Fairies Wear Boots

or at least they do in my new Etsy shop! You can see items over on the right hand pane of the blog. I've been meaning to do this for ages - I make so much, I can't possibly make use of it all myself :-) Although my Etsy name is my own name (you couldn't make that up after all) I decided to give the shop its own name too. So "Fairies Wear Boots" it is. Why? Well, it feels like a good fit for what I make, who I am and the kind of stuff I like. Also it is a cool Black Sabbath song which is a bonus yes?

In Other News
Ange and I did a dyeing workshop with Lilith - the Old Maiden Aunt herself. Now I have a pretty good selection of Lilith's yarns:



so the chance to play with the base yarns and dyes that she uses was too good to miss!

Here's the results - these are the sample skeins we did one afternoon:



From left to right:
Merino Superwash 4-ply
Merino Bamboo 4-ply
Merino Cashmere 4-ply
Alpaca Merino 4-ply
Alpaca Silk Sport
Alpaca Silk Cashmere 2-ply
Merino Silk 2-ply
Blue-Faced Leicester Aran

I chose the merino/cashmere for two skeins which I kettle-dyed the following day:



I just need to think up names for the colourways!

I also decided to have a crack at dyeing some combed tops - the green is BFL, the purple BFL / mohair. I handpainted these and I am really chuffed with the purple (which I've christened "Tart's Boudoir") but the green is a bit insipid (totally my own fault) so I might overdye it.



So a highly recommended way of spending a couple of afternoons!

Also I finished Dad's hat, and also Mum's socks (also in Lilith's yarn - Merino Cashmere in "Wicked")



~*~