How Not to Spin a Beaded Yarn

About 10 years ago or so, when I had first started to spin, I was eager to try everything. Once I had the basics down, I leaped head-first into thick and thin yarns, exotic fiber yarns, and novelty yarns. One yarn I wanted to try making was a beaded yarn. Didn't know the first thing about it, and of course, being eager, didn't bother doing any research either. I have found that I am the kind of person that likes trial and error, instead of alot of thinking and planning.

So, the only way I could think of making a beaded yarn was to string beads on one of the plies of yarn, then stagger the beads as I plied. I spun up some coopworth fiber as thin as I could, then took a bag of black irridescent seed beads and using a wire beading needle, I strung on a good number of beads onto it. Well, I quickly found out that it was going to be a very slow and tedious process. I managed to get a couple of small skeins done, but soon lost interest and put the rest of it into a bag and stowed it away.

That was 10 years ago. This year, I began cleaning my craft room and found the bag with the seed beads and the ball of yarn still waiting for me to finish it. It took some effort, but I managed to make myself sit back down at my wheel and start working on it again.



It was still tedious, but this time I knew an end was in sight. Just one more ball of yarn to go and I would be finished!



And whalla! It's done! Heck, I'm not even sure what I was making this yarn for anymore! I think I just wanted to see if I could do it. And I did. And I know I'll never do it again! At least not that way. I'm really surprised that I never had the yarn break as I was pulling those beads along as I plied.



So, this was how not to spin a beaded yarn. The way you are supposed to do it, is string the beads onto a thread and ply it along with the spun yarn. While cleaning my craft room, I also found alot of beads that need a use. I plan to do some more experimenting in the new year, and you can be sure, I'll be doing my homework first this time!