Archive | Wool

Market Sunday: Sock Yarn and a Book Review

By Linda on March 7, 2010 in Book Reviews, Sock Yarn, Wool

Market Sunday:

On a Sunday if I have any new stock or yarns etc… I will be loading them here for all to see before I list them on my local shop, in South Africa .

These are my new sock yarns that have just arrived! They have been dyed by a local South African dyer and they are so beautiful! They are one of a kind. If anyone is interested in buying any here, before I list them, just send me an email 🙂 They are all 3.5 ounces and are perfect to knit socks or shawls…

Price : $ 14.00

Shipping: $ 7.00 per ball

Payment through Monster Pay. ( I will just send you an invoice to your email, it is very easy to use:)

Email me here: lindadawkins@mweb.co.za

(The turquoise and the mulberry next to the turquoise above have now sold 🙂

Book Review: A Farm in my Heart by Emilia Le Roux,

For some reason, I am unable to turn this photo around! But I still had to share this book with you. My hubby gifted me with it on Thursday evening when he returned from a business trip. I love this book! It has everything, recipes, gardening tips, composting, canning and jam making. How to make cheese. It is a fantastic South African book, but can be used all over the world.

It has been written by Emilia Le Roux and reads like a story. She writes about her life as a child growing up on their farm and how much she has learned by living on the land … It is truly an amazing book… I can’t put it down. Today for lunch I made her Peppers Stuffed with Aubergines, truly wonderful!!

Have a great Sunday everyone:)
Warmly
Linda

The Softest Merino Yarn for Sale:)

By Linda on January 20, 2010 in Wool

At the moment I have a huge amount of Merino yarn that I am clearing out from stock. It is beautiful South African Merino yarn and knits up so soft and wonderfully… It is also perfect for dyeing… I am selling it for:

Price: $ 8.00 per 100g / 3.5 ounces

The skeins are all different amounts but close to 3.5 ounces each, I would work out a price for you, shipping will depend on how much you buy:) It will be first come, first served:) I am not listing this on my Etsy shop and will only be writing about it here:)

I have plenty, if you are interested in buying some, please email me on my email:

lindadawkins@mweb.co.za

Thanks so much
Warmly
Linda

Sun Dyeing Yarn…

By Linda on January 14, 2010 in Crafts, Dyeing Yarn, sun dyeing, Wool

As part of our crafts we enjoy with our homeschooling days, we decided it would be tremendous fun to do a sun dye… First we soaked our undyed Merino yarn in vinegar water, I had about 3 litres of water to 1 cup of vinegar. We let the skeins soak for about 20 minutes.

Then we squeezed the vinegar water out of the skeins.

We used nice large glass jars with screw top lids for the dyeing. Fill just under halfway with warm water and add a little vinegar too. Then place your skein into the water until it is fully submerged.

We used food colouring for our dyes. Erin chose a few colours, green was one of them. Above she is pouring the colouring into the glass jar, just a little at a time and then change to another colour. I usually use a metal spoon and gentle move the yarn about so that the colouring reaches different areas of the yarn, then quickly add another colour and move the yarn again so that a lovely varigation of colours can form.

Cadien’s sun dye on the left and Erin’s on the right. Once the colouring has been added, we put the lids on the jars and carried them outside to a really warm spot. We left them there for most of the day. The sun really heats up the water to almost boiling…

Kye said he would like to sit with his jar and watch it , so he found a spot right next to his blue jar, and he did… (He wanted to dye his yarn blue like Pelle, from Elsa Beskow’s book Pelle’s New Suit ).When you are finished, fill up a sink with cold water, bring the jars inside, open the lids and let the water cool down in the jars. Then take out the skeins gently and place them into the sink water to rinse. Rinse gently until there is no more colour run off and then hang them up to dry outside.

This is the end result! Caiden’s on the left, Erin’s is the green and the blue is Kye’s. They are quite varigated from the twists in the skeins and should knit up beautifully… This was such a wonderful experience for all of us…