A basket full of inspiration/Einen Korb voller Inspiration

So I'm back from my trip to Sara, filled to the brim with fresh inspiration and some new yarns and threads in my basket.

Due to the Icelandic ash clouds and the shut-down of the airport in Stockholm, Sara's Swedish guests had their flight cancelled; thus the two of us had lots of spare time to talk and exchange ideas, to work in the studio, visit the local pub and to do some shopping (at yarn shops and a textile thrift store ;-)).



First we had planned to do some dyeing, but as Sara went through her stash of already dyed threads and the weather was too windy and chilly for our purpose, she generously told me to pick a big bunch of her threads and forget about dyeing this time -
I'm overwhelmed with my treasure!



Anyway, the dyeing project is just postponed, not cancelled!

We also played around with a pincushion project, using a waste Chinese garlic basket which we stuffed with some weights, foam, wool and then embellished and embroidered.

While Sara was working on her wall hanging, I used the time for sewing two organizer rolls for my crochet hooks and knitting equipment, using fabric scraps and some of those beautiful threads:



Returning home, I find the summer to have arrived here in the South - my house and my garden are calling out loud for being attented to and there is such a lot of work to do - still my head is filled with colours and yarn and threads ...



(German summary: Da Sara's Workshop auch der Aschenwolke zum Opfer fiel, hatten wir unverhofft Zeit für andere Projekte - sie arbeitete an ihrem neuen Stück weiter, ich habe mir u.a. zwei Stoffrollen für meine Strick- und Häkelnadeln genäht, je ein Nadelkissen haben wir gemeinsam ausprobiert. Neue Wolle habe ich auch im Gepäck mit nach Hause, einen Korb voll mit wunderschönen, handgefärbten Stickgarne, die mir Sara geschenkt hat - und jede Menge neue Ideen und Inspirationen!)

Almost to good to be true!/Fast zu gut, um wahr zu sein!

A couple of days ago, I was surfing the net for this and that - and suddenly I read that Ashford, the producer of my "Joy" spinning wheel, had come up with a "Freedom Flyer" - a new flyer for artyarns, provided with a 25 mm/1" orifice hook and slide yarn guides ...



... and large bobbins (left - the 'old' one to the right, as comparison) ...



Maybe you remember my earlier posting about making a DIY solution for bypassing the former small orifice? I have been using it since, but of course I was eager to get that professional gear now!

Anyway, I ordered the new equipment online the same night, and this afternoon the parcel arrived! So now I'm looking forward to quite some new spinning sensations :-)! Maybe someday I'll be able to spin such wonderful yarns as Jana does ... This is really a site to find inspiration!

On Sunday I'm leaving for a trip to Sara - I'll be gone for a week this time, as Sara has asked me to assist as a translator for a group of Swedish ladies attending an embellishing workshop at her place.

I must admit I do feel tempted to take my fancy equipped spinning wheel with me - but I guess there won't be that much time for spinning this time ...!

(German summary: Als ich vor ein paar Tagen im Netz herumgesurft bin, habe ich erfahren, daß es jetzt einen neuen Krebs für das Joy-Spinnrad gibt, mit dem man auch Effektgarne spinnen kann, dazu noch wesentlich größere Spulen. Das neue Einzugsloch - eigentlich ist es ein offener Haken - beträgt 25 mm, statt bisher 10 mm. Heute kam die Zusatzausrüstung mit der Post!

Viel ausprobieren kann ich es im Moment noch nicht, da ich nächste Woche bei Sara bin - aber bald! Bis dahin ;-), schaut Euch die dollen handgesponnenen Garne von Jana an - die sind wirklich wunderschön!)

Three knitted shawls with crocheted endings/Gestrickte Schals

I'm done!

Actually I finished my country lace shawl just before leaving for Sweden, but I didn't have time to post about it then. It's just as cosy and warm and 'wrappy' (with a tiny smell of sheep - I love that :-)) as I wanted it to be - but in the end, I didn't do that fancy border à la Nicky Epstein, which I originally had planned to do.

I decided that this rustic shawl would look better with a simple crochet ending instead, the only decorations are those curled tails which I've come to like a lot ...



I used my Sweden holiday for knitting a bit too, this is a 'false' moebius which I did out of one of the Schoppel lace balls (yes, same curly tails there too!) - it's knitted in simple garter stitches, starting with three stitches in one corner, knitting kind of quarters in a row -but the yarn itself is so beautifully rainbow coloured, that I wanted the knitting technique to stand back for the yarn:



And this is another one in garter stitch, the yarn being a red Swedish traditional one-ply wool which I bought on site - I'm considering doing some mouches in different red yarns on it - and finally a new design (my own) on a crocheted flower necklace:



(German summary: Drei sehr einfache Dreieckschals mit gehäkelten Umrandungen - ich wollte, daß die dollen Wollsorten hier die erste Geige spielen dürfen! Und noch eine Häkelkette ...!)