How to Create Unique Yarns
Combine Wool and Other Fibers with Beads to Make Unusual Items
Nov 12, 2008
While the traditional way of crafting yarn is through the use of a spinning wheel, spinning the loose fibers together into yarn, there are other ways of creating wonderful hand crafted and unique yarns.
Combining Yarns
Many of the fancy yarns that are sold in up market yarn stores are popular because they are a blend of textures and colors. These fantastic textures are often achieved by blending different yarn types together. Highly individual effects can be achieved by knitting or crocheting with several strands of yarn. Mix together mohairs, silks, boucles and eyelash yarn to produce a highly textured finished effect. Luxury mixes can be created using single plies of cashmere, merino, silk and alpaca. This can be a great way of making a single ball of luxury yarn go a long way.
Add Embellishments
Some of the exclusive yarns that many knitters crave have embellishments such as beads or other adornments attached. This is simple to replicate by threading beads or other embellishments onto a smooth crochet cotton and spread out at regular intervals. Then incorporate this with the yarn mix and the beads will nestle in the stitches, catching and reflecting the light.
Color the Yarn
Most yarns can be over dyed and very interesting effects can be achieved by dyeing a batch of different yarns. Dip dying will give a variegated finish. This gives a hand dyed or hand painted effect that is so popular in shop-bought yarns. A multi purpose dye is the best to use as this will work on both animal and vegetable fibers. This technique will give a common color tone to yarns and is also a good way of disguising unattractive colors.
Tips
- Keep a lookout at mills for cones of single ply yarns. These are often available for a good price and are perfect for mixing into combined yarns.
- Old or discarded garments can be unpicked and this can give a supply of unusual yarns to incorporate. Beads or other embellishments could also be used.
- When knitting or crocheting with several balls of yarn, place them in separate containers on the floor. This will save them getting tangled as the knitting is worked.
- This is a great way to create yarns and save money – keep a look out in bargain bins for single balls of yarn.
- To work out the what gauge patterns to look for, simply knit up a tension square and work out how many row and stitches there are. Most knitting and crochet tensions are given over a 4 inch square.
- When working with a combination of yarns it is best to carefully hand wash the finished item in cool water. This will help to stop any of the yarns from shrinking or the color from running.
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