Colours for This Week

Thank you to everyone who came by last Sunday -- hi to Jenny, the embroiderer from Pepper Street and T'Arts. It was lovely to meet you.

I'm looking forward to my new customer order for a soy vest kit in Luxor. Inspired to put together a fun one-of-a-kind mix of fibres to inspire.

Colourways This Week:

Friar Tuck, Luxor, and McLaren Vale (see last week's posts)

There will be a few serendipity skeins in the mix. Here's a new yarn I'm experimenting with at the moment:

Laceweight Tencel (100% wood pulp) -- feels like cotton this one --

Timberlake

Would be great for weaving, crochet, and knitting. Lightweight and feels comfy. Timberlake is named for the daggy summer camp I went to as a kid -- think mossies, sunburn, and freezing cold pre-dawn "polar" swims in the arctic conditions of a Wisconsin morning. Did I mention no toilets for 2 weeks? Yeah, honesttogoodness dunnies. *sigh*

The photos don't really get across the painted nature of this skein, which has a mix of blues, moonta (brown w/orange undertones), and Puna, a light purple.

New Banana Palm Silks and Spinning Fibres

By request, I've dyed a run of Moonta (brown with an orangy ochry tinge) and Phantom (like the comic character purple -- this mix is v. hot) Banana Palm Silk for this week's market, provided the weather cooperates and it dries nicely today.

The run of wool dyeing is progressing with Friar Tuck (br owns and oranges with touches of green) and others on the way -- they're be ready for shipping this coming week.

The spinning fibres as listed in the previous post are ready to purchase. If you can't get to market, as always, just ring or email and they'll be yours.

Re-stocks of coloured sheep wool, including the kits for A Coloured Sheep Shawl ($95), are now available. The kit contains a veritable mountain of yarn and comes with pattern, a shawl pin and stitch markers. The yarn is sourced from small producers, usually from SA, but not always, depending on availability and is not chemically treated. Some of the yarns still contain lanolin, which is so nice to knit with. There are 3ply and 5ply kits available as well as some yarn that is a 4ply. The pattern is written for 3 and 5, but can easily be knitted in any weight desired.

Thank you to everyone who has ordered shawls kits -- and the pattern.

For Ravel-ers -- mention your Ravelry name and receive a 10% discount on Sheep Shawl kits.

NEW TOFUTSIES CLUB YARN IN STOCK --

February Tofutsies Club Sock $24.95 (yarn and pattern+free postage)

CU at the Port -- M

Thank you and...

Thank you to everyone who came by the Port Markets yesterday. It was great to see you all and to catch up on your knitting and spinning, and all matters fibre.

This week's yarns and fibres:

Spinning Fibres:

1 lot of McLaren Vale hand-painted sliver $12.50 per 100 grams
1 lot of Serendipity blues hand-painted sliver -- in shades of blues and a touch of grey $15.00 per 100gms


1 experimental lot of suri alpaca roving in Betty's Yarn - blues, greys, light purple, and a light olivey green - Exact weight pending finishing of process, approx. 100gms $22.00

Suri Alpaca Roving in Betty's Yarn

Yarns:

Serendipity 50gm skeins of 10ply-equiv. mohair blend in blues/greys $15.00
1 X 50gm lot left of Luxor in alpaca/silk lace -- blues/greys/light purple with "a touch of asp" as my friend V says.

Vellan's Handspun THICKIE wool shown in colourway Luxor

The rest of the McLaren Vale yarn has been snatched already. For the dye tables this week:

McLaren Vale Nepalese Laceweight

McLaren Vale - vineyard colours: got a fibre fixation? Plenty of different fibres to choose from to make your dream project. In-stock fibre list in sidebar.
Semaphore - greens, blues, and seaweed
and a request for Friar Tuck (shades of browns, oranges, and a hint of greens)

Keep those colour requests coming.

As soon as the lots are batched, photos are added.

Alpaca/Silk Lace in McLaren Vale

As always, thank you for your support and enthusiasm. Melissa, still SIOz

Whew! Where did last week go?

Twea Cosy

Twea Cosy -- New SIOz design -- shown in 2cup and 1cup pot sizes and knitting in the funky SWTC Therapi yarn (made from wool, silk, and Jadeite (made from recycled jade!). This pattern is free with a purchase of SIOz yarn. I've had this around the place and realised I'd better get it to the market!

Hello knitters, spinners, felters, crocheters, all you fibre nuts. The past 2 weeks have offered a series of dizzying headaches (the non-physical kind). Whenever I felt like it was all too hard, I just had to turn on the radio or tv and remind myself that my "issues" we zero, zilch, nada compared to our neighbours in Victoria. I worry about my husband's family in South Gippsland, but am told they are too far from Wilson's Prom and Churchill to be in danger. Let's hope so.

Thank you to my online customers. I know you have to take the extra effort to send your orders and I don't take that lightly. If you don't like online shopping, I'm happy to chat on the phone the old-fashioned way.

And a big thanks to those customers who took the plunge and purchased their spindles last weekend. If you get stuck, come by on Sunday and we'll have a spin together. The spindle pictured in the previous post has been sold, but there are several similar ones in stock. There are a few of the old ones on non-fancy shafts that are less expensive. It's best to try them out, but if you are interstate or overseas, just email and let me know what you would like to spin (yarn weight) so I can send the right spindle.

What came off the dye table last week:

Pure Cotton Chenille in 4-ply equiv/fingering weight $7.50 per 50 gm hank

I've noticed Aussie knitters aren't fans of cotton knitting, but this cotton chenille is outrageously cushy and makes fabulous face washers. Go on, indulge. There are some very beautiful luxury viscoses dyed in the same lot, as well as some banana palm silk. Above are: dark persimmon, spring green (less bright, more sagey in chenille), and beast/cookie monster, which dyed up a nice tealy blue on this fibre. There are some silk scarves dyed to match this chenille, so you could knit or crochet a groovy hat to go with your silk scarf. See previous persimmon cut velvet scarf posting.

McLaren Vale Soysilk Lace 100 gm/1000 m $45.00

McLaren Vale Merino Lace 50gm hanks/approx 400m $15.00

Sherwood Forest Fine Australian Merino 50gm/450m $15.00

A serendipity mix of blues/greens in 100% pure silk -- sort of lace weight/light 3plyish
$30.00 per 100gm hank (non-repeatable blend) I dyed this hank with the last of the dye from a run of silk shawl painting.

Photos New

Queen Anne's Garden (dark mix) in Laceweight Mohair. This one's a sample of a yarn I'm thinking of stocking -- it's hard to find pure mohair in this weight - 50 gms $15.00 SOLD.

Queen Anne's Garden in 100% Silk -- a yarn in between lace and fingering weight. Very very shiny and soft. 100 gms $30.00

McLaren Vale Baby Alpaca/Merino Laceweight (SOLD) There are still skeins of this lot available in soy and 100% merino. 100 gms soy lace $45.00; 50gms pure merino $12.50. SOLD

New Drop Spindles: Available in different sizes and weights, as seen below: Some shafts are finished with natural wood oil, some are coated with polycoating. All have handmade heavy wire hooks. Excellent for those who are looking to spin thinner yarns. Gemstone Spindles $20.00 with a puff of wool to get started. New Colours and weights in stock.

Greetings from Port Adelaide

Dear Fibre Fans:

I'm writing to you from the Port Adelaide Public Library -- the home office ADSL is busted -- so I'm in the middle of a busy Weds am at the Library. Quite comfy and friendly really.

Good News: the forecast for Sunday is 25C, so it should be quite pleasant down at the Port River. Come on by for a chat and a pat of the latest lot of wool -- including some lovely....

NON-MULSED aran-weight/10ply equivalent pure wool from Peru. I couldn't resist dyeing it.
This was a limited run of sample skeins. I would love feedback regarding, as I hate to use an overseas wool for this weight of yarn, but I also don't want to support mulsed sheep producers. It's a real bind for me ethically. What do you reckon?

Colours this week:

McLaren Vale (vineyard colours) - wines, olive greens, and browns (pictured below in the boucle -- sorry, that skein is sold)

Little John (deep orange, greens, browns, and greyish blues)

Queen Anne's Garden (pinks/reds/purples with a touch of the garden stem and leaf colours) (pictured as the roll of hand-painted top in the sidebar)

SIOz colourways are colour groups -- each run is unique in that there are different blends of the colourways, depending mostly on the season. I dye using natural light and take inspiration that way. As with many fibre artists, mood and customer requests play a part as well.

If you see something on display that you like, I am happy to do additional runs, but no too are identical.

Keep those needles and hooks going! Melissa, SIOz

HUGE APOLOGIES

Without much notice, the Port Adelaide Fishermen's Wharf Market has been temporarily closed for one Sunday ONLY due to the extreme heatwave we will be experiencing today, February 1st.
I'm very sorry if this inconvenienced any of my customers and hope you will be back to visit soon. I look forward to my Sunday market day, so am disappointed, but it is understandable given the heat in the market building is off the scale.

If there is something you wish to purchase, please ring 8341 0213 or 0409 859 219 and I will be glad to arranged delivery of the item if you missed out this week.

Stay cool and safe today -- another scorcher!

And thank you as always for your support.