Yarn Design.
I had a look at the links and decided to go to a wool shop and get a feel for yarns first hand. I’ve never really been a knitter but I did learn to crochet 2 years ago.
From the wools I looked at, they were mainly mixed fibres which all gave different textural feels. Most had several plys , and the more expensive ones had more going on in them – differing thicknesses for example.
The image above is an alpaca mix yarn (I really wish I’d photographed the label on this one). The colours are very earthy and muted and it was differing thicknesses and gradients throughout the ball. It was luxuriously soft. There was a fine thread plied around it also. The whole ball of yarn was very interesting.
I’ve researched about how colours are gradient in yarn also. Some handmade yarns are works of art in themselves.
This yarn has sequins and flowers added into the ply, the link shows that the yarn comes in 5 different colourways and each ball is hand spun.
I’ve always naturally gravitated towards natural fibres such as cotton, linen and hemp. Researching the vast array of yarns available is very exciting and quite overwhelming. Wool has recently become of great interest to me because of a large donation I’ve recently acquired, and from researching the fibres on the Campaign for Wool website. When I started researching the qualities of wool what I found surprised me. We all have our preconceptions and life experiences, mine of wool were of itchy jumpers and being boiling hot with a beautifully knitted jumper given to me one Christmas, which my mum then accidentally shrunk in the wash. Now wools are produced which do not shrink and luxurious blends are being made.
I’ve been very interested in natural dyeing techniques and I’d like to experiment with these. Up until now I have screen printed and practiced Shibori with Procion dyes. Scotland has many wool mills offering up some superb colours. I find the array of yarns as a whole staggering. It all made me want to try yarn spinning to make some of my own , with wool, and get dyeing. You can research lots of different suppliers and fibres and machines that do all of these things but it’s not the same as visiting or trying to make something yourself.
Learning log of Julie Hutchison 