Art yarn is generally yarn that has been spun to include lots of texture and colour. It may also have unusual structure, combinations of fibres or even inclusions like beads, charms or bells. I actually prefer the term ‘textured yarn’ because to me it is important that the yarn can perform as good, useful, well balanced yarn rather than just as art to look at. Judging from my research on Google Trends however, it would seem that I am almost alone in prefering to call it textured yarn.
Equipment for Spinning Art Yarn.
Ashford Country Spinner 2 looking for a new home
Art yarn is often quite bulky to allow for all that texture and interest to be included and so can require a change of spinning wheel. Until very recently I spun much of my art yarn using an Ashford Country Spinner 2 wheel. This wheel has a large orifice so you can make a yarn of rope-like proportions and have all kinds of bells and whistles included in it without it getting stuck on the way through to the bobbin. The Country Spinner bobbins have enormous capacity, up to 1kg and are quite weighty themselves so treadling can begin to feel quite heavy.
If you have read my previous blog post ‘Introducing a New Friend’, you will know that a persistent knee injury has put a stop to my working relationship with the Country Spinner 2. This wheel is now looking for a new home as of November 2020, so if you are interested, please do get in touch.
My Repeatable Art Yarn.
Knitted sample of Summerleaze Beach Huts beaded yarn.
I have two styles of repeatable art yarn available at the moment. One is a thick and thin yarn that I have plied with metallic thread and tiny glass seed beads. I love this yarn as it knits up into an incredibly soft, warm fabric unbelievably quickly. It is great for hats, scarves and accents on larger projects. Forget complicated stitch patterns, this yarn does all the work for you in terms of providing interesting texture and colour.
Fruit Salads corespun yarn
The second style is corespun in which the fibre is wrapped around a commercially produced yarn. I then ply it with a metallic thread which gives a little lift and hint of sparkle in the finished yarn. Lots of spinners use a technique known as ‘autowrapping’ to add a thread to their corespun yarns but I find that actually putting the first ply back through the spinning wheel in the opposite direction in order to add the thread, helps to keep the yarn properly balanced. If the yarn is not properly balanced, when you knit with it your knitted fabric will skew or twist and not fall straight and therefore spoil your finished item.
