# I made yarn! Now what? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 23, 2012, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-yarn-now-what/622891 "2012-05-23T23:38:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-yarn-now-what/622891/1 "2012-05-23T23:38:53Z")
So I went to the local Fiber Festival over the weekend and was seized afresh with a burning desire to spin my own yarn. After a frankly embarrassing amount of shopping, I came home and settled in to give it a shot with a tiny little 1/2 oz batt I bought on a whim because it was cheap and I loved the colors (chocolate and rose, with just a tiny bit of gold nylon in). Now it’s spun and scalded to set the twist and dry and ready to work with. It’s a tiny amount, and it’s what a generous-minded vendor at the festival called “highly textured,” but it’s sure-enough workable yarn and I made it with my own little hands. Pitiful as it looks in places, I’m proud of it and I want to make something with it that I can put up and keep. But I’m having a hell of a time finding a project that’s small enough for it. A half ounce of double-ply (it’s about worsted size in most spots) isn’t much yarn at all. Anybody got any ideas what I can do with it? ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-yarn-now-what/622891/2 "2012-05-23T23:55:44Z")
I bought a small amount of yarn and roving because the colors were so durned purty, but it’s really not enough to do a whole lot with. What I decided I’m going to do is knit, crochet or felt (or some combo) a strip wide enough to show off the colors and textures and use that to embellish an article of clothing, like edges of a cardigan or the neckline of a pullover sweater. Could you do something like that? ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-yarn-now-what/622891/3 "2012-05-24T00:00:20Z")
Knit a pair of mitts? I think you should have enough for that as long as you don’t knit it too tightly. freckafree–you could use it to knit the insides of folded-over, sewn-down hems on a sweater. I’ve always thought that was a nice touch. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-yarn-now-what/622891/4 "2012-05-24T00:02:24Z")
Yay you!! Are you knitting, crocheting, or either? And how many yards is it? Hmm, maybe I can answer that; a half-ounce is about 14 grams,\* and a 100-gram ball of worsted-weight wool is about 150-200 yards, so let’s say you’ve got, mm mm mm, about one-eighth of that or…20-25 yards. No, that’s not very much, is it? Uh, let’s see, you could make a coaster, or a small clutch purse, or a decorative flower, or a headband or a bracelet or a coffee-cup sleeve, or how about a nice Christmas ornament? Are you on Ravelry? ([ravelry.com](http://ravelry.com)) I don’t recognize you among the sdmb yarnies group members, but maybe you have a different username there. Anyway, join Ravelry if you haven’t already, and you can use their amazing customizable search feature to find patterns that require a specified range of yardage and specified wool type and specified everything else. Good luck, and when come back bring pix! - You know, if you type “half-ounce grams” into Google, you get **VERY** different hits from what you get if you add “worsted weight” to the search terms. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-yarn-now-what/622891/5 "2012-05-24T00:15:02Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > Knit a pair of mitts? I think you should have enough for that as long as you don’t knit it too tightly. > > freckafree–you could use it to knit the insides of folded-over, sewn-down hems on a sweater. I’ve always thought that was a nice touch. I did something like that to a really ugly, shapeless Shaker knit sweater that I turned into a cardigan. I like the way it turned out! ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-yarn-now-what/622891/6 "2012-05-24T00:53:44Z")
And, I’m sorry, but I also have to add that I keep reading the thread title in LOLcat: I made a yarn! ---
**Author:** ![minionkat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@minionkat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minionkat)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-yarn-now-what/622891/7 "2012-05-24T01:24:09Z")
I read the thread title/user name and thought “how long has she been saving the cat hair?” I admit, it was wishful thinking. Good luck with your project! ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-yarn-now-what/622891/8 "2012-05-24T01:42:11Z")
My first yarn is still waiting to be made into the trim for a hat or something. My latest yarn, well, one of them, is a 3-ply sock yarn, more or less fingering weight, and the first skein is already a sock. The sock is actually done, but I didn’t get a picture taken today. [Bee sock and yarn](http://www.flickr.com/photos/27186885@N07/7218377828/) My greatest [triumph](http://www.flickr.com/photos/27186885@N07/6980074149/) as a spinner would be a colorwork hat I spun and knit in Feb- March. I’ve been spinning for a few months more than a year. And probably went to the same Fiber Festival that **CrazyCatLady** went to, and doubled my collection of spindles, and bought an assortment of fiber. And **Minionkat** there really are people who spin cat hair–I am not catlover enough to be one of them. ---
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-made-yarn-now-what/622891/9 "2012-05-25T04:14:02Z")
my suggestion is to knit or crochet it as the end of a scarf. start with the pretty stuff and then change to a complementary color and go until you have a length you want. Did you spin with a drop spindle or just using you hands or what? I love to spin and I make balls of yarn. I tell people they are things of beauty unto themselves. I like to put a pretty wooden bowl on my table with balls of differnt yarns in it that I have made. 🙂