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

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!

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