I am be-weaver : Woven test with Lion Brands Necks Best Thing on my rigid heddle weaving loom
I could write a fancy intro post into my weaving obsession, but instead I am going to jump right on in.
I started weaving and I love it, I have found other people who love it too. The more I weave and learn, the more I am surprised that yarn companies don’t cater to weavers. But yet, I have never purchased more yarn as I have the last few months. It’s not uncommon for me to demolish 5-8 skeins a week on the my little weaving loom.
As a cure for that I decided to add my textile arts to my food photography/graphic design space. I started weaving to elevate my food photography with hand made props, so it kind of fits. But then my weaving started taking on a life of its own.
This is the challenge for me : try to weave almost everything in the Lion Brand Yarn line on my rigid heddle weaving loom so other weavers can see how the yarns behave. There are some surprises in this brand and I want to share them!
My first go is a bit random. I think I was attracted to this yarn purely for the color. It’s called Necks Best Thing, it runs about $9.00 for around 525 yards of yarn- which is a pretty excellent value.
Lion Brand Necks Best Thing with a sample of some re-twisted and skeined yarn made from the remaining of a skein.
Here is the run down of this yarn: It’s around a 3 weight, it’s very weak (so no warping with it) and it’s a single ply roving style of yarn. It’s sort of silky-ish to the touch in the cake. It’s a combo of 90% acrylic and 10% wool.
A close up of the yarn structure.
Since it could not be used as a warp, I paired it with some cotton 5/2 yarn that I had dyed brilliant greens doubled in a 7.5 heddle. The weave was fun and easy, the two played off each other well. I like how it looked a bit like a homespun yarn with regularities.
Weaving detail
I also loved the smooth gradient that went from hot pink to maroon along the stretch of my weaving.
After washing and drying the final cloth, the result was definitely less soft, although the piece maintained a nice drape. But it’s easy to see that pilling will be a problem with the acrylic and the loose spin. You can see how much it fuzzes on the edge of the cloth.
Detail of the edge showing potential pilling issues after the finishing wash of the weaving piece.
My finished piece was amazing. I can’t say this is my favorite yarn for weaving, but I do like what I made. I also had some fun re-spinning it making a plied yarn to experiment with in my Ashford Varident heddle.
So- here’s my quick and dirty rundown:
Necks Best Thing Pros:
Cost efficient, could be a good test yarn for a more expensive similar yarn
Irregular, hand spin look
Brilliant colorways,
Nice, smooth gradient length for a 16” rigid heddle loom
Easy care
Can be re-spun and played with
Necks Best Things Cons:
Too weak for warp
Pills easily
Not as soft after washing
Still enough wool to bug people with a wool allergy with little of the benefit of wool
You can find the yarn here (colorways change often) http://www.lionbrand.com/neck-s-best-thing-yarn.html
And here is the finished piece that will be put up for sale. A pattern and instruction guide might be pending as well!
All done and ready to find a home!