BB's News

Merino/Tencel

August 27, 2024

Dear Weavers

It has been a while and a lot has happened. To be precise it is four months since I last wrote a blog post. That is terrible! I better get going then....

The biggest news is probably that I have finally, finally managed to put the Merino/Tencel yarn online. The whole yarn range with 21 colours is now available and ready to be purchased. I say finally because I promised many people that I would do this soon and then "life" came in between... It always takes quite a large junk of my time to put a new yarn range online with all its colours, photos, examples, prices, tags, description and shipping until everything is the way I want it. But anyway, I have managed and the Merino/Tencel is now there. The Merino/Tencel is quite a special type of yarn. It makes beautiful scarves or fabrics and is absolutely gorgeously soft!!! The yarn is half cellulose and half protein fibre. Which makes it a very interesting yarn to use. The cellulose, Tencel gives it the beautiful shine and the protein, wool makes it irresistibly soft. For weavers who like to dye their yarns, this one will give you a challenge. I used cellulose dyes for my test and of course then the wool didn't really take the dye very well. But instead of looking odd, it gives the yarn a really interesting uneven look, a certain shine comes through. See below

For some unexplained reasons the colours of the Merino/Tencel yarn change quite frequently. Some of the colours put online now (they have an asterisk next to the number) will only be available as long as stock lasts. But the good thing about this is that for every colour no longer available will be a new colour appearing. And I can tell you that I already have received some of the new colours!!! So watch this yarn line carefully, it will change there so often and reveal new amazing colours. But for now please feel free to have a look at the yarn, try it out and experiment. I used it at 16epi. What are you going to do?

Go to www.bbyarn.com and look for the Merino/Tencel yarn or simply click on one of the above pictures.

Life has been rather busy lately: A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to give a beginner weaving workshop in Maryborough QLD. The workshop was held in the most extraordinary place I have ever given a workshop in. It was in a beautiful gallery room surrounded by amazing artwork. We even had Einstein at the back wall!! If you do not feel inspired to learn a craft in a space like that, then I don't know. I had 7 very enthusiastic new weavers, most of them have woven before just a little bit and wanted to know more. There was only one person which has never woven before and was very happily weaving at the end of the two days. I quite enjoy teaching beginner weaving workshops and showing these new weavers what this wonderful craftmanship is all about. It is not rocket science... only many, many steps to learn from warping to weaving! Here are some impressions:

In other exciting news: I've got myself another loom! Yes, you read right... This one was an offer I simply couldn't refuse. It is basically my dream loom and funny enough I received an email from another weaver asking me, if I know someone who would be interested in that loom!!! Yes, me! The loom is a computerised Toika Eeva loom with 24 shafts. No serious weaver can resist that. Because I didn't want my studio to be overfilled with large looms, I had to get rid of one of my trusty looms. The computerised Mecchia dobby loom 8 shafts is at the moment in pieces back in the little house. I will eventually look for a weaver who might be interested but I needed to see first if this Toika loom would suit me. Not that I really had any doubts, but you never know. I did have to make some adjustments to the new addition, but I have now already woven 3 projects on it and the loom is working beautifully! Extremely happy with it. I'm rather spoilt with shafts now. No more saving and turning patterns to match it with my 8 shafts. I can indulge in an abundance of shafts. It is actually quite a new experience for me. One project I recently did was trying out all 24 shafts using some colours of the UKI pearl cotton, see below.

Winter up here on our hill seems to have evaporated. We did have some cold days in June/July but in August we received an unexpected rain. We had 85mm! Even the creek getting into Michelles road was flooded and we were cut off for a day. From then on the temperatures started to raise and today we had 30 degrees. In August! Very strange. It makes you wonder what the coming summer is going to be like. But nature up here seems to dwell and all the bushes suddenly unpacked their flowers. It is just simply beautiful right now! Grevillea, bottle brushes and wattle flowers everywhere, gum trees are bursting with flowers, bees humming all day long and every single bird is chirping and singing. I couldn't live at a nicer place. Spring is here!

That is all from me. Stay safe everyone and until next time...

Happy weaving

Ursula

Read more →

0 comments

Tags: Australian bush, BB Yarn Supply, BB's news, Cellulose, Colour combinations, Colourful, Colours, Different yarns, Hand weaving, Handweaving, Handwoven, Learn how to weave, Looms, Merino/Tencel, Peaceful, Quiet, Soft, Softness, Weaving, Weaving studio, Weaving yarn supply Australia, Weaving yarns, Workshop, Yarns, Yarns Australia

Bambu 12 & Bambu 7 yarn

March 26, 2024

Look, look, look we have a new yarn available online! The Bambu 12, the little sister of Bambu 7 is here!

Read more →

0 comments

Tags: Bamboo, Bambu, Bambu 12, Bambu 7, BB Yarn Supply, BB's news, Colourful, Craftsmanship, Different yarns, Drape, Fine yarn, Hand weaving, Handweaving, Handwoven, Learn how to weave, Online weaving course, Soft, Softness, Weaving, Weaving yarn supply Australia, Weaving yarns, Yarns, Yarns Australia

Sample cards

February 07, 2024

Read all about the handmade sample cards from BB Yarn Supply. Each yarn has its own sample card with all its colours on it. Love colours? You need one of those!

Read more →

0 comments

Tags: Australian bush, Bambu 7, BB Yarn Supply, BB's news, Cards, Colour combinations, Colourful, Colours, Cottolin yarn, Cotton, Cotton 20/2, Different yarns, European yarn, Fine yarn, Hand weaving, Handweaving, Handwoven, NeL 22/2, Quiet, Sample, Sample cards, Weaving, Weaving yarn supply Australia, Weaving yarns, Workshop, Yarns, Yarns Australia

My weaving shed

January 19, 2024

Two looms

Dear Weavers

I hope you all had a wonderful festive season and started the new year relaxed with lots of creative ideas and amazing plans for 2024.

I have used the time between Christmas and New Year to make the move into my new weaving studio complete. We, my husband and I managed to finish two lots of steps/entrances to the doors. One entrance even received a proper porch, little roof and large steps. I already lost track on how many times I have walked up these steps by now. It's wonderful to have this grand entrance!

Porch

My office is now also moved into the weaving shed and with it everything regarding BB Yarn Supply, including the correspondence course and 8+. The weaving shed now has everything in one place.

Yarn storage

All of BB Yarn Supply with all its yarns and accessories is now here, my three looms are finally all in one room and all the Glui7 materials are here too. By the way this is the first time all three looms are together in one room. I can now jump from one loom to the other quite easily. This is now truly a weaving place only (except for the orchids...). My happy place!

Warping mill & orchids

I like to have all the looms occupied with something. I am totally aware, that one can only weave on one loom at a time, but I don't like looking at a "naked" loom. So therefore this was the first thing I worked on, making a warp for each one of them. At the moment the small computerised Mecchia has the t-towels for the shadow weave workshop on it. The large computerised Mecchia has a white warp on it for a fabric to make caps. It is the same kind of fabric like the pullover scarves, but only one layered. The Glimakra is about to have a 10m warp for turned twill t-towels wound on. Whenever a visitor is stepping into the studio, there will be something to see and nobody has to imagined how these looms are suppose to work. I am more than happy to give a quick demo and show someone what these looms can do. Over the festive season I already had two interested visitors in my studio.

Jeff's warp Small loom

My plans for the future, probably not quite this year maybe next, would be to open the studio for weavers to enjoy workshops right here. I have three looms to work on, so I'm thinking to give private workshops for one or two weavers at the time. Not just a day, probably from two day to a week long stay, to have time to concentrate on a topic in great length. A week of weaving in a relaxed and peaceful place for you to enjoy. Weaving from morning until night, no interruptions and chores to do. Only the accommodation has not been solved yet, but this can be sorted in the nearby town of Gin Gin. What do you think? Would you be willing to come here for a weaving retreat?

Magazine corner

So what is in my weaving studio apart from the three looms? There is a great large table for designing or cutting fabrics. My newest edition is a brand new vertical warping mill from Toika, 4m circumference for easy and quick warping. Cupboards and shelves full of yarns. Reading corner with lots of magazines. A mannequin for testing a new form of clothing or take perfect photos. A tv for presentations or watching inspiring videos. The studio is airconditioned for hot days. Beautiful view out the windows.

Stilleben

Enough writing, I better go and do some weaving.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the photos.

Ursula

Sticks

Read more →

0 comments

Tags: Australian bush, BB Yarn Supply, Colour theory, Colours, Drafting, Hand weaving, Handweaving, Handwoven, Holiday, Learn how to weave, Looms, Peaceful, Quiet, Support, Weaving, Weaving course, Weaving studio, Weaving yarn supply Australia, Weaving yarns, Workshop, Yarns, Yarns Australia

Lots of good news

November 15, 2023

Dear Weavers

What happens when you have fun? The time goes by really, really fast! It is somehow the wrong way around. When you have fun, the time should go really, really slow. That way one could enjoy it more. But no, it goes really, really fast and in a blink of the eye it is a memory. That is how I feel at the moment. I have lots of good news for you! Let's start with the best news first:

My new weaving studio is finished and all three looms have been moved! Yes it's true! Unbelievably exciting. I still can't believe this space all belongs to me alone. My new happy place!! Here is the first sneak peak...

There are still couple of small things that need to happen like the new shelves for my yarn stock, my office still has to be moved, air-condition installed and sewing nook to be established. But the main thing has happened, the looms have been taken apart, carried up the hill to the studio and reassembled. They are all obviously "naked" and in desperate need for a warp! This will be my work for the next couple of weeks. All three looms need to have a warp on, otherwise I am not happy. Yes I know, you can only weave on one loom at the time, but it is just nice to have a choice to where you would like to weave. Don't you think so?

For the next news I would like to introduce to you the new cotton NeC 20/2. It is a very fine and soft cotton yarn for delicate weaving. Since UKI doesn't produce 20/2 cotton any more I had to look for a new supplier of this versatile yarn. This new cotton yarn comes from Switzerland and is available in white and black. Even when you touch the bobbin, it feels soft and cuddly. Weaving with it is a pleasure. I just recently used it for some samples and a t-towel. Very easy to use, no problem and no broken ends at all. I used it with a sett of 40epi or 16epcm. The cotton 20/2 is so fine that it is suitable for many things especially for producing fabric for clothing. For example vests, pants or skirts, shirts or even a scarf. But the cotton 20/2 is also good for kitchenware like placemats, t-towels, dishtowels, dish cloth or napkins. In the photo at the top of this blog post you can see bookmarks made with cotton 20/2.

Danish dance group: The red fabric was woven by me with cotton 20/2 in the warp

This crepe scarf has crammed and spaced warp with cotton 20/2

T-towel in Bumberet pattern

Stitched Double weave with cotton 20/2

I am sure there are many, many more examples for this beautiful yarn. It is available at www.bbyarn.com on 100g bobbins for $21.90. For more information click on any of the photos above to get straight to the right page.

In the middle of October about half of the weavers from last years weaving seminar met up in Hervey Bay for a relaxing reunion. Lidia from the Hervey Bay spinners, weavers and fibre artists group hosted a lovely meeting with very yummy morning tea on Saturday morning. We had time to exchange and inspire each other with things we have done since the workshop. It was amazing to see what creations have been produced with Deflected Double Weave. It made me feel really happy to see so many tackle DDW. Even weavers who mentioned never to weave DDW again, picked it up and produced something amazing. After the meeting we visited the Hervey Bay regional gallery to find new inspiration and then we had lunch at the beach. In the afternoon Lidia invited a couple of us to her home to inspect her brand new computerised Toika extension to her Glimakra loom. Very impressive to watch and we all left with new loom envy... The evening was spent at the harbour restaurant with good food and a glass of wine.

In the morning we were surprised by Sue who organised a fantastic pink breakfast for breast cancer awareness. With the stomach full of sweets, we said goodbye and only Joy and I drove a little bit further north to Childers where we visited Wagtail Yarns and their Angora goats. I will write about Wagtail yarns in another future blog post, because what I've discovered there will fill another couple of pages. Very exciting. Overall this weekend was fulfilled with lots of laughter and each others inspiration. And for once we all had time to just chat weaving all day. Nowhere to run to, just time to enjoy each others companies, make future plans and collect new ideas. We should do this again and in a new place to discover! Who is willing to host us next time?

At the beginning of November I was invited by the spinners & weavers group in Gympie to their picnic day. What a lovely day that was! The day was filled with lots of chats with other weavers and crafters, making new contacts, excellent food, fantastic show & tell and a very exquisite trivia. With another blink of an eye the day was gone. See what I mean, why does time fly when you have fun? It really should be the other way around. And so it takes me back to the beginning or to the end of this blog post.

What have you been up to? Tell me your news, write a comment on this blog post or on BB Yarn Supply's facebook page.

Take care and happy weaving

Ursula

Read more →

0 comments

Tags: BB Yarn Supply, BB's news, Cotton, Cotton 20/2, Fine yarn, Hand weaving, Handweaving, Handwoven, Weaving, Weaving seminar, Weaving yarn supply Australia, Weaving yarns, Workshop, Yarns, Yarns Australia

BB's News / Handweaving

Merino/Tencel

Bambu 12 & Bambu 7 yarn

Sample cards

My weaving shed

Lots of good news