Happy Birthday . . .

. . . as in "Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me" etc.

I've awarded myself the day off today so I can spend some time carding and spinning in the sunshine (glorious day today).

I got some lovely presents (and there are more on the way) :-

My sister sent me a voucher from Wingham Wool Work, which will be spent soon on some lovely fibre (not sure what to get yet - I've started browsing though).  And Eric bought me these two books :-

This one only arrived at lunchtime so I haven't had chance to read much of it yet - just looked at the pictures.  It looks a very interesting book and I'm looking forward to trying some of the projects.  The second one :-

arrived two days ago, and I was allowed to open that one early.  I already have two books by Lexi Boeger, so when this one was published it went straight onto my Amazon wish list.

My third present hasn't arrived yet, Eric has also bought me 1kg of white baby alpaca. Can't wait for that to come, it should be super soft and fluffy - I'm planning the dyes already!

So, the afternoon is ticking away.  I'd better get on with it.

Exciting New Book

Happy New Year everyone, let's hope 2012 is a good one!

Look what the postman delivered yesterday, a new spinning book bought with a Christmas gift voucher :-

I was really looking forward to this book arriving - Spin Art by Jacey Boggs, published by Interweave.  It was only published at the beginning of December so I was hoping someone would buy me a voucher so I could order it.  It's a brilliant book, full of fabulous photos and very clear instructions on how to make the yarns - very professional.

They range from fairly simple single-ply, to more complex textures and multi-plies.  I can't wait to get started on them, just need a bit of time to devote to it.













One of the best parts of this book was the DVD which came with it

This must have been at least an hour long (maybe longer) - I sat enthralled watching it yesterday afternoon (and will probably watch it again a few more times).  Jacey shows how to make some of the yarns featured in the book, starting with simple ones and leading on to more complicated ones.  She's very good at explaining what she's doing and makes it look far easier than I suspect it really is.  She also shows how not to do it, which could save a lot of frustration and wasted fibre.

If you're a spinner, then this book is for you.  She also has a website you can check out here.