Adrift Wall Hanging

Super textured art yarns are perfect for displaying as wall hangings, and you can find lots of inspiration for wall weavings on Pinterest. Here is a very simple wall hanging that I made with remnants of art yarns and yarns that were too bulky to use in knit or crochet. 

MATERIALS:

• A tree branch (mine is about 3 feet long)
• 2 Yards of Sari Silk or other Yarn for Hanging
• 100-150 yards of various handspun and commercial yarns
• Niddy Noddy (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

My wall hanging has strands of various textures of yarn that are about 3 feet long. I found it very simple to wrap the yardage I wanted from each texture on a niddy noddy and then cut into 2-yard lengths (6 feet total). Then I slip-knotted each texture on the branch - spacing the textures and contrast out along the branch to create a balanced yet freeform look. I used some sari silk yarn, coilspun yarn, boucle, various handspun textures, and some tailspun style yarn. 

You can leave the ends of your wall hanging like mine - somewhat similar but ragged. Or you can trim them so they are blunt and even across. Or you can trim them into a triangle shape with the center of your wall hanging yarns coming to a point. 

This wall hanging took me less than an hour to make and I love how it displays texture. 

Flourish

MATERIALS

• Size 17 straight knitting needles
• 25 yards of bulky commercial yarn. I used Wool and the Gang "Crazy Sexy Wool" in Grey Heather.
• 10-30 yards of handspun art yarn in a similar gauge to the bulky commercial yarn you are using. It doesn't need to be exact, but similar.

PATTERN

Cast on 12 stitches of your handspun art yarn

K2 P2 rib stitch with the entire yardage of art yarn (waste not!)

Note: If you use 10 yards of art yarn your "flourish" section will be shorter, more yardage = more flourish. There is no wrong amount of flourish - it's all about what you find pretty. For my cowl I used about the same yardage of flourish yarn and commercial yarn.

Continue knitting with commercial yarn when you are out of art yarn until the length of your piece is 16 inches long. Give or take an inch is fine. 

Bind off. 

Seam the ends together into a cowl.

Block with Unicorn Fibre Rinse.  Gently pat dry, reshape and dry flat. 

Handspun Monogram

This was a very simple art yarn project that requires no knitting or crochet experience!  While perusing the craft store for inspiration I found this particleboard letter A in the clearance section for $2. I thought it would be pretty wrapped with handspun art yarn and displayed in my studio.

This is also a great idea for yarn shops and vendors. Wrap the letters Y-A-R-N with handspun yarn to display in your shop or booth. 

For this project I used the "AIR" method yarn from my CORESPUN masterclass. 

MATERIALS

• 30-50 yards of Bulky Handspun Art Yarn (you may need more or less depending on the size & design of the letter you are wrapping)
• Alphabet letter from the craft store for wrapping. 

INSTRUCTIONS

I made a slipknot at the top of my wreath to start and then wrapped and wrapped the yarn around the particleboard, covering all the gaps so that it looked dense. I tucked the end under the wrapping to secure. Hang and Enjoy!

Zephyr

Another great convertible piece!  Wear it as a cowl or a shawlette.  Style with shawl pins or other interesting jewelry or yarn. 

MATERIALS

• Size 35 Circular Needles, 32 inches long
• 80-100 Yards of Bulky Handspun Yarn (feel free to combine multiple smaller skeins of yarn for this project)

PATTERN

Cast on 60 stitches; join for knitting in the round (being careful not to twist stitches)

Knit in the round using a simple elongated stitch (see video below)

Knit 22 rows. Feel free to add more rows if you want a longer cape or wider cowl.

Bind off and weave in the ends.

Block with Unicorn Fibre Rinse.  Gently pat dry, reshape and dry flat. 

Granny Pillow

For this tutorial I took a 20x20 pillow and simply crocheted a classic Granny Square from various textures of handspun art yarn to hand stitch to the pillow cover. This pattern will work for any square shaped pillow (18x18, 20x20, 24x24, etc.) - simply crochet until your square is the right length & width.  You can also use a pillow form and make a complete cover. 

MATERIALS

• Square Pillow (mine is 20x20), or Pillow Insert (if you are making two squares or using fabric for the back)
• Square Pillowcase (these are cheap at Ikea, Amazon, and Hobby Lobby) that matches your yarn
• Sewing needle & thread for hand-sewing your pillow cover onto the pillowcase
• Handspun Art Yarn - I used about 80 yards. You may use more or less depending on how bulky your yarn is and how big your pillow is. 
• Crochet Hook appropriate for the bulkyness of your art yarn.

PATTERN

Following the video below, crochet a granny square until it's the size of the pillow you are covering.

You could also crochet two granny squares and cover the entire pillow (instead of just the front). But I just did the front.

Block with Unicorn Fibre Rinse.  Gently pat dry, reshape and dry flat. 

Seam the granny square to the pillowcase , or to fabric to make a true pillow cover, and enjoy! 

Floor Urchin

There are many free tutorials for different styles of this floor pillow / ottoman on various websites - but none of them use handspun. Here is the one I came up with that's a little different than all the others - but still has the same principle.

MATERIALS

• Size 19 circular needles , 32 -40 inches (we will be knitting this floor urchin in the round)
• 200-250 yards of handspun bulky art yarn
• Two bags of polyfill stuffing
• One pillowcase (make sure it matches your yarn in case you see it)
• 1 Yard of strong Cotton Yarn
• Large eye Yarn Needle

PATTERN

Cast on 47 stitches. For a larger pouf cast on 60-80 stitches.

Knit in the Round until your tube is 18 inches long (if you're knitting a larger pouf -knit until your tube is 30 inches long)

Do not bind off. Rather, take your yard of cotton yarn and cut it in half so you have 1.5 feet of cotton yarn. Then loop this cotton yarn through all the loops on your needle using a yarn needle to thread the cotton yarn through. Take a loop off the needle, and put the cotton yarn through it. When all your stitches are on the cotton yarn - pull the cotton yarn tight and tie it into a knot to create the bottom of your urchin. 

Turn the urchin inside-out so all the purl stitches are on the outside. If you prefer a knit side, that's fine too. I just thought the purls looked more urchin-like. 

Take the two bags of polyfill and stuff them into a standard sized pillowcase. Try to stuff the pillowcase so it's the shape of the urchin you want (rounded without too many bulges of stuffing). 

Twist the top of the pillowcase tightly into a flat bun-style knot. Now stuff the urchin with the pillowcase with the bun-style knot as the very bottom part of the urchin. 

Take the other 1.5 feet of cotton yarn with your yarn needle and loop it through every other stitch along the cast on edge of your tube. Pull it tight and knot tightly to secure. Cut the ends and tuck them into the inside of the urchin.

Art Yarn Weaving Timelapse

by Ashley Martineau

My favorite loom is the Ashford "Sample It" loom and I find the 2.5 dent reed perfect for weaving with art yarn as the warp. Here is a time-lapse video I made of weaving a scarf on this loom. It took me about 2 hours to complete.

Reversible Texture Hat

Sometimes you feel like wearing a super textured hat. Sometimes you don't. I knit this hat using the video method below (Knitting with Texture) to push all my art yarn texture to the "inside" of the hat - leaving the "outside" plain - resulting in a reversible hat. Inside-Out is super textured, and Outside-In is less textured.

MATERIALS

• 80-100 yards of Bulky Art Yarn (I used 4 different remnant yarns from my stash)
• Size 15 16-inch circular knitting needles, or set of Size 15 8 inch DP needles (this piece is knit in the round)

PATTERN

Cast on 20 inches of stitches (for my bulky yarn this was about 27 stitches - your number of stitches may vary)

Knit in the round and switch from one texture of yarn to another (if you're using multiple skeins like I did)

Use the "Knitting With Texture" technique video below to push all the yarn texture to the "inside" of the hat.

Continue knitting in the round until the piece measures 8 inches tall

DECREASE Rounds: K3, K2tog*  continue decreasing until you have 7 stitches left on your needle. Switch to DPN if necessary.

Pull the yarn tail through all remaining 7 loops on your needle and pull tightly. Tie in a tight knot on the textured side of the hat.

Weave in the ends.

Block with Unicorn Fibre Rinse.  Gently pat dry, reshape and dry flat. 

Emmagene

I love the way circular shawls drape, and I wanted something that was easy to shape and showcased my handspun yarn beautifully. So I used a crochet puff stitch in the round for the back piece (accented with two art yarns) and I knit the flounce on circular needles in the round. Then I seamed the flounce to the back - leaving two holes for arms - and it was done in about 4 hours.

This is a very intuitive pattern. Being able to crochet circular shapes with yarn of varying gauges is the hardest part. If you aren't very savvy with crochet, I recommend using a commercial yarn for the back so it's easier to follow a gauge pattern and keep your circle flat. If you feel confident, try using different yarns for the back (adjusting the stitching for the bulkiness of the yarn) in a freeform type of style, maintaining a flat circle, until your back piece is as large as mine.

MATERIALS

• 80-100 yards of Commercial Chunky Yarn for Backpiece and Flounce (YARN A and YARN B)
• Large Crochet Hook for Backpiece (Size P or above)
• 150-200 yards of yarn for the flounce (I used Handspun Art Yarn, of many different lengths; YARNS C-F )
• Size 19 circular knitting needles, at least 32 inches long

PATTERN

CROCHET BACKPIECE: I followed the video below on how to crochet a puff in a circle (I did not shape it into a square, but continued the circular shape) using YARN A and accented with two skeins of handspun art yarn at random points of the circle. I continued crocheting the circle until it had a diameter of 20 inches. 

KNIT FLOUNCE: Cast on 100 stitches (this will be the outside / widest point of your flounce).  Join for knitting in the round, being careful not to twist stitches.  Knit in the round using a Simple Elongated Stitch.

I used commercial YARN B to cast on so that I didn't run out of yarn during my cast on (many of my handspun skeins are under 30 yards - not enough for a good few rows of 100 stitches.  A good way to conserve yarn is a knitted cast on).  I also wanted to have a boucle' accent around the outside edge of my flounce.  To do this, I knit in the round until I was competely out of yarn. Then I knit with handspun art yarns C, D, E, F until I was out of those yarns. I continued knitting in the round until the piece was 20 inches long. Then I bound off tightly - this tight bind off will be the part that we seam to the crochet circle. If you need extra allowance for your arms, don't bind off too tightly.. You can always cinch your bind off edge with the crochet circle when you're seaming.

SEAMING - Seam across the back of neck and lower back as pictured below - leaving two holes open for the arms. Use mattress stitch or visible seaming method for more drama.   

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FINISHING - Weave in loose ends. Block with Unicorn Fibre Rinse.  Gently pat dry, reshape and dry flat. 

Backyard Garden Loom

I have always loved the idea of a garden loom, but I was disenchanted when the leaves and flowers and twigs I wove into it wilted and turned brown in a day and turned it into a modern art / composting display piece instead of something pretty. So I decided to turn it into an all weather art yarn loom. I built it by attaching 4 branches together and mounted it deep into the ground. Then I used art yarn to warp it.

Then when I hosted a backyard spinning retreat last summer I asked each artisan to "Weave their Mark" by weaving a yarn in the loom. I love the way it came out. 

Convertible TuniCowl

This tunic top can be worn frontwards or backwards, or as a cowl. I love creating art yarn pieces that are multi functional. For the front of my tunic I used 30 yards of recycled sari silk ribbon. This ribbon was sewn together from black to a small strip of blush pink and then ivory. Then for the back of the tunic I used 30 yards of handspun boucle textured yarn in a double elongated stitch. I knit the sari silk into a rectangle, and the boucle into a rectangle, and then I seamed the shoulders and sides - leaving plenty of room for the armholes. To wear this tunic as a cowl, just drape it around your neck and use one of the armholes as the second wrap to shorten. 

MATERIALS

• 30 yards recycled sari ribbon yarn or handspun yarn
• 30 yards handspun yarn
• Size 35 knitting needles
• Crochet Hook for seaming
• Extra matching yarn (I used black) for seaming

PATTERN

Front

Cast on 12 stitches with your recycled sari ribbon yarn (or handspun)

Knit in a double elongated stitch until the piece reaches 20 inches long.

Bind off tightly (this is the neckline)

Back

Cast on 14 stitches with your handspun yarn

Knit in a double elongated stitch until the piece reaches 30 inches long

Bind off tightly (this is the back neckline)

SEAMING

• Seam the shoulders together with a crochet hook and yarn, matching the necklines of the front and back. You can adjust the width of the shoulders by seaming more or less yarn from the sides.
• Seam the sides together with a crochet hook and yarn - leaving large holes for the arms. For a ruched effect, pull the extra ten inches of the back up and seam to the corner of the front side.