Does creating an artistic slub yarn seem impossible to you? Not if Sammie Knight, aka Koke Me Designs is helping you, the greatest expert in the sector and textile artist of excellence.
Sammie will guide you step by step in the creation of two slub yarns. On a fun, colourful, and arduous journey. But also full of satisfaction, because the result will be an artistic yarn created with your own hands. A product made with love, and therefore priceless.
For the first yarn, Sammie used our Mixology service, which allowed her to create her very own blend of fibers. For the second yarn, she decided instead to use a production waste product, namely, cashmere scaps These are available in the REHAB selection.
Enjoy!
MATERIALS
SLUB YARN
Cashmere scraps
Fluffy yarn 50 g / 1.7 oz
Piuma yarn 100 g / 3.5 oz
SLUB YARN WITH OUR MIXOLOGY SERVICE
Extra fine merino wool tops col. Soft fruits (20%)
Extra fine merino wool tops col. Etoile (20%)
Superfine alpaca tops col. Natural light brown (15%)
A1 grade mulberry silk tops col. Shell (5%)
A1 grade mulberry silk tops col. Soft fruits (10%)
Baby camel tops col. Natural white (20%)
Tencel lyocell tops col. Natural white (5%)
Viscose tops col. Sand (5%)
Before we proceed in learning to create a slub yarn, we wish to refer you to the post on how to make a one-thread handmade yarn. In fact, in this article, in addition to teaching you how a one-thread yarn is made, we also teach you how to execute the fiber blending process and also give you advice and useful tips on the best way to spin.
METHOD
Split your batt into strips if desired. Predraft the carded fiber so that it is loose enough to allow the fibers to easily slip past one another.
Placing your core wool on the ground/near you and looping 3-6 inches through your leader thread loop on your bobbin to secure.
Begin spinning in a clockwise direction so that the twist starts to build up on your leader and secures & tightens your core.
Holding the fluffy end of your prepared fibre at a 90 degree angle on the core yarn which you’ve already connected to your leader. Slowly starting to spin (clockwise) & letting the fluff catch & wrap itself around the core yarn. Making sure not to treadle too fast otherwise you may result in over spun areas.
After it catches, continue holding it at a 90-degree angle, bringing the fiber down the core thread as it wraps.
When it comes to chunky fun bits, just spin them on with the 90 degree angle and let them catch onto your core.
Continue spinning until you reach the end of your core thread.
Swapping to an empty bobbin, place your yarn filled bobbin on your lazy Kate for easy manoeuvrability as keeping it close by and at a similar level to your spinning wheel. Using another strong core yarn, (I use merino 2ply), line up the end of your core spun & your new core yarn and loop through your leader thread loop on your bobbin again. (I place my core on my right side & bobbins with the yarn on my left)
Start spinning BUT anticlockwise. So that you are core spinning opposite the direction that the wrapping yarn was spun. As you treadle, hold the wrapping yarn at a 90-degree angle to the core thread. When doing this, I find treadling slower helps control how big & close my coils are. I will often let the yarn coil & accumulate on the core yarn and then push the wraps up to be closer together - while also pushing everything forward to aid in feeding onto the bobbin.
Once your bobbin is full & you’ve coiled all of the core yarn, tie a knot and wrap onto your niddynoddy.
Depending on what may be in your coiled bobbly yarn you can choose to steam or set in a hot bath. For instance, if you have lots of accessories in your yarn you may opt for steaming so you’re not risking any damages in the soaking process.
If you liked this article then we suggest also reading how to create a handmade yarn.
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