Last year I began a spinning experiment entitled "Spinning into Focus". I took a commercially available, blended top and prepared or spun it in 10 different ways. With each hand-spun yarn, the colours became less and less blended so that I could knit them all in such a way that the blended colours would appear to gradually come into focus as they worked their way down, up, or across the finished garment.
Here's a link to the blog post that rounds up all of the yarns in this series.
Alternatively, I made a round-up video for my YouTube Channel here.
It was such a fun experiment that I don't think I'll ever sit and spin a multicoloured blended top just one way again!
This whole project was much more about the yarn than the finished garment but this series wouldn't be complete if I didn't share the cardigan that I made from all of my yarns.
This is the Naima cardigan by Ankestrick. I chose it because it's a good long length with masses of stocking stitch to show off the colour changes in the yarn. It's knitted from the top down, in the round, with no sewing at all so each yarn carries all the way around and there are no interruptions in the colour transitions.
I was always quite undecided as to whether to use the final yarn that was spun from the fold as it was so much brighter and busier than all of the other yarns but in the end, I just saved it for the ribbing. I think this helped to tone it down quite a bit - it was very busy!
If I were to "Spin into Focus" again, I would definitely adjust the quantities that I spun of each yarn.
I love how the cardigan turned out but I do feel that the more blended yarns at the top dominate the final garment. Maybe next time I would spin them in a Fibonacci sequence so that I was spinning a small amount of the first yarns, and the following yarns would be spun in increasingly larger amounts as they worked their way down the garment. That might be interesting...
Well it took me 2 months to get around to sewing all of the buttons on so here's the front finally finished in all its multicoloured glory!
That bottom section really shows off all of the colours in the 'Slack Ma Girdle' blended top but honestly, I really wouldn't want a whole garment in all of those colours. Spinning into Focus really pleases the spinner in me that gets so much satisfaction from seeing the colours change hues as I draft them, but when it comes to fashion, I'm much more reserved. This really is the best of both worlds for me.
Here's a rare picture of me in the wild, wearing my spinning-into-focus cardigan. I'm at my local Maker Space, sharing my love of spinning with anyone who cares to listen.
Thank you so much for all the attention and encouragement I've had from the spinning community for my 'Spinning into Focus' blog series. All the feedback I've received has really spurred me on and inspired me for future projects, so stay tuned...
If you've found any of this post interesting or useful, please pin this image to Pinterest. It makes a big difference to me and helps other spinners find it too.
At this point, I normally suggest similar related blog posts, however, my list of spinning-related content is becoming a little unmanageable... If you'd like to read more blog posts about spinning and fibre preparation, please take a look at this page here where you will find links to all of my spinning and fibre articles.
Thank you for reading, and happy spinning!
Recommended Posts
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| Spinning into Focus Techniques 1, 2 and 3 |
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| Spinning into Focus - Techniques 4 and 5 |
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| Spinning into Focus - The Two Most popular methods used by spinners to avoid 'Spinning mud' |
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| Spinning into Focus A Round-up of All 10 Yarns |
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| 9 Different Ways of Spinning a Multicoloured Blend While Trying to Avoid 'Spinning Mud' |
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Loved reading this series and the finished garment is stunning! Thanks so much.
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