Textile Lariats

I got some new items listed in my Etsy shop that I designed to all be worn together, or mixed and matched to be worn in pairs or alone. It all depends on how much warmth and decoration you want around your neck. First is a set of two lariats and a necklace. The other is a skinny scarf. It is knit in mauve yarn with a crocheted edge of bold lace, and is 100% silk. I LOVE SILK! It's so soft, you can't believe it! Like butter!

The other three pieces are all make with my handspun yarn. They are cable spun with 6 individual plies. What this means is that I plied the yarn as 2-plies, and then plied 3 sets of these 2-plies to make a 6-ply cable. This yarn is much thicker than anything you would typically find in a yarn shop. The 4 pods at the end of the two lariats are felted, and I connected the pods to the yarn with a hand beaded calyxes of seed beads using herringbone weave. The shorter three strand necklace has a crocheted clasp out of silk with one purple and metal button. What I learned: I learned that cable plied hand spun yarn has a very different feel to it than the same weight of fiber crocheted or knit. The hand spun is more dense, but still squishy, whereas knit or crocheted fabric is more stretchy. Felted fabric is even more dense than the cable yarn.