Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Art Yarn 101: Tornado!!!!!!!

Jacey Boggs' Spin Art:  Mastering the Craft of Spinning Textured Yarn

Last week I hand carded and spun thin a little mohair and a little alpaca, then used them, with some gold Guterman thread and carded Jacob roving, for my next Art Yarn 101 project...the Tornado.  It's a lot like the Autowrap in that you wrap something around the core that you are spinning. But the tornado is fussy and fiddly.  A little temperamental. With a dash of recalcitrance.  But with perseverance come great rewards, and in the end the tornado spun yarn is complex, and a little wild.  

Here I am fiddling with all the parts:



Depending on your materials, the possibilities are truly endless.  But I'm finding that true for so many of these spinning techniques.  Every one is richer and more interesting than the last.  I think this yarn would be festive with some beads strung in along the way.




If you can persevere long enough to make 900 yards of tornados, this yarn would make a stunning vest that you could wear almost like a piece of jewelry.  I persevered long enough to make enough for this small swatch.  (Did I mention that it's fiddly?  And slow?)  


But after I knit the swatch and recognized the possibilities, I carried on.  Do I have enough for a vest?  No.  No I don't.  But it's all knit up and fabulous in my imagination and that will have to do for now.


 What would you create with a few yards of tornados?  Cuffs and a collar on a Chanel-inspired jacket?  A necklace made from several strands of yarn hung with a pendant that you found at a flea market?

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