Meanderings of a Mermaid

Here are some more art yarns I am experimenting with. The core is a woolen spun alpaca single. I have it thick and thin because I believe that texture is more interesting than a more even one - at least for this purpose. The glass beads are spring time colours of pink and green and yellow and clear and more. Very pretty. I used a mercerized cotton thread that is pink to purple and variegated. Fun stuff. Now this one is fabric flowers that I tore up. I put them on the same alpaca woolen spun singles. I used a very thin monofilament in a clear colour. I found the thread difficult to work with as it unspooled too easily and wrapped itself around the knitting needle that was acting as an axle. The filament does not feel nice on the hand, but rather feels like it is about to cut in. And it was stretchy which made it hard to work with. So I won't be using that thread for art yarn again (okay maybe "under protest"), even though it is invisible. There are some w

 It's my frenzied style of learning. I decide a few weeks earlier what the workshop schedule will be for the little guild that I run. Then I have to get down to it and if there's something I haven't tried, or haven't done much of, I have to practise. Odd I know, but this method seems to be working for me. Hey I never professed to be an expert at spinning. I think everyone knows I am just learning. Next week the class is about spinning art yarns; in particular the kind with add-ins. Those can be a wide variety of objects. Things with a hole in them are easier, like beads, buttons, sequins. I have only tried the kind with beads before. So first up is the pink wool singles with the flower petals. I believe this wool was corriedale. Today I took the ripped up fabric flowers, and threaded the clusters of petals onto sewing thread. I added a few clear beads. As I tore up the dollar store flowers I saw they had a perfect little hole in the center already. This was ea