The postlady waddled up to my door yesterday with an extra bag attached to her little trolley. Inside, two big parcels - just for me! That's dedication, and I told her so in my weird mix of Spanish and Catalan (Spanalan?) - she briefly laughed and went on her way, while I closed the door as nonchalantly as I could, before sprinting upstairs to rip open the packaging.


I made quite a big order at Fondant Fibre - the lovely Deb had reserved some items for me due to a small lack of funding on my part. Oops. But, finally rolling in that holla-dolla, I bought my long-awaited fluff and it's even nicer than I could have hoped for.

The Bakery Collection was just adorable - it was available in full-size braids, or as a mini taster set. The colour that most appealed to me was Cherry Bakewell, and no website photo can do it justice. It's a mix of Merino, Teeswater, baby alpaca, mulberry silk and bamboo (30/30/15/15/10) and it's so incredibly soft. If angel hair was marketed for spinners, this is what it may well feel like. The reds, pinks, creams and white all blend together for a candy-cane effect. At first I was hesitant, but I'm so glad I bought it. Even if just to stroke as I contemplate my next spinning project.



Of course, being the wool piggy I am, I also got the taster pack. I wasn't keen enough on the colours to get other full-size braids, but the fibre content was interesting enough to give it a go. Dundee is Merino, Shetland and silk (50/25/25), Angel Cake is Merino, baby camel and silk (70/15/15) and Chelsea Bun is BFL, Corriedale, soy and bronze sparkle (50/30/15/5). I've never spun baby camel, or Corriedale, so these should be very interesting. Actually, I've also never spun Teeswater so Cherry Bakewell is going to be a new experience too!




I also got two sets of Fuzzlings. Adele is made from Merino, silk, cashmere and bronze sparkle. Super soft and squishy, the fibre just slips through your fingers. I fell in love with the colours as soon as I saw them on the website: teal, lilac and cream with chunks of peachy orange. You could say I'll soon be "spinning in the deep" har har! (No one is laughing along with you, Aleks. Give it up).

Ida is the colours of my future home. Creamy, pinky beige, mint and slate. Beautiful neutrals that work so nicely together. I can't wait to see it spun up. And being a mix of Gotland, Merino and silk, it's something new to spin too. I'd actually never heard of Gotland wool before this.

As a last minute addition to my cart, I popped in the Not Just Grey punis in Teal. They're a really lovely mix of natural grey Merino, silk and Jacob (50/40/10) - the silk gives it a shimmer, and the greys blended together will spin up a beautiful marl, with teal chunks dotted through. They're also soft and airy and I like to slowly put my hand amongst all the punis and give them a wee squeeze. Hmm.



And to top it all off, Deb is a total babe and sends a sample with each other. My little clump of Merino, Polwarth and mulberry silk in Elfin is waiting patiently for my "kitchen sink" spin at the end of the year - instead of having a few metres of various wools and fibres lurking around, I'm going to do a big combo spin and chuck all the samples in together. It's going to look super-amazing or super-super-super-hideous. I'm seriously hoping for the former.

January also meant the next instalment of the Wildcraft spindle and fibre club - they seem to get better and better each time! This month's is called Purple Topshells: fluffy Romney wool top in shades of white, grey and purple, and a spindle to match. There are purple topshells embedded in the resin whorl that Karen collected in the Isles of Scilly that are just stunning. The shaft is cherry wood and the whole thing comes to 40g - a heavyweight perfect for plying, or spinning bulky yarns.

Winter in Barcelona is a bit of an odd one. On the one hand: it can be warm and sunny, not a cloud in sight, and the orange trees are heavy with fruit on the verge of ripening. On the other... I don't think "apocalyptic" would be a wrong choice of word. Lately it's been drizzling, pouring, spitting, snowing, sleeting... any and every form of precipitation has made an appearance at least once. Hell, sometimes we have both! The wellies I bought on a whim are a very welcome footwear choice. I'm unbelievably excited for the return of spring - some of the trees here haven't lost all of their autumn leaves yet, so I'm curious to see how that plays out - and I can't wait for the wonderful greens and yellows it will bring. In the meantime, I'm binge-watching Girls and spinning in bed. And it's amazing.



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