Friday 24 October 2014

Making a Skein Necklace

Wearing a washed skein of yarn around my neck dries it quickly, though it does leave me open to abuse.  The offspring will kick off when unnerved.  Presumably, they dread maternal madness, rising like Medusa with Black Welsh Mountain dreadlocks.  Them spending Sundays dutifully visiting my padded cell, poking a bit of wool roving through the hatch and watching me caper about. I rather enjoy the smell of damp wool in a cloud about me, then tend to forget the skein is there until I take it off to knit and miss the warmth on my neck.
In the picture is a skein necklace, yarn made by spinning the waste from flicking raw locks of a very soft Corriedale X Gotland lamb's fleece.  Clearing the decks after finishing a shawl, the heap of tangled fluff seemed far too good to chuck on the compost heap.  I just took a handful, pulled up a tuft to twist onto a leader and drafted it out randomly, spun however it came, knots and all. Didn't take long to empty the basket, starting the palest and ending with the darkest clumps. 


Navajo plied to keep the colour gradient, there was only 25m yarn, with fluffy bumps sticking out and uneven plying, much tighter over the skinnier lengths.  To my mind, a lovely texture and very soft round the neck while drying out after a proper scouring.  Far too little to knit anything.  By Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos - a spot of weaving could disguise this skein as a necklace I could even wear to work.

Using some fingering weight yarn left over from knitting the shawl as the weft, I treated the skein on the niddy noddy as the warp.  A long needle to thread fine yarn under then over alternate strands.


Making one stretch of weaving on each of the four spaces on the niddy noddy, it was easy enough to fasten in both ends by weaving a couple of rows back inside the first and last gaps. This niddy noddy winds a skein 1.5m in circumference.  Add a few twists and loop it double.
Chic and in no way certifiable.  Who would suspect this might be an apotropaic accessory?

3 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thank you :) My Mum took it home with her and I keep meaning to make another for myself.

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  2. what an awesome idea-I really love this too!

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