Fibre Clubs

Just in time for the holidays I'm launching my first fibre club. Perfect as a christmas present!
You'll get the parcel in mid-January (providing I'm not buried under 6 foot of snow in our little Welsh valley!), so perfect for shaking off those mid-winter blues.
You can either buy it through the Etsy shop, or if a listing is out of stock over there you can buy it directly by clicking on the links on the sidebar.

It comes in 100g, and 200g options, for a single month, or 3 month subscription. For the 3 month subscription you'll get further parcels in February and March.
Places are limited, in each 3 month period you'll get a variety of different fibre prep, in a variety of colour palettes, and no more than 1 month out of the 3 will be something with sparkle.

At the start of January I'll make the single month places for February's parcel available, the 3 month memberships won't re-open until March.

If you're struggling on Christmas ideas, there might be a few other things in the shop you might like as well....
You could maybe enable a new spinner, Learn to Spin Kits are £15

Or some Stocking Filler buttons, handmade from Welsh wood, these would post really well to somebody you might not see between now and the big day.

Or, just in case we don't get any snow this year, how about Felt Snowman craft kit, along with a few others, these are kiddie friendly, though they'll need some adult help with threading the balls together. Could be perfect for occupying small hands during the holidays.



All fibre club members will be added to a mailing list so I can send you info about the club, and the occasional newsletter, if this is a problem please let me know.

Bad blogger...

I'm a bad blogger right now, I know it, I keep meaning to do something about it, and before I know it, it's bed time!

Lot's of work is going on behind the scenes getting ready for my fibre club, places open later this week, the first place I'll announce the subscriptions are on sale is via the mailing list, you can sign up over on the left. We've also been at lots of Christmas fairs and markets, the stock I take to these events is slightly different to what's in the Etsy shop, but it all takes time to prepare and put together!

Added to that, on Saturday I managed to reverse my car in to a telegraph pole, I have no idea how I didn't see it, I can live with a few dents on my car, but I've managed to smash the rear windscreen, so today is going to be spent ringing people to sort out that little mess! Time I don't really have right now, but never mind.

Hopefully today there will be some new british breeds and blends, but no fresh batts or hackle blends for the next couple of days while I get everything organised here! However if you ever have anything specific in mind, and there;s nothing you like in the shop you're more than welcome to send me a message about a custom blend.

My christmas knitting is now moving on a-pace (after the disaster of my brother's slippers shrinking so much they're now elf sized), and speaking of Christmas, Royal Mail has put out these dates for when items need to be sent to reach places in time for Christmas-
Mon 5th December- South & Central America, Caribbean, Africa, Middle East, Asia, Far East (including Japan), Australia and New Zealand
Fri 9th December- Eastern Europe, USA and Canada
Mon 12th December- Western Europe
Tue 20th December- UK
I never make any guarantees about things arriving in time, and the sooner you order the better the chance that something will make it in time!

More spinning

Not from me this time, but from one of my lovely customers. I love seeing pictures of what people make with my fibre, particularly because my own spinning time has become somewhat limited!

The lovely mono (whose stuff is beautiful, go take a look), bought some of this-

40% British Shetland, 40% Merino, 20% Tussah Silk, and turned it in to this.

By the way, exciting things are happening at HilltopCloud, the best way to keep abreast of fresh things is either by following my on twitter (hilltopkatie), or by signing up to my newsletter, there's a link over on the right.

Coedlan

Christmas is coming up on us rather quickly, if like me you make most of your presents, the diminishing number of weeks tends to sharpen the mind and speed up the needles rather....

If you're still not sure what to make for your nearest and dearest then I have a solution, meet Coedlan.

It's a short, textured scarf held closed by a single large button, it won't curl, and works well with handspun yarn, the green version above was spun by my Mum using some batts I carded for her.

Here's a slightly less arty shot.

If I still had the sort of job where I was required to look presentable here's how I'd probably wear it, I have a huge collection of these jackets, but they definitely need a scarf in winter, but because they're close fitting it needs to be short.

It uses 140m of bulky weight yarn so it's a quick knit. If you would like to make one you can download the pattern- buy now from Ravelry.

Or, I'll be putting together some more kits for the shop in the next few days, some with batts to spin, others with handspun yarn. The kits will also come with a handmade wooden button.

Coeurs et Flocons

I've been working on this for the past 8 months, admittedly I've neglected it for large chunks of time, but even so, it's a big piece of knitting, nearly the size of a single bed.

The pattern is called Coeurs et Flocons, and it's from an edition of Marie Clair Idees. The original pattern is just knitted in red and white which looks stunning, but I'm pretty pleased with my version as well.

Also, it's heading towards the next round of Fibreholics, a UK based collection of fibre artists, we all send in samples of our work, you buy a box containing an assortment of those samples. It's a great way to try new fibres, and new suppliers. If you want to take a sneak peak of what I've sent in then take a look here.

New pattern

The observant of you will notice that there is something new over to to the right. I've been working on a few things in the background for a while now, and the first of them is finally ready.

Meet Rhwyd (pronounced Rrrud), whihc is Welsh for net.



It's designed to work well with handspun yarns, and heavily variegated commercial yarns. It's reversible, and won't curl, and features stitch patterns that aim to break up pooling.



The pattern features charts, and written directions, and has been test knitted by the wonderful Julie from Button Button.
It's available to buy now from Ravelry, and I'll also be doing kits for the HilltopCloud Etsy shop with fibre only options (the blue version was made using some of handblended roving), or handspun yarn options.

Mr Little's Yetholm Gypsy

Not fibre related this time, instead gardening related. I fully admit my input on the gardening is minimal, though I do sometime provide some digging labour! the real gardenner in the family is my Mum, since we moved to Wales we've had enough space to grow as much of certain vegetables as we like.
We planted enough potatoes this year to feed us for (hopefully) the entire year, most were the usual varieties Charlotte, and Desiree, but my friend SpinningFishwife had given us 3 seed potatoes of an old variety called Mr Little's Yetholm Gypsy it's an old variety dating back to about 1899, and is rather rare, so by growing a few plants in our garden hopefully we'll help avoid it disappearing.

It's skin is a beautiful purple colour, and apparently it's rather tasty, though we're saving this years crop to plant for next year.



(That's a Desiree next to it)