Getting to the Core of Things

After lusting over corespun yarns on Etsy for the last couple of months, I finally had the guts to try it. From what I can gather, corespinning is a fairly new technique in the world of hand spinning. Basically, it involves spinning fibre around a core strand of pre-spun (usually commercial) yarn. When I first thought about corespinning, the little nagging grandma spinner in the back of my brain said, "but that's not real spinning", or "that's a lazy way to spin!"

Well, I quieted "grandma" down with some tea and digestive cookies and tried it. I'm inspired by all the great fibre artists out there doing amazing work in a non-traditional way. As much as I respect tradition and the basic knowledge you need to do things, I don't beleive in letting that restrict your creativity. I didn't quite know what I was doing, because, as I said, there really is little out there to go off in terms of specific instructions, but I did find a great tutorial from hobbledehoy-liz on flickr:



It was great to have a visual aid, as that's pretty much the way I learn. I used a core of handicrafter's cotton, and some of my own handpainted perendale fleece. Overall, it was an enjoyable experience, I loved being able to spin the fleece at more of an angle to show off the subtle variations in color. If I could pass on anything from my learnings, it would be to use a crochet- specific, or "Z-twisted" (counter-clockwise) yarn so that the yarn is balanced. So, after a few practice runs, I have this first skein of corespun yarn for sale in the shop, I'm a bit hesitant to part with it:

There will be more on the way as I finish dyeing all the fleece I got from the lady at the fibre yurts on the sunshine coast- yummy soy silks, bamboo, and wool coming up!

Oh, and p.s. I've got a little summer sale going on the shop right now- from handspun yarns to fingerless gloves and scarves, I'm making a little room for some of my new fall projects!