Dyet Yarns: Adventures in Fiber » tutorial

Andean 2-Ply (a.k.a. Edward Fiberhands)

Nuri — Thu, 03 May 2012 13:03:45 +0000

Ack! I want to make this single into a 2-ply yarn, but I have no bobbins or extra spindles. What can I do?

Andean plying is a technique for winding yarn onto your hand in a way that keeps it from tangling while you use both ends of the same strand. You can use it for plying on a spindle or a wheel. I often will use this on my wheel when I am doing a 3-ply and run out of one bobbin before the other two. I take the shortest length of the remaining two bobbins and wind an Andean plying bracelet so I can keep 3-plying.

It’s a little easier to do it for relatively short lengths of singles; you probably don’t want to wind and entirely-full bobbin of lace-weight singles around your hand! It works great for medium-to-bulky singles, though.

I promise the closeup shots of the yarn and my hand are in focus. Camera didn’t want to focus on me for some reason, but that’s okay… it’s not about me, its about the yarn!

Dyet Yarns blog posts by Adrian "Nuri" Steinhauer are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Kicking Off a Kickstarter Project!

Nuri — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 02:26:40 +0000

With graduation looming, I’m super excited to get my creativity on again. My brain is a little bit fried (3 years of law school will do that to you), but itchy fingers want to resume drawing. Since I enjoyed my Zodiac project so much (I drew a series of 12 wetsern-zodiac-themed characters), I decided to try a follow-up collection.

During the month of May, I’m running a Kickstarter campaign to fund this project. Kickstarter is a great platform because there’s no risk for backers; if not enough people pledge to fully fund the project, no one gets charged at all. If you have any interest in art (maybe custom art for you!) or fiber arts, please check this project out!

Written In The Stars: A Collection of Visual and Fiber Art

As an addition to this project (and of course to generate publicity!) I am going to be putting together video tutorials, project updates, and possibly even some giveaways that will all be posted here. Even if you’re not interested in backing the project, I hope you’ll enjoy the new content!

Dyet Yarns blog posts by Adrian "Nuri" Steinhauer are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Spinning from a Batt

Nuri — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:03:28 +0000

I sell blended fiber batts for hand spinning in my Etsy shop, and one of the questions I sometimes get is how to prepare them for spinning. There are many ways you can do it; anything you can think of that actually lets you go from fiber into yarn is valid! There’s no “right” way; there are simply ways that are more well-suited to producing the yarn you want. In this video, I cover the most common way I prepare fiber in batt form for spinning into yarn.

Dyet Yarns blog posts by Adrian "Nuri" Steinhauer are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

New Tutorial! What To Look For in a Thrift Store Sweater

Nuri — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:38:15 +0000

So, you’ve read about this mysterious art of unraveling sweaters for the yarn online, and you’re ready to try it out. What do you buy to get started? If you’re like me, you could end up with 20 sweaters from your first thrift visit of varying quality. There are a few things you can look out for that will save you plenty of grief later. I’ve been asked what the best things to look for are, so here’s a tutorial on examining sweaters in the shop before you bring them home:

What to Look for in a Thrift Sweater

It’s available from the Tutorial page as well. I tend to look for dyeable and expensive fibers, but you can expand your selection to whatever you want. Keep in mind that some materials, like acrylic, don’t straighten out very well, so they probably shouldn’t be used for lace or drop-stitch knitting.

Have fun!

Dyet Yarns blog posts by Adrian "Nuri" Steinhauer are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.