Spinning Beaded Yarn

I took some time a few weeks ago to spin a beaded yarn for our January Challenge in the North Dakota Spinners Ravelry group. I used some roving I had dyed a couple weeks ago. We dyed it with food coloring, red, blue, yellow, green and purple. The yellow ended up blending in with the other colors and creating an orange and a brown color, but it is beautiful. I strung the beads on a piece of thread and plyed it with my two singles and it went pretty good, but I did spend a bit of time untwisting when the yarn and beaded thread decided to have a fight once in a while. I used clear beads with hopes that it would blend with all the different colors and it seemed to work quite well. This is one yarn I do plan to try again in the future and maybe test our a new technique for adding the beads.

 

You can see all the difference colors we had in our yarn. The beads look like little water droplets.

This shows the beads in the yarn pretty well. They are spaced about every 12 to 18 inches.

 

Here we have the yarn twisted into a skein. The beads seem to blend into the yarn more in this shot.

This really was a lot of fun once I figured out how to to ply everything together.  I think the next time I do this type of yarn I will use a smaller bead size.  If there was more of it I know this would make a wonderful shawl.

 

Spinning Classes

Wow!  I can't believe it is already a new year.  It seems like only yesterday it was the beginning of 2009 and now it is 2010.  With the dawning of a new year comes some exciting adventures.  Since I started spinning in 2008 I have had people ask me if I could teach them how to spin so I have decided to hold spinning classes so we can all get together and learn.  I am posting the information her in case others might be interested in joining.  We will be happy to have you there.

Learn to spin. Our first class will be taught on drop spindles. If you have ever wanted to know how yarn was made before we could purchase it at the store this is the class for you. The first class will deal with drop spindles, learn about predrafting fiber, drafting while spinning, Z twist and S twist and setting your twist. We will learn the fundamentals in this first class. You will receive a spindle and fiber to take home and work with as well. Additional fiber and tools will be available for purchase.

If interested contact for registration form
701-693-6785 or jnlgessele@gondtc.com

Pre-registration for classes is required
Room for 8 people per class only.
Class held Jan. 30th 1PM - 4PM
Centennial Room Harvey Public Library
$40 per person 2.5 to 3 hour class.
Spindles, fiber and handouts included in class fee.

 

 So if you are interested please drop us a line.