Finally, the spinning instructions that I wrote a while ago have been proof-read and are available in English as well as in German. Putting them into the shop and blogging about it has been delayed a bit by the summer break, but now, finally, they are here.



They are either a part of the starter kit handspindle if you order it via the English version of the website (I then get all orders in English, too, so I know to put in the right printed version), or you can get them as a pdf file directly from my shop, for free! (You will need to register if you don't have an account yet.)

There should be a download link in the pdf "invoice" that is attached to your order email (the link is not directly in the email, so please make sure to open the pdf and look for the link there).

Anyone who's ever been ordering things online, especially from across borders, knows the pain that shipping costs can be. They are often surprisingly high, and sometimes downright prohibitive.

I know that I have myself abandoned quite a few half-filled baskets for orders because the shipping costs were more than I was willing to pay. Sometimes I also wondered how on earth these people could arrive at shipping figures that high...

And then I started my own online shop.

Let me tell you this: Shipping costs are a pain for both sides. As a shop owner, you have to figure out how much to charge - which means costs for boxes, wrapping paper, labels, tape, stuffing material, the postage itself, and so on. (So on, in Germany, includes costs for licensing fees that cover the cost of recycling.) You also have to figure in that packing stuff and bringing it to the post office will take up time, in some cases considerable chunks of it. The more you send out, the more alike your wares are, the easier it is to calculate things, and packing will go faster, and you can get better rates on all the package-related stuff and even on postage.

I spent a lot of time and brain power on trying to figure out shipping prices that would be as fair as possible towards my customers, and still reliably cover the actual costs that I have. From time to time, there is some reason for me to check the shipping costs again, and sometimes I find that I can re-calculate them - because prices have changed, or because I send out more of thing A as opposed to thing B, and that means I can add another tier to the price ranges to make things better.

That happened recently - and now there's an additional shipping price for those of you who would like just the printed pattern of Dread Pirate Roberts' Winter Hat. I have added a special, as-low-as-possible price for shipping for the pattern, which is 2 € inside of Germany and 3.60 € for the rest of the world. Happy knitting!

Just in time for some summer spinning, I have new wool in the shop - from a very rare sheep breed: Rouge du Roussillon.

Rouge du Roussillon, picture: Eponimm, CC BY-SA 3.0 (wikimedia)

These are red-legged, red-headed sheep originating in the French Pyrenees, with short-staple, fine wool. Just like many other heritage breeds, they have suffered with the changing times. These days, there are very, very few animals left - probably about two hundred.

Half of them are in Germany, and one herd for conservation breeding is living quite close to my place. You can see pictures of the herd in Nuremburg here.

A few weeks ago, I bought some of the freshly shorn wool from these sheep; now, finally (after a long wait for enough water for washing), the wool is ready to be sold.


It's almost white wool, fine and not very long staple, with a fine crimp. You can find out more about the wool here - and also get some of it, if you are so inclined!

I'm very happy to be able to offer this wool. Selling it supports the conservation breeding herd and, in addition, the conservation of the habitat that the sheep graze in, which is a very species-rich kind of grassland on poor, sandy soil (Sandmagerrasen in German). Plus it's a beautiful and rare fibre - what's not to like?

There's a couple of things running in the background that are finally coming together - I will be getting different kinds of needles in addition to the ones already in the shop, sort-of-soonish (these things tend to take a while). Other things are in the pipeline, but not in a stage where I can blog about it - yet. But I'm having hopes to post exciting new things here this autumn.

Also scheduled for this autumn, but something that I can already blog about: The Fleur de Lis Gold Embroidery Kit. Here's the finished prototype, finally:

It does look much nicer in real life.

I did the last stitches yesterday in the evening, when the light was already dimming down, but it was still rather light. That minimises the sparkle of the gold thread, which makes the work hard to see.

Speaking of hard - gold embroidery is really, really hard to photograph. Especially if you are in kind of a hurry, which I was this morning (and that usually leads to a bad photo day). The trick is to take the picture with underexposure, and with no direct light to avoid any sparkles. Then it can still be tricky to get the thing in proper focus, as the autofocus often has trouble with the sparkly bits; or to get the exposure right because of strong contrasts between the gold and the dark background.

So you're not getting the world's best piccies of the finished prototype yet, but I had the strong urge to share with you. Including these bad closeups:



This, by the way, is how it looks if you take a picture with flash:


Hint: Flash is not helpful...

I had such a bad photo day that I even botched the pictures of the back of the embroidery, which technically should be no problem to take a picture of. So you're getting only this bad detail shot this time (you know, because of the law).


I'm really happy to have this finished, though. The template stencil for the final version is done as well, and looks very much like the prototype here, with only a few tiny changes. The fabric for the final version is off to be dyed already, and as soon as it arrives back here, I'll cut it into pieces... and then I will gild the lily once again, a third and final time, taking photos of the individual steps for the instruction booklet.

(And those photos? I'll take them in a softbox, with the camera on a stand, and with plenty of time planned for that shoot...)

As posted a while ago, I wrote up some spinning instructions to go with a hand-spindle kit.



It did get ready in time for the wool festival at Backnang, and now I have finished translating the instructions into English.

The German version is already available in the online shop - it should be downloadable for free, if there should be any trouble, please let me know. Before I post the English version to the shop, though, I'd like to have a native speaker give it the once-over to catch any stupid bits of Denglish (which tends to happen when translating, unfortunately).

Any volunteers?

When I looked around for medieval-style spindle sticks several years ago and couldn't find any, I went and searched for a woodworker who could make soe for me. I quickly discovered that it's not easy to lathe-turn something that is long and thin and getting even thinner towards its ends, so I was very happy to find someone willing and able to produce spindle sticks for me, to my specifications and measurements.

Now, several years later, they have turned out to be one of the best-selling items in my shop. I have sent those spindle sticks off to do their job and twirl to make yarn into places all around the globe, something I would never have expected when I started selling them.

Since I started selling the sticks, they have remained the same price. Today the day has come when I will have to raise the price a little bit - they will sell for 8 € a piece from now on instead of for 7 €. However, to make up for that slightly higher price, I am now able to offer a little more variety: you can now choose between beechwood, pearwood, or (European) maplewood. All three are hard, durable woods that have their own charm. Maple is the lightest-coloured of the three, beech is a little darker with the characteristic longish speckles, and the pearwood is a warm, reddish colour with scarcely visible tree rings.






The picture shows the new kids along with the old beech version - from left to right, they are a beechwood spindle, a pearwood spindle, and a maplewood spindle. I actually can't decide which kind I like best... what a good thing, then, that I can have all three!

(You could, too. Here's the direct link to the spindle sticks in my shop.)

I'm back home from Backnang - it was a wonderful weekend, and I'm only sad that there was not more time for me to stroll around outside and enjoy the beautiful weather, or take a more leisurely look at all the stalls with fibres, tools, and (of course!) yarns.

This is where I spent most of my time in Backnang:




- right beside the table of Margit from Alte Künste:

 

I also had the pleasure of teaching medieval spinning to a group of enthusiastic and interested spinners on Friday and Saturday, and on Friday there were even two participants who had their very first experience in spindle-spinning. Both courses were sold out in the blink of an eye, a joy to teach, very well received and I'd be happy to offer them again in Backnang in 2017.

Today, though, my mind will have to get out of the wool-mode - I have to finish reading the typeset proof of our new book this week, and I hope to make very good headway today. There is tea, there is chocolate, there is a red pen - and it's nice weather, perfect to sit in the spring sunshine and reading.