Custom order only colourways

Based on the beautiful photograph of the sun, I have taken merino in vivid shades of yelow and orange and blended them carefully with tussah silks and golden Angelina for a little sparkle. The ratio of merino to silk is 75% merino : 25% silk. The addition of the silk will make the rolags a little easier to spin, due to the longer staple length of the silk. Also the silk will give the resulting yarn extra shimmer and drape.

Monet spent the final three decades of his life painting over 100 paintings of water lilies. I have taken the colour palette for this painting and converted it into a gradient batt set.

Each of the mini batts is carefully blended 21 micron merino. The batts can be unrolled, and then ripped into pieces. This means that you can make a gradient yarn with as many plies as you wish - all you have to do is to spin each bobbin with the same order of colours.

Ever since being asked to blend some fibres to represent the transition from a cygnet to a swan I have been plotting some special blends based on a Swan and her cygnets. The mute swan is a large, territorial bird who will attack even humans when they think their young are threatened.

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.

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.

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.

This blend was inspired by a beautiful wedding sari. Stunning blue silk with amazing amounts of golden embroidery.

I wanted to put together a blend which reflected the rich, bright colours of this sari, but also would produce a yarn that was as sumptuous and soft as the real thing.

This hand blended, hand pulled roving is made from 21 micron merino fibres, blended with mulberry silk (approximately 15%) and recycled sari silk (approximately 10%), all in shades of blue, although the sari silk has highlights of tiny turquoise, purple, and pink threads throughout.

I found a beautiful photograph of some banana flowers. I had no idea that banana flowers were this pretty. So I decided to set to, and blend colours together to make a gentle gradient from the colours in the blooms.

I purchased some extra fine BFL fibres. They are outstanding! So soft and silken to the touch. This meant that the only fibre I could dream of blending them with was silk.

Therefore I have carefully blended the BFL fibres with tussah silks in shades of yellow, white, pinks and purples to produce these soft, floral hues.

These batts will easily spin up into fine yarn, that will drape and give a fantastic shimmer. The blend throughout the gradient is 33% tussah silk, 66% BFL. Just the blend for a fine lace shawl.

Monet spent the final three decades of his life painting over 100 paintings of water lilies. I have taken the colour palette for this painting and converted it into a gradient rolag.

Each rolag is made by carefully blending 7 colours of soft, 21 micron merino. These blended fibres were then placed onto a blending board to form a gradient moving from a light pink lilac to a deep, rich green, moving through pinks and deep blues in the process.

I was asked to put together a gradient batt set to bring to mind the bright cheerful colours of fields of sunflowers.

This gradient is made up of 10 batts that together add up to just over 150g of 21 micron, lusciously soft merino fibre. It starts off with a bright citrus green depicting the centre of a newly opened flower, moving out to a warm yellow / orange of the anthers, leading on to the bright cheery yellows of the petals.

The theme for the Phat Fiber Box for June 2017 is Solstice.

Solstices are about transitions. The transition between night and day, summer and winter. In our past the Sun was vitally important to our ancestors during midsummer, to ensure a good harvest.

However, so was water. Therefore, I took my inspiration from sunrise over water.

To see the photograph which gave me my inspiration for these rolags, go to

www.facebook.com/dukegledhillphotography/photos/a.1442975699086031.1073741828.1433290213387913/1445947352122199/?type=3

This gradient set is a shorter version of the Shepherd's Warning Gradient Set. It is based on an especially impressive sunrise that I managed to photograph before setting off for work one autumn morning.

This gradient set comprises of seven mini batts that move from a pale yellow colour, through gold to a deep apricot colour. The fibre is 21 micron merino which is wonderfully soft and smooth. Great care has been taken to make sure that the fibres are well blended so that the gradient is smooth and even.