Happy Friday everybody! Its been another exciting busy week here with lots of new carding, blending and dyeing. The new quarter of art journey clubs are starting again this month so that means heaps of extra prep work and getting everything from pigments to fibres and yarns, organised and ready. I will post a teaser label of the April clubs over the weekend so all of you can see what art journey adventures we will be getting into this month. I hope everybody will enjoy the fibery solar eclipse i have organised for you on Monday, since all of us here in Australia will be missing out ..read more

   Wishing all of you a wonderful, happy, hoppy, crafty Easter with lots of fun! I’ve been a bit slack these last few weeks..well, with writing blogs I mean, not with dyeing, spinning or doing everything to keep the shop happening. Who knew that having an online shop would be soooooooo much work? I should’ve known of course, because that is what happens when you make everything you sell (well apart from the Ashford wheels etc..) and of course I can never stick to repeating the same colourways or products. I always think of something new and exciting that needs a lot of extra work ..read more

  It’s been a roller coaster ride again as usual. I have been dyeing and blending and spinning lots of fibres and oh wait til you see what is in store tonight  !!!  The teaser label for the March club has been released but just in case you haven’t seen it yet, here it is:  I just love this painting from  1559 which apparently has about 140plus proverbs hidden in it. The more you look, the more you see. Can you find the woman holding the distaff and the woman spindling? What are they whispering to each other I wonder?  The March clubs will be read ..read more

  Can you believe this is the last Friday of the month already?! Which means: last super special sheep breed shop update ! This week is all about a super rare sheep breed, which lived on a sinking island. This is their story:  What I am offering you tonight is one of those special stories that just grabbed my imagination. This blog is about ancient peoples, lands left by all and left to be roamed by once domesticated animals…. a story about rescue and …some very nice sheep. During the 16th century, explorers from Europe found a rich new continent, which had plentiful supplies of ..read more

  It’s not as cold as in the photo above, with these cute rare sheep from Norway, but the Australian weather is definitely having some problems: heatwaves mingled with sassy storms, hail and then a scorcher again, only to drop down again…We were immensely lucky that we were only out of power one day, but there are still people who have not gotten their electricity back since the big scary storm on Tuesday. Oh and we had a wee earthquake before that! I almost forgot..lol I’m going to repeat myself again and say it’s been super busy here again. Extra busy now because all the rare sheep bree ..read more

  New colourway "Baby Lochness" on North Ronaldsay blend tops What an exciting week : lots and lots of dyeing, new blends, spinning and making stitchmarkers plus the February club! It’s all happening ! This weekend I will be posting all the info and the teaser label of the February club..should have done that sooner, but as usual I’m running out of time…all the time…lol Btw, The Club sign ups are open on the IxCHeL shop. The New Art Journey clubs are starting up again in April 2024 with loads and loads more inspirational art works translated onto yarn and fibres. Please let me know if you ..read more

    This is my first blog post of 2024! No, I have not been abducted by aliens ..although the colourway "area 51" might suggest otherwise, but I could not help myself ! LOL January seems to totally have passed me by in regards to writing blogs. It is not that i have not been busy or sipping cocktails at a beach somewhere, holidaying like a normal person..no, it is that in  my mind over the two years I have now been doing this website shop thing, the "automation" (meaning having a virtual shop) is not only taking me a LOT more time to manage, but also has made me veer away t ..read more

  It’s all about….well… happiness and gratitude in this blog. In between all the chaos, mayhem, wars (yes, plural heartbreak) and all the hard times, there is always something..some little thing..some infinitesimal, tiny thing that can make us smile.  At this moment for me, even though I’m in pain and have to admit I can hardly walk, I am cracking jokes (a fab coping mechanism I know..lol), but I am also super inspired by the amazing beauty all around me and the amazing support I have received from all of you. I’m filled with gratitude and love and thank each and every one of you fo ..read more

  It’s that time of year where I am looking forward to having a little breather, take up my knitting and spinning, and create new adventures for the new year! All this year’s art journey club productions are dyed, shipped and done (more on that later next week), major shop updates for this year are nearing their end with tonight Friday, December 15th being the last blog and fresh product update for this year AND the twelve days of Christmas event is over, shipped and a big donation has been taken care of ♥️ Thanks to all of you who have enthusiastically shown their support for the yearl ..read more

  It would be an understatement to say (or sing!) : it’s starting to look a lot like Christmas in the studio and packing area.  There is Christmas wrapping paper everywhere, Xmas stickers, boxes, parcel bags. Parcels being packed, and sorted (by super Xmas Elf Paul !) into bays of “to ship” and “to stash til the 12 days of Christmas event is over and if that is not all..I’m still dyeing and spinning orders and custom orders, and Paul is still at his lathe trying to produce as many spindles as he possibly can. In short: “hectic” sounds more like it here. And, just in case you were won ..read more