I saw the most incredible photograph of a jellyfish by alexander-semenov. The colour transitions in the animal moving from turquoise at the top, through yellows, red tones, to purples back to deep blues just had to be made into a spinning gradient.

www.inspiration-now.com/jellyfish-by-alexander-semenov/

It has taken some time and experimentation to get the colours and transitions to look the way I want them, but this gradient batt set shows my final blend composition.

This listing is for just over 100g of beautifully soft and open roving that I made by pulling roving from my drum carder using a diz.

I took soft merino fibres in shades of dark gey and blues and blended them with blue and purple shades of tussah silk and Angelina.

The fibres were passed through the drum carder twice to blend the silk and merino fibres together slightly more, but still leaving streaks of colour. Finally the fibres were gently pulled through a diz to slightly pre-draft the fibres, and then carefully wrapped into easy to handle 'nests' for spinning.

These beautifully soft and fluffy batts are inspired by the sandy beaches where kids can made sand castles to their hearts content!

I took some gorgeous soft fawn Shetland fibre, that is sourced from the Shetland Islands, and carefully blended it with soft baby alpaca and mint fibre. I passed the fibres through the drum carded three times to ensure even blending. These are smooth batts from which any weight of yarn could be produced.

Hawthornes are extremely common as hedgerow plants. They brighten up the spring with their copious production of pretty white Mayflowers. In later summer, early autumn, the flowers have turned into hawes (berries) which give the shrub its name. They are a deep ruddy brown, with only a slight shimmer. Birds love these berries as a winter food source.

Shetland is a beautiful fibre. It has a longer staple length than Merino and the fibre in the batts remain more open and fluffy than Merino. These batts will be simply a joy to spin.

The Shetland fibres that I have put together in this blend are the finest that I can source. However, these fibres are not as soft as fibres like Merino and Rambouillet. They have a slightly crisper feel, which means that some people may find that they do not wish to wear them next to the skin.

As I was walking along the forest tracks around Beck Wythop, I noticed the cuttings that the Forestry Commission had had to make through the Skiddaw Slate.

Skiddaw Slate I have discovered was laid down almost 500 million years ago in a warm shallow sea, and in the intervening millennia, the soft sediments have been metamorphosed by tectonic forces and volcanic activity - producing this beautiful, shimmering, grey rock, with intrusions of rust brown iron oxide bands and white quartz running through it.

The Manx Loaghton sheep is a primitive breed that originated on the Isle of Man. It is a striking animal to encounter, as some individuals can have up to six horns! This is a rare native sheep breed of the UK, and almost went extinct in the 1970's. Happily there are now a number of flocks throughout the Isle of Man and the rest of the UK.

I have a cheeky little family of bluetits that frequent my birdfeeders. They fly in at high speed, grab a sunflower heart, and more often than not, head off to the nearest bush to hide.

They are so charming in their blue, green and yellow plumage, so here is a gradient in homage to my cheeky little friends.

There are 7 hand blended batts, which together make up just over 100g of soft squishy 21 micron merino fibre. The gradient moves from soft lemon yellow through pale green to a bright cheerful blue.

These fibres will felt.

One late morning in May, I was wandering through the woods with my dogs. The sun was shining through the leaves and I was happily taking photographs of all the wonderful shades of green around me.

I saw these beech leaves unrolling from their buds, and loved how the photograph came out. The freshness of their colour, and the unexpected bronze colouration of the breaking buds.

I loved the subtle greens, pinks and champagne colours in this Hydrangea. I have used soft 21 micron merino, tussah silks and wonderful baby llama to make these hand pulled roving nests.

The fibres were passed through the drum carder once, to ensure that the subtle colours were not mixed together too thoroughly. Then the batt was carefully dizzed from the drum carder to make these lovely open, easy to spin, roving nests.

This is the first colourway to come out of my lovely day at the Eskdale show. I call it 'Fellside Matriarch' as the Herwick lambs start off black and slowly turn a brownish red and eventually to a soft grey as they get older. The ewes that have won all of the ribbons must be at least 2 years old.

These ewes are extremely important to the flock, as they are the ones that are 'hefted' to the fell. When the ewes and lambs are returned to the fells after lambing the ewes 'teach' their offspring where their territory is on the open fellside.

These rolags are made from a spinners favourite fibre, Shetland. Shetland sheep are a primitive breed which are thought to date back over 1000 years when Norwegians settled in Shetland bringing their sheep which interbred with the native Soay type.

Shetland sheep come in numerous colours and markings, so I have taken white, grey, moorit (brown) and black Shetland fibres and combined them into these lovely springy rolags / punis.

You will receive 100g of rolags / punis in the 4 Shades of Shetland colourway.

The Shetland fibres will felt.

Once a fire has started to die down, the embers give off a rosy glow, with the occasional tongue of flame licking out between the black/grey charcoal remains. Crackling gently, this is the time I can easily be lulled to sleep.

These rolags are made from fine 21 micron merino fibres in shades of rose and grey, highlighted with yellow tussah silk and white faux cashmere to represent the tongues of flame. There is just a sprinkle of gold and red Angelina to give sparkle to the flame.

This gradient batt set is inspired by the colour of bluebells. Bluebells are not, as the name states, blue. They have, in certain light, lilac and pink hues.

This gradient batt set is made of 66% 21 micron merino in shades of grey, lilac and violet and 33% baby llama. The baby llama was to give a soft etherial feel to the blend, hinting at the soft misty light seen over bluebells at dawn.

If you would like to see some of the inspiration photographs that I used for this blend see my pinterest page;

https://uk.pinterest.com/carolhodgson201/bluebells/

Gentle Magnolia rolags - take 2! I can no longer source the wonderful alpaca silk base that I used for my previous rolags, so I wondered what I could use that would be as strikingly soft, white and shimmery.

I came up with one of my favourite combinations 50:50 Polwarth : Tussah silk - so dreamy to spin. I then made up the rolags in the same way using merino and tussah silk in shades of pink.

You will receive 100g of rolags in the Gentle Magnolia colourway. The merino and Polwarth fibres will felt, if you do not wish them to, hand wash in cool water.

As the autumn draws in, the bracken on the fellsides turns from a deep vibrant green, towards golden and russet hues. The western facing slopes then seem to glow in the evening sun like golden jewels in the last rays of the day.

These rovings are made of merino and Shetland fibres in shades of gold and russet blended with tussah silk in shades of green and then just a sprinkling of Angelina.

The roving is light and open, so will be straightforward to spin into a yarn, or felt, if that is desired.

Shetland fibre is one that is commonly used and loved by handspinners. I have taken Shetland fibres in natural shades and blended them together to form a smooth gradient moving from white to grey to moorit to black.

I noticed these abandoned nets when taking the dogs for a walk one sunny day recently. I loved the way the weathered colours wound together with highlights of orange stitching and white and turquoise ropes.

I have taken soft 21 micron merino and blended them together to echo the colours in these nets. To the merino I added baby llama and tussah silk.

You will receive 100g of rolags in the 'Discarded Nets' colourway.

These fibres will produce a soft warm yarn, and most of the fibres will felt.

I am a huge fan of BOO KNITS designs on Ravelry. She has just released a new place holder for a MKAL that starts on May 1st 2017. Her inspiration was the Wave-Gotik-Treffen festival in Germany, and the placeholder picture made my imagination fizz.

To see the place holder and find out about the MKAL go to

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/just-be-you

I have come up with this gothic inspired gradient moving from deep burgundy to the deepest midnight purple.

Masham sheep are crossbreds that have been produced for over 100 years primarily in the Northern Hills of England. They are named after the small town of Masham near Harrogate in North Yorkshire.

The sheep are normally produced by crossing a Teeswater tup with either a Swaledale or Dalesbred ewe. This is done to produce hardy offspring. In the process, beautiful fleeces are also produced. I was stunned when I had the opportunity to sink my hands into this Masham roving. As a hill breed, I expected it to have a much rougher handle. This is so soft and squooshy!

The theme of the Phat Fiber Box for April 2017 was Cupcakes and Candy. This gave me a great opportunity to visit some old fashioned sweetie shops to test out sweets for colours and taste ;-)

Eventually I decided to base my colourway on the penny sweets we used to be able to buy in the village shop which were called 'Flying Saucers'.

The flying saucers are made from a type of rice paper, with sherbet in the centre.

The photographs show two lovely, soft, bouncy batts, that together add up to 100g of fibre.

I used as a base organic falkland fibre which is divinely soft, and has more of a bounce and a longer staple length than merino. To this soft white fibre I added white baby llama, for even more luxurious softness and warmth.

I then added seacell and tussah silk for shine. The resulting batts are light and airy, with a greeny/blue hint, that reminds me of meltwater from a glacier.