Testing, Testing

Last weekend saw me sat in another workshop with Sarah Anderson. This time it was one I'd organised on behalf of my local guild. I failed spectacularly at taking photos... again. In my defence when you're the person organising the whole shebang there's not a lot of free time!

Sarah, yet again, was fabulous. We were a large class at 18, but I feel pretty confident in saying that every person in the class came away feeling like they'd learned something, and weren't short on individual attention whenever they needed it. 

This time the class was on Core Yarns, and Crepe Yarns. Core yarns are actually something I spin a lot of, so I was already a convert, but I think a lot of people learned what fun this construction method is, and how you can use it in so many different ways. 

My usual core yarns are fat, fluffy and textured, so for the workshop I went in the other direction. Smooth, thin and controlled.

This is some carded Zwartbles fleece, that's then spiral plyed with some thick sewing thread. The nice thing about plying core yarns is that you don't need to pre-spin the core in the opposite direction like I usually do for my singles corespun yarns.

This is some BFL top, which is then plyed with itself. My Mum described it as looking like beginner yarn, but actually it's got it's own subtle beauty, it almost looks like the twisted cord you see being sold for upholstery, and the core means it doesn't have a lot of stretch. 

This is a bit closer to what I normally spin as core yarn. It's some carded Gotland, that's then plyed with thread strung with silver beads. This would weave beautifully...

This has photographed really badly, but is beautiful yarn. Kid Mohair locks, just teased open, and then core spun. It makes the expensive locks go a very long way, and you then ply it with a tonal thread to help hold the fibre in place. 

This little skein is another skein of super coils, again, a technique I have already been using, but there's nothing like seeing someone do it in the flesh to refine your technique.

Final yarn is a bubble crepe. This is one of the yarns I spun last New Years Eve, and I loved it then, and love it even more now. Not the quickest yarn to spin as you need to ply it twice, but oh so lovely to look at and feel. Again, I think this might be nice woven, especially if you could get the warp threads to sit in crossed sections...



The past 2 weeks have really revived my spinning mojo. I have so many ideas buzzing round in my head, new techniques I want to try, even from the classes where I've spun yarns that I felt I already had a good understanding. 



Speaking of new things, this popped in to my head a few days ago.

I think it's safe to say that beehives are now a technique I've mastered!