Dear Weavers

I hope you all had a wonderful festive season and started the new year with good health & happiness. It is somehow hard to believe we now have the year 2025. Wasn't it only just 2000, 2010, 2015 and 2020? I actually remember writing 2015 for the date and now we simply have another 2 to add. Where does the time go? This sounds so cliché, but it is really like that.... where does the time go??? I really don't know.... there just doesn't seem to be enough of it.

It has been a while since I wrote the last blog post. Every year starts good and I manage to write regular posts. But once we get to the second half of the year, it seems to get busier and busier and my good intentions slip away. This makes me feel bad. Maybe yes I put too much pressure on myself thinking that this blog needs to have new posts all the time. I admire the blog post writers who manage to produce a post every single month, very prompt and regular. Then on the other side I look at this blog as my way to let my immediate thoughts go and maybe even collect new ones? It is a great way to sum up what happened over the last weeks or months. I like that. It is a way to see what has happened and at the same time look forward what is going to happen.

So let's see what has happened since my last post: 

September saw me housesitting for my "adopted mum" in Bundaberg and looking after her two Labradors. I arrived to an awful loud noise in the house and had to work out that the fan at the back of the fridge was in pieces. So no fridge! Thank goodness I had my little camping fridge in the car to plug in and use.... I then spent most of the week trying to fix this fridge. Which I managed! When the house owner came back the fridge was working again like normal. But what I remember most of this time were the many walks with the dogs and having them snoring at my feet while watching tv. 

End of September I was back in Maryborough at the Gatakers Artspace to give the second workshop in conjunction of the Hervey Bay Spinners, Weavers & Fibre artists exhibition. This time it was a more advanced workshop to create a weaving picture. I showed the participants how to have a silhouette picture on paper and turn it into weaving by using the double weave pick up method. It was quite challenging for many of them, but it was amazing to see the penny drop for one after the other. Weaving can have so many faces. One day it can be simple/fast and next day it is complicated/slow. Whatever we create it always opens new doors/ideas. It was fascinating to see what each participant created. Even months after I get messages from someone to show me what has been woven from my workshop. Very satisfying for me to see.

The beginning of November saw me travelling down south to Lismore to give a workshop for the weavers of this area. This time it was all about Shadow weave. The weavers came from all over the area. The workshop was taking place in Wollongbar, which is somewhere in between Lismore and Ballina. What a beautiful part of Australia, lush green and friendly people. The workshop I have prepared was all about on how to design your own shadow weave, how to create the pattern with the help of the many samples I presented. Each participant ended up with a hand towel with several shadow weave blocks designed by themselves. At the end of the two days everybody was happy to go home and finish the weaving. What a lovely group this is! I wish I had a group like this here. Thank you to the Lismore weavers for the hospitality and keep on weaving. 

After the workshop in Wollongbar I spent a couple of days in the area to chill out before the next event. I spent one day with Helen in Ballina, which was amazing. We went for a walk in the morning and I even saw dolphins swimming near the pier! Just magical.

I then moved on back to Brisbane to give another workshop. This time I was met by many known faces, old weaving friends and students. It was so good to see them all again! But thank goodness for the airconditioned room. Brisbane was hot and humid and the noise!!! When we lived there it was just normal to hear the constant noise of cars and trains. But now after living up here in the peaceful quietness for so long, it was really hard to cope with the city noise. Apart from that, I had a really good time there. Thank you Kumi for hosting me and for the lovely, lovely chats (we talked weaving and weaving and more weaving for hours....) and great food.

As soon as I was home we started to get visitors from near and far. At the end of November long time friends from Switzerland arrived to stay with us for a weekend. It made me aware that my swiss isn't as fluid as it used to be. (We've migrated to Australia over 25 years ago, so it makes sense.) But we had a wonderful time catching up on all Swiss, Australia, our families and work. Who knows when we are going to see each other again. Thanks Myriam and PA for dropping by.

Then came Christmas and the New Year. And here we are. So what is 2025 going to bring? I don't know, we'll see... I have some ideas and most of all my fingers are itching of all the things I have in mind to weave. Watch the space. Follow me on Instagram (bbyarnsupply) or Facebook (BB Yarn Supply) to see and hear it first.

Until the next time, happy weaving everyone!

Ursula

I wish you all a very peaceful and safe festive season. May Santa Claus bring you lots of creative goodies this year to cheer you up after this crazy year.

BB Yarn Supply will be closed from the 19th of December to the 3rd of January.

Online orders can still be placed but will only be processed on the 3rd of January.

Thank you for supporting my business, every order received is valued and I am looking forward to another great year with you.

Happy weaving

Ursula

Dear Weavers and lovers of a handwoven product 

How does the Abba song go.... "I have a dream...a song to sing" Well I actually do have a dream and maybe even a song to sing. My dream has been brewing for a long time. This idea (ideas) has been in my head for as long as I can weave. Eventually over the last couple of years I collected all the courage I had and started working on it. My thoughts were that if I don't do this now, I will regret it one day. Even if it doesn't turn out the way I want it, I have at least tried. Courage, courage...

So here I am: I am launching my own designer line, my brand of handwoven products called Glui7. This designer line includes all my functional handwoven articles produced on a production level. I call it "Glui7 Uniquely Handwoven".

It is a collection of articles 100% handmade, unique and produced with love. Each article is made by my hands, the fabric woven on my looms and finished in my own studio in Brisbane. All articles are produced with the highest quality and only available in limited editions. Every product is made out of natural fibres and tested for durability and functionality. That is

My first product available for sale is the messenger bag made out of handwoven cotton fabric. This is a very modern and functional messenger bag. The bag features are:

• Colour stripes on flap with matching coloured straps and lining
• Cable for power bank with USB connection from inside of bag to outside
• Exchangeable flap and straps
• Foam padded for extra strength and form
• Magnetic closures
• 7 inside pockets including zipper pocket for valuables
• And lots more

For more information go to www.glui7.com

So here we are, I've done it!

This is only the first article of hopefully many to come. My head is still full of ideas and I can't wait to put them all together to show you. I am truly delighted to produce these handwoven products for you. I want everyone to see, that real handmade products are still here and "the throw away society" can be avoided. Handweaving is one of the oldest craftsmanship and it is still alive. At the end of the day it is also an art form. With my products you will be using and wearing a piece of art with you every day!

Please visit my new website www.glui7.com and send me your comments. I would love to hear what you think. And of course the Glui7 messenger bag is ready and can be bought straight from the website or give me a call on 0402 973 655.

Please stay safe and happy weaving everyone

Ursula

BB' s News

Dear Weavers

This month I would like to discuss the bamboo yarn. A lot of weavers seem to be rather skeptical about this yarn. I am actually not quite sure why, is it because the yarn is "man-made" or is it because it is hard to believe that it could actually be a real bamboo plant?

BB Yarn Supply sells a 100% bamboo fibre yarn called Bambu7 ^TM. It is truly made out of bamboo! Really. The Bambu trademark from Silk City, USA insists on cultivation from sustainable and environmentally-sound vegetation. Bambu yarn is 100% cellulose and similarly produced like a rayon or viscose yarn. It is called "man-made" because the yarn is not spun from fibre. The bamboo is cut into a pulp and then pressed through a very fine jet to produce the yarn. The Bambu yarn is also free of pesticide and chemical fertilizing.

Bamboo is known for its skin friendly abilities. In the shops you can now buy socks, baby ware, T-shirts and underwear made out of bamboo. It is because bamboo has the ability to be suitable for any skin problems. And this is not all, bamboo is also really easy to look after. It can be washed in the warm washing machine with no problems. It might be stiff when it comes out of the machine, but after drying in the shade, all it needs is a good shake and hot iron. The fabric will be back to its normal softness and shine.

A fabric woven out of bamboo has a beautiful drape and extraordinary softness. I haven't met anybody who didn't go "uhh" and "ahh" when touching the fabric. It is simply stunning. I always tend to explain to customers that bamboo feels to me like something between silk and tencel.

Can you feel me, yes I love bamboo and I have worked with this yarn many, many times and still not enough. It is one of my absolute favourites.

When I started BB Yarn Supply I always said that I only ever going to have natural yarns for sale. No rayon or polyester. Well I think I still do, because the Bambu yarn is still 100% cellulose or bamboo. There is nothing not natural about it. Let's face it, because it is "man-made" it doesn't mean it's artificial. It is just another way of producing a yarn. Yes, there might have been chemicals involved to produce the yarn. But this doesn't mean the chemicals are still in the yarn. How can it be so good for your skin otherwise?

The only thing to be careful with bamboo is the sett for weaving. If you have a too high sett for your project, it can get heavy and you end up with something nice and shiny, but rather heavy. Bamboo yarn has the same feel in weaving like tencel, it is as slippery and flat. There is not much elasticity in the yarn and advise you to loosen your warp, if you not weaving. If you leave a bamboo yarn warp under tension for too long, it will get loose and you end up with tension problems.

My favourite sett for Bambu 7 is 16epi and ppi, a balanced fabric. The yarn comes in 36 stunning colours to choose from. It runs 4247m/kg and a 100g spool goes for $16.90. The yarn is suitable for weaving, knitting and crocheting.

If there is someone out there who is by any chance reading this blog and is not a weaver, maybe a knitter, I would be very interested to hear how the Bambu 7 behaves in other crafts. Let me know at sales@bbyarn.com I would be very happy to have you included into my monthly blog with some productive comments.

Maybe for some weavers this Bambu 7 yarn might be too modern or out of the ordinary. I like to go with the time and try out new things. What is that saying.... if you never, never try, you will never, never know! Have a try and give Bamboo a chance. Click on any Bambu 7 or picture and it will take you straight to the shop.

Happy weaving

Ursula

BB's news