Day 2- The Yarn Mill in Montgomery, NY

2/25/14

The yarn mill

Today I headed out to visit my cousin about an hour north of New York City. We visited an old yarn mill in Montgomery, NY, although unfortunately most of the machinery is gone and most of what they do is resale. The bins of undyed yarn appealed to my texture obsession so obviously I grabbed the biggest, bulkiest yarn available.

My favorite was a felted yarn that resembled a skein of dreadlocks. I anticipated a woven piece using the felted yarn as the warp (the lengthwise yarn) and a very thin yarn as the weft (the yarn woven side to side) to give a corded appearance.

Concept sketch for woven felted yarn

I would still like to work with this concept, but the yarn was terribly expensive. I'm considering alternatives! In the meantime I opted for another felted yarn that had a thick-and-thin spin to it. It has a great spongy quality and will also be great for dyeing.

I started a weaving with today's yarn purchases which I will have to work on for a few days to incorporate into an upcoming project. I'm working on a simple lap loom (however it really is too big for your lap...) and will end up with a piece that will be good for applique or for a smaller accessory. 

For today I decided to keep it simple. The felted quality of the yarn makes it easy to sew, so I lined up several pieces and started to stitch them together at regular intervals while leaving some gaps. At the time, I considered filling the space in with some beads. Instead, I found some copper wire and wrapped coils to encase the yarn. The materials have to compromise, the yarn holds the copper in place but the spring gives the yarn a bit of shaping. I'm sure there is some influence from the industrial atmosphere and machinery that I saw at the mill today in this piece. 

Felted yarn stitched together with thread

Copper wire for coils: I used 2 different sized cylinders to shape the coils.

I completed the piece as a necklace by creating a wrapped hook and eye with the copper wire and using a lace weight yarn to wrap the components together.

The wrapped end of the necklace with a handmade copper hook closure. 

The finished piece, made with 100% felted wool yarn, cotton lace weight yarn, and copper wire. 

Eunice is a fabulous model. 

Today's project really emphasizes the importance of pushing through to finish a piece, despite tangents and distractions in the creative process. I had my heart set on crafting something with the woven piece I was making but I had to set that aside and bring it back another day. I have so many fabric treatments in mind for future projects, and as they tend to be time consuming, I'd better get them started before I plan to use them.