Featured

Baaad24in24: Handspun Goodness

I had a goal of FINISHING 24 projects in 2024; Still catching up on my blogs of FINISHING in ’24 big or small, new or old, and in any fibre craft; just get ‘er done.

Today’s topic: What to do with handspun??

I was better at finishing than posting in late 2024, so here is Finished Object #19 in my #baaad24in24 … and this one was certainly a labour of love! It was started in Feb 2022 and had a few start-stops along the way but Andrea Mowry’s Shifty pattern is a fantastic example of patterns that showcase handspun yarns to the best of their glory!

Handspun, or yarn that is spun from fibre by either a drop spindle or spinning wheel, is another unique fibre art that our store helps support. We sell locally dyed specialty fibre blends as well as affordable (and reliable) Corriedale fibre to provide base materials for spinner of all levels, offer spinning classes, and even have an easy to access Rental Program that local crafters can borrow. You can create anything from bulky think-and-thin art yarns all the way to to cobweb-thin lace-weight, but my go-to is a workhorse DK-weight (in the 240-280 yards/100g range). We also sell handspun from two BC-based artists in a variety of weights, fibre blends and colours!

Wonder about that to do with these unique yarns? Since the uptake of knitwear designer Andrea Mowry use of Spincycle’s unique handspun-style yarns Dyed In The Wool, a colourful 2-ply sport-weight yarn that mimics the unique look of handspun yarns, there is a plethora of great patterns out there for your handspun stash. Her ever-popular Shift series that uses the slip-stitch colourwork technique that is both easy and impactful is a great option, and comes with a neckerchief, shawl, hat and sweater options each as individual patterns. I chose to try my hand at the sweater, The Shifty.

Look how young I looked way back in 2022 when I first started this sweater!

Each time I started knitting this project I loved working on it. The alternating 1- and 2-slip stitch combos kept the interplay of the two yarns chosen creating a completely unique fabric throughout. But my first three starts on this sweater (each about a half year apart) were maybe too enjoyable rhythmic, and I ended up having to rip back large tent-like oopsies caused by miscalculating the increases! And then I worked super hard to make sure the sleeves matched the body as it grew, which meant I had three parts of the project at play at the same time (sleeve, body, sleeve). Despite this all, I still very much enjoyed playing with so very many colours that the handpun afforded; and I believe the end result worked well because I kept the main colour in cool toned handspun, and the contrast colour in warm but otherwise dove in to add in as many colours as I could possible muster into a single sweater!

And voila! My Sweater of a Dazzlingly Amount of Colours, as modeled by our lovely staff, Janice! Also note: our selection of handspun and Spincycle we have on offer in the background! Why not try knitting or crocheting with handspun this year for a new experience?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Not Your Mama's Yarn Store

X