of the blog and I then have to drag it down, bit by bit, to where I want it to be. It then sends everything else I've typed haywire, so I then have to go through the blog deleting the extra spaces and lining everything up again. Arrrrggghhhh! It seems you can't copy and paste the photo exactly where you want it and believe me it takes forever to keep jiggling them around! Anyone else with a blog have this problem? If there's an easy way of doing it PLEASE let me know! Needless to say, I've cheated this week and put everything in one photo! ;) SO HERE IT IS, THE UPDATE!


From the back row, left to right - Purple Rain, Conch, Fruit Salad
2nd row, left to right - Chocolate Mint and Aegean Sea
Front Row, left to right - Crocus and Busy Lizzie

and from another angle.......

There are three more self-striping yarns to add to the shop, but these are in a special section of their own. Once I've balled them up this evening I will blog about them in the next day or two.

A HUGE BIG THANK YOU to everyone who is buying my yarn and keeping me merrily dyeing away every weekend :) It keeps me very happy and out of mischief ;)

~Karen~

Liquorice Allsorts?

This week's update is here. The little brief I set myself this week was to design some lovely, sexy gothic striped yarn. Well, as I was dyeing it up, all that kept popping into my head was Liquorice Allsorts. It was the colours.....not sexy at all.....I tried my hardest to dispel the image of liquorice sweets, but it just kept popping back into my head.............haunting me.

So.....my Liquorice yarn was born.......

Green Liquorice
Tangy Sock Yarn in a lovely dark charcoal grey and variegated yellow and green.

The stripes are quite narrow, about 2 rows of knitting and will knit up as shown on the sample piece in the Liquorice Orange colourway, which is 64 sts, at 16 sts = 2" (2.5 cm)

Orange Liquorice
Yarn content and description is exactly as for Green Liquorice above. The test knit for both colourways is shown below.

Pink Liquorice
Tangy Sock yarn in vibrant pink and dark charcoal grey. I was unsure whether to put this yarn into the variegated category, or self striping? It does, however, knit into stripes, albeit tiny one row stripes. Here it is, with the test knit piece.

Apple Bobbing
Tangy Sock Yarn in a lovely bright apply green and pacific blue. Not quite liquorice, but this yarn knits up in little micro stripes as in Pink Liquorice above. Test piece pictured below.

I've just realised I don't have a sole photograph of Apple Bobbing, but it's the one on the far right pictured above.

Finally, my usual 0.5" (1.25 cm) bold stripes.

Periwinkle

(Tangy Sock Yarn in a lovely shade of rich purple and limey green)

All of the above yarn will be added to the shop by Friday :) I needed an experimental break last weekend, but this weekend I will be dyeing up more of my bold, bright stripes, so keep checking back here or at Twisted Limone Designs

As always, thank you for looking :)

~Karen~