A few weeks ago I spotted a chunky yarn in Spotlight which I hadn’t seen before. It looked like a good material to make up the doily rug I’ve been day-dreaming about. Continue reading
Category Archives: Yarn
Learning to spin yarn
Just before Christmas I stumbled on youtube videos about spinning yarn. I’ve thought about making yarn on a spinning wheel but I didn’t realise that you could do it inexpensively with a drop spindle until I watched videos on the technique and found information about making your own drop spindle.
Visiting my mum for a week, we went to a hardware store and picked up a length of dowel and, unable to find a circular piece of wood, bought three coaster pieces which we stuck together. With a cup hook, some glue, and a drill, we made a drop spindle!
I was keen to get spinning but I didn’t have any fibre so we raided my mum’s tapestry wool stash of odds and ends which I spent time plying together. I found out later that I should have been plying in the opposite direction (against the original twist) which might have made my yarn easier to work with, but this is the point of trying… you learn. Continue reading
Striped adult woman crochet beanie pattern
A few months ago I started crocheting again for the first time since childhood. I’ve been trying out a few crochet hats and some have worked out better than others. Here’s one of the more successful experiments.
As I’ve been looking at crochet patterns, I’ve marvelled at multi-coloured yarns that have long lengths of colour with gradual changes. When I went to Morris & Sons to look at their sale items last weekend, I ended up browsing everything in the store and found Schoppel Wolle’s Reggae Ombre (100% virgin wool merino, 100m, 50g) and realised it might give me the blended stripes I was after. I bought a few balls and then had to figure out how I was going to crochet them in to a hat! Continue reading
Storing leftover yarn
In an effort to be less messy with my yarn crafts, I’m trying to manage my project leftovers so they don’t end up randomly at the bottom of boxes or bags never to be used again.
Storing short pieces of yarn
Short yarns are gathered in a snaplock bag. I’ve delved in to the bag a few times for scraps to add details on amigurumi crochet toys and at some point I’ll think of other ways to make use of them.
Storing partial balls of yarn
For half-used balls of yarn, I’m keeping the label, squishing the yarn to one side of the label and then stapling the label for a tight fit. This helps the label stay in place when I rumble through my yarn box and helps me know what type of yarn it is when I consider using it for another project.
