Tag: Natural Yarns

An Epic Case of Procrastinating

Happy December everyone!! It’s good to be back! More than a year has passed and I have been agonising over this website and blog for many many months. An epic case of procrastinating!I’ve not even ventured into it because of my own disappointment in my apathy. Along with that goes my self-judgement and agonising over neglecting all you yarn- and fibre-craft-lovers and hopelessly letting you down.

But I have finally taken the leap, ripped my head out of the sand and updated the Yarns and Fibre Artists.

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Image by Deon van Wyk

Crochet for CANSA 2019 – Unforgettable!

I had the wonderful fortune of being invited by a friend (and immensely special person…my sister-from-another-mother) to join her and a friend at the Crochet for CANSA 2019 fund-raising event in Pretoria on Saturday. What an unforgettable experience! Worth every second of the drive from Johannesburg. I do believe that, having been to this one, I’d be willing to travel from even further away, if I had to.

Classes? And other happenings…

Helloooo Yarn-Lovers! I’ve been agonising for a few weeks over how to add a separate page to my blog for yarn-craft classes. My concern has been keeping it continuously up to date, amongst other things. So I’ve decided to just do a regular (maybe monthly?) blogpost with details of upcoming classes all over SA. If you host or offer classes, and would like to add yours, please do send me details and I’ll gladly add it. I’ll be posting crafting classes next week, so keep an eye out.

I Love Yarn Retreat

I’m particularly looking forward to (and nervous about) the I Love Yarn Retreat this weekend. It’s being held at Shangri-La Country Hotel & Spa in Modimolle (took me a while to realise that it’s the town that used to be called Nylstroom). It’s going to be a laaarge group of yarn-crafters (about 30, I think). Hence my nervousness. Big groups of people are overwhelming for me, but it’s good to get out of my comfort zone occasionally…Digiprove sealCopyright protected by Digiprove © 2018 Brenda Olwagen

Play with dyeing yarn! And kids-holiday-classes :-)

Hello Yarn-Lovers! The October school break is nearly upon us! Yay for holidays and some “R & R”! Whether you have kids or not, it’s always good to get some inspiring ideas on new things to try on your days off, whether it’s over the weekend or on a holiday break at home. Something I know many people are keen to try is dyeing yarn. Maybe you are too? It’s also a great creative and fun activity to do with kids. Something that I’ll be doing with my girls during the October break. Having tried it before, I do recommend adding it to your list of yarn-related things to try out and play with. Even if only just once.

Trying your hand at dyeing…

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Long time no see!

Hellooooo dear yarn lovers. Long time no see! It has been a few too many weeks since I last chatted with you. Almost feels like I’ve lost my blog-voice and need to find it again.

It sure has been an eventful (ie: challenging) few weeks with a sick new kitten that infected one of our older cats, our dog-let (actually a biggish border collie) needing surgery, sick kids and other health issues, broken gate, hacked e-mail, dad unexpectedly at the emergency room and… The list of drama actually goes on. Some of it has been the usual daily mishaps and goings-on, but there have been an unusual number of humdinger disasters in-between. Which made me wonder – how has this past month been for you? Whether or not it’s been a tough one for you too, here’s a virtual hug for you 🤗. Everyone can do with a hug, even when you’re feeling on top of the world!  

Clearly this is not Wonder Woman’s blog. Nope, I don’t get everything magically done (I wish!) in between whatever chaos may be happening around me. Come to think of it, I’m not sure even Wonder Woman actually has time for her own blog. It’s at times like these that I envy people with gazillions of Pounds, Euros, Dollars or even Rands who can pay multitudes of other people to deal with it when the paw-paw flies non-stop at the fan. But I’ll spare you the rest of the drama details, because in between all of that was a lot of good stuff, too…Digiprove sealCopyright protected by Digiprove © 2018 Brenda Olwagen

The gift of an Indie-dyer…

Hallo yarn-lover!

I hope you’ve had a great week so far. Just 2 more week-days / work-days to go.

My girls and I just can!not!wait! for this weekend and the Alliepad Alpakkas Farm Visit and Fibre Festival (details on the Events page). I’m so looking forward to a wonderful day out in the Magaliesberg, to the classes, workshops and demonstrations, and to drooling over the hand crafted alpaca-fibre goods and everything on offer from Baah Yarns & Fibre Arts, Linda’s Treehouse, Umbala Handpainted Yarns, Karoo Moon, The Yarn Tree, Craft Academy, Glynis Brooke, L.J. Craft Creations and Stitch Please.

It’ll be the first time I’ll be visiting the alpaca farm, and it’s long overdue. I met the lovely Louisa at a weaving course at the beginning of the year and have been wanting to visit her for ages. But time is a fickle beast – it passes way faster than it theoretically should and somehow there just isn’t enough of it when you need it. I first just need to get through this week with my heart still in my chest…Digiprove sealCopyright protected by Digiprove © 2018 Brenda Olwagen