Yarns With Glitter Thread

 

I know I've posted my experience with glitter thread yarns before but it never hurts to have a reminder.  I really like using Caron's Simply Soft Party but I have to weave differently with it than I do with yarns without the glitter thread. 

I discovered a while back that glitter yarn will run through the floats easier if I knot the ends and pull through the floats with the knot right against the needle.  This really matters because every time you have to untangle your glitter yarn, you take the chance of breaking that glitter thread.  The few times I broke the glitter thread, I had to pull out the whole row and redo it because I won't sell an item with it broken.  This is time consuming and puts you in a bad mood.  LOL!

The table runner shown above is a project I'm working on right now and I learned something from it, too.  That particular row takes 4 widths of yarn and so far I've been lucky enough to only break the glitter thread at the very end where I could cut it off...but I still have to weave the corresponding row.  I decided that, if the glitter thread breaks in the next row, I'll pull out both rows and change the pattern.  I won't ever use a pattern again that requires more than 2 1/2-3 lengths of yarn when I'm using glitter yarn.  The longer the piece of yarn, the more likely you are to end up breaking the glitter thread.

A lot of us use glitter yarn for our Christmas patterns so I thought this was a good opportunity to let you all know how I use it.  I'd love to hear from anyone who would like to share their ideas on the blog.

A Few Thoughts

I've been Swedish weaving for around 20 years but would never consider myself an expert.  For one thing, I don't know how to do lettering and will have to watch it done before I can do it myself.

Swedish weaving is one of those crafts that looks difficult until you try it...best have someone there to teach you on your first project.  I've always told my students that they will know all they need to know after they've completed about 3 rows.  From then on, you pick up new abilities every time you do Swedish weaving, either by figuring it out yourself, carefully reading direction, or joining a group of other weavers always happy to help you out.

My habit is to complete 3 projects (no more afghans for me anymore, though) and then do the final machine stitching before placing them for sale, giving them away, or keeping them for myself.  This got me into a bit of trouble a while back when I accidently attributed the pattern to the wrong designer but I've since developed a better way of keeping track.

I stick to making table runners and doilies now because I've outfitted my whole family and friends with Swedish weaving afghans and they're almost impossible to sell because of the price.  Unfortunately, hand crafts are often not treasured because buyers have no idea how much time and work goes into making them.

You don't see much Swedish weaving in Canada because it is horribly expensive to buy supplies.  I was lucky enough to buy all my fabric in the States when I wintered in Florida.  The fabric, especially is still pretty expensive but much less so in the States even with the devalued Canadian dollar.

Because of Covid, I can't sell my goods at the Senior Center bazaar this year so I've started listing them on "Marketplace" so that people in my area can come to my home and purchase directly.  It doesn't give me much exposure like the bazaar did but that's okay.  I truly enjoy my craft whether it sells or not.

Well, I've almost completed the recent 2 items now and will start my 3rd in a day or so.  I surely do love Swedish weaving.