Friday, 8 April 2011

More yarn!

So I said yarn wasn't new to me. There's photo evidence of it here, here and here just to name a few posts. Still haven't make any yarn jewellery, but I thought I'd show you what type of yarns I already have -- that I'm now coveting "specialty fibres", silk, viscose, linen etc I already mentioned last time.

I also mentioned wanting to buy smaller quantities than whole balls as they can be rather expensive. Well, I actually have some mini balls too, as you can see above. If sticking with cotton (eg. Svarta Fåret's Candy), acrylics, wool etc (eg. Järbo's mini mixes), it's not too hard to find tiny balls of yarn since amigurumis became popular. That above are two 10 gram balls of "bamboo silk", ie. bamboo viscose. Very soft and silky. Bought them i a package of five different colours from Panduro.

And this is nettle yarn, handmade by women in Nepal. Believe it's part of some sort of co-operation/fair trade thing. It's pretty uneven, which I guess is supposed to add a real handmade feel. One thing about having yarns or other stringing materials in "unusual" fibres is that it's fun to surprise people when you tell them what it's made from.


This is a nice one space-dyed yarns from Stef Francis in the UK. You can get many different types of yarn (I'm wanting to buy som braided silk and viscose gimp) in many different hand-dyed palettes. This is a bundle from the texture collection, a mix of viscose and cotton "novelty" yarns. Looks better IRL with its mix of shiny and matte, smooth and fuzzy fibres -- all in scrumptious citrus hues.

What more? Well, I'm trying to avoid any cotton that isn't organic (if you don't know why that's a good idea, you might want to learn about it). This is a ball of organic cotton yarn from Marks & Kattens that I got in Malmö. It was on sale, if I remember correctly. In the same shop I got it I made the not so eco-friendly choice of also buying some chrome tanned leather -- didn't realise it until afterwards. It's always easy to shop eco-friendly, a lot to keep in mind...

More from Marks & Kattens. This yarn, called Carat, is a blend of many different fibres, "yarn types" and colours. It kind of moves between looking attractive with its lovely colours and metallic gold shine -- and just looking messy!



Novelty yarn doesn't have to be expensive like Carat or Venedig [the silk/linen yarn in this post]. This fluffy acrylic chenille is something I picked up at Tiger (or TGR as the Swedish shops have had to rename themselves] for 10 SEK. Tiger is sort of a "dollar store". This yarn is just so soft and cozy! The crummy pic doesn't really do it justice.


And here's a yarn that might not look very special after all those colourful or interestingly textured yarns, a ribbon yarn called Lizzy. From a norwegian brand I've forgotten the name of. Bought it in Helsingborg, where we found a nice yarn shop on Söder with a very friendly and talkative owner. Ribbon yarn felt like a useful choice. After all, ribbon is often used in jewellery. I do worry about how much wear and tear this thin and porous yarn can take.


I don't only have knitting and crochet yarns everywhere. As a kid I did hand embroidery and do have some of all those perle cotton and DMC threads left. I also was given an old box of embroidery floss from a friend of the family ages ago (both he and his wife, who owned the box died several years ago). And then I sometimes stumble over pretty threads, I just have to buy. Like the DMC metallic copper thread. Or this skein of hand-dyed perle cotton from Jennifer Gail Threads. This colour is called Moorland.


So as you can see, I do have quite a lot of yarn to play with -- but I still want to buy more... Ok, to my defence, the yarns I'm looking for right now are a bit different from these both in terms of what fibres are used and texture/type.

I must look for others who are fond of yarns, not least novelty yarns of special fibre yarns -- it'd be fun to do a swap. Not of whole balls, but say a few metres of each, the perfect length for anyone looking to use it in jewellery rather than knitting or crocheting bigger projects like clothes and bags.

2 comments:

  1. I have been given a ball of the fleecy Tiger yarn, but not sure what make! How did you use yours? It's so cosy and soft!

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    Replies
    1. Must say I haven't used much of it yet... Have the same problem you've got! It's so lovely and soft, but what to make?

      The main problem is probably that I don't knit and it's a slightly tricky yarn to crochet. Just for the fun of it I made a chain stitch bracelet (making the "stitches" without a crochet hook), which is more of a tiny wrist warmer than a piece of jewellery. Have thought about taking out my Qick Knit and make a couple of muddar (wrist warmers/wristlets, the kind that's shorter than fingerless gloves).

      Other than that, I usually divide my yarns into two piles: "can be used in jewellery making/stringing" and "can be used in embroidery". This is in the embroidery pile along with other fibres that could be couched.

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