Recently I managed to get hold of a small amount of 15.5 micron merino. I was stunned when I put my hand in the bag! It felt so soft, easily as soft as the cashmere that I have in stock. So, I excitedly took a small amount to spin up. Well, it was a joy to spin! Not only is it beautifully soft, but it has a longer staple length than I am used to in fine merino, and this made it so much easier to spin. The final photograph shows my test skein, before its bath. I got 172m from 22g, and it still feels amazingly soft.

A friend asked me to make a colourway based on the inspiration photograph of the Fairy. Sadly, it took me much longer than expected, but here it is.

I found these rolags very difficult to get an accurate colour representation. I have done my best, and I have only posted photographs which most accurately show the colours on my monitor (remember colours may look different on your monitor). To help I have listed the colours contained in this blend:

Merino in shades of : deep jade, jade, bottle green, teal, deep duck egg blue and emerald

Sometimes an image just completely grabs my attention and I just have to make it up into a new colourway. This is one such image. From a first glance I just loved the swirling colours. Then I noticed the outlines of the tree like shapes when I looked closer. Hence the name 'Dendrites'. Dendrite meaning a branching tree like structure - used in biology to name the branched sections of a nerve cell that lead to synapses.

This colourway is made up of both 21 micron merino and superfine 18.5 micron merino with the addition of some beautiful violet tussah silk.

Crossbills are the most odd looking birds when you look at them close up. As their name suggests, they have a bill that completely crosses over. This strange shape is to help them prise open pine cones and extract the seeds. These birds are protected in the UK, and are not often seen - I would love to spot one, but so far have not. This is because they spend most of their time at the top of conifer trees feeding.

I love the wonderful irridescent colours that you can see in the black plumage of the European Starling. When I saw this inspiration photograph I decided to try to put together a colourway based on the shades in the plumage, but MUCH more subtle. Therefore I blended together superfine (18.5 micron) black merino with some cobalt and purple tussah silk and some green bamboo. Finally I added some black Angelins to give just a little sparkle, but without distracting from the subtle shades of the silk and bamboo.

It has been a lovely autumn so far this year. I have really enjoyed walking around in the woodland spotting fungi amd wondering at the amazing colours of the leave. So, when I was asked to put together a colourway of the woodland floor, I jumped at the chance. The colourway 'Fallen' is the result.

This colourway is another designed for the 'Mother of Dragons' mini box. The colours in this AI image reminded me of the colours that may be present for a Sea Dragon, therefore I put together the specis name of Draco  (from the Greek name "drakon" meaning dragon) and Beryllus - Beryllus being Latin for precious stone of sea green colour. Which I felt was extremely apt.

This colourway is made from 21 micron merino in shades of intense blues, jades and greens blended with red eri silk, yellow eri silk and a sprinkling of Angelina.

This colourway was designed for a 'Mother of Dragons' mini box which was inspired by some AI images I put together of Dragon Eggs.

 This colourway i called Draco Vulcanis. I put together this 'species' name from Draco (from the Greek name "drakon" meaning dragon) and Vulcan being the Roman God of fire, blacksmithing and volcanoes. This is because the colours in the egg reminded me of the colour of maga within a volcano. The shade move from bright yellow, through oranges to red and then on to deep violet shades.

My dog, Albie, loves spending time watching the birds when at my Dad's house. The birds that arrive most often are some very large, and almost tame Wood Pigeons. They eat some much bird seed that I am surprised that they can still fly!

Despite their slightly 'bird brained' nature, they have a beautiful, soft coloured plumage. Gentle greys fading to a dusky pink. So, I decided to have a go at replicating their lovely colours.

The Azure Tit is a cute, tiny bird found in deciduous woodland in Russia, Central Asia and China. It is the eastern version of our own pretty Blue Tit.

I loved the fluffy plumage if this little bird, so I have made this blend a merino / llama blend, to give the spun yarn a slight halo. To maintain accurate colour shades, I have made the blend a 75% merino : 25% baby llama mixture. All of the batts have been carefully blended three times to make certain that the merino and llama are completely blended together

This rolag gradient set was designed for the 2024 Halloween Box, which was themed on ' Monsters and Magic'. This delicate, dusky gradient is based on an inspiration image of an intent, intimidating dragon head.

This is a 10 shade merino gradient, based on a blue/green/purple dragon, each rolag is 10g of 21 micron merino

You can now purchase this gradient as either a 100g rolag gradient set OR a 150g gradient batt set.

I have put together a couple of new colourways based on some inspiration images of dragon eggs. These stem from when I was looking for images for the Halloween Box themed on Monsters and Magic. The two new colourways are

Draco vulcanis - this is a rolag gradient set, based on an image of a dragon egg that seems to be being incubated within a volcano. The gradient set is made up of 11 different shades moving from golden yellow to a deep dusking purple. The gradient is made from beautifully soft, 21 micron merino and comes to 110g in total (10g per rolag)

This is the final colourway designed for the 2024 Halloween Box entitled 'Monsters and Magic'. I decided to put together an altogether different colourway, emphasizing elegance and serenity rather than the normal ghouls and horror for Halloween.

I loved the soft, gentle feeling of this Lady of the Lake image. So, I tried to put together an elegant, soft gradient to match.

The gradient is made of 21 micron merino, carefully blended with Pearl fibre and Angelina.

This is a 135g gradient made of 9 shades.

These rolags were designed for the 'Beauty of the Beastly' themed box. The colourways was inspired by the Mossy Frog.

Mossy Frogs are found in Vietnam. They are a species that lives in caves and have developed a great camouflage to blend in with the mosses. What I loved about the colouration of this frog was the combination of the shades of deep red and green.

These rolags are made from lovely soft merino, some shades are 21 micron, others are 18.5 micron, with the addition of a deep ruby tussah silk and a little recycled sari silk to give a little texture.

These rolags were designed for the Halloween Box for 2024, entitled 'Monsters and Magic. I wanted a colourway that would produce a really elegant looking yarn once spun. I took my inspiration from the image of an Elf in armour. I loved the almost monochrome image, and set out to make something a little special in monochrome.

These rolags are made from superfine merino (18.5 micron) with highlights using a beautiful silver mulberry silk, with the addition of a tiny bit of Angelina.

The merino in this blend will felt. If you do not wish it to, hand wash in cool water.

This colourway was designed for the 'Beauty of the Beastly' themed box. These beautiful little crabs have the common name of Vampire Crab as they have yellow eyes. These tiny crabs (about 1cm across) live on land, in the rainforests of Indonesia.

This gradient batt set is made from 2/3 merino blended with 1/3 tussah silk. This gives the  fibre, once spun, a beautiful sheen with lovely drape.

These rolags were first designed for the Monsters and Magic Halloween Box. The Wyvern is a two legged, winged dragon that is common in European folklore. The Wyvern is also frequently used as a mascot for schools and in heraldry.

These rolags are made from 21 micron and 18.5 micron merino - so they feel really soft. With the addition of golden tussah silk and black bamboo, with a sprinkling of Angelina for sparkle.

The merino in this blend will felt. If you prefer the fibres not to felt, hand wash in cool water.

These rolags were first designed for the @Beauty of the Beastly' Box. The colours are taken from the colouration for a Timber Rattlesnake. I loved the muted shades, with the addition of a beautiful golden tan shade.

These rolags are made from 21 micron merino, Black Welsh and Manx Loughtan fibres.

The final photograph shows some Rattler fibre spun up on my Turkish spindle. I really enjoyed spinning this blend, the addition of the Black Welsh and Manx Loughtan made the rolags open and easy to spin. You will receive 100g of rolags, not the spindle or yarn.

This extra large gradient was first made for the 'Beauty of the Beastly' themed box. The colourway is based on the colours found in the tentacles of a Portugese Man 'O War. The gradient is made of 18 different shades blended using soft, 21 micron merino.

The merino will felt, so handwash in cool water if you do not wish it to felt.

I was scrolling through my facebook feed a few weeks ago, and a beautiful photograph came up, purporting to be the Butterfly Nebula. I am grateful to the the person who, in the comments pointed out that this was an AI generated image. This meant that I then went down a very happy rabbithole to find out what the real images of the Butterfly Nebula were like.

The wild windswept dunes of the Solway Coast are a great place for wildlife and for walking. I love walking my dogs there - they can run around sniffing the sniffs and I can watch the wildlife seasons. Geese, curlews, oystercatchers and shellducks out towards the sea. Stonechats, blackcaps on the dunes - along with a vast variety of plantlife.

I am really quite pleased with this colourway. I could not find an image that I wanted (I had an idea itching away in my mind), but I eventually made this image using AI technology.... just the mental image I had of a Phoenix Feather!

I have made these rolags up using 18.5 micron merino and 21 microm merino in shades of orange and yellow, highlighted with sparkling blue mulberry silk and yellow Eri silk. I have also liberally added gold and blue Angelina for the plumage of this mythical bird.

I loved the soft, rose tinted shades of this photograph of showing sunset over Masazir Lake in Azerbaijan. The lake is saturated with salt, to the extent that mushroom shaped mounds of salt crystals have formed as the lake water evaporates.

The rolags are made from a range of pink and blush shades of 21 micron merino, with highlights of white Eri silk (which I find is as shiny as mulberry silk, but much easier to spin) and pops of intense pink tussah silk. You will recieve between 6-8 rolags in your 100g of fibre.

I found this image of a pink nebula on Unsplash. It took a number of attempts to match the colours properly, the dusky pink / lilac edge to the cloud is unusual and delicate, in contrast with the vivid  pinks in the centre of the nebula. I decided, instead of making rolags with random placing of shades, that I would try to place the shades as if I were cutting through the nebula from bottom left to top right.

I loved the damson and vivid pinks of this sunset. So I set to work to try to match the colours.

These rolags contain superfine merino (18.5 micron), 21 micron merino in shades of pink and purple, with streaks of natural yellow eri silk.

The merino in this blend will felt. If you do not want it to, hand wash in cool water.