Using Art Yarn - the Fate of my Little Ones

Something I love about spinning is imagining what might be happening to my yarn after I send it out into the world.  Most of the time I never find out, and am left to ponder its fate -- was it made into a beloved garment?  Put away with the best of intentions and then forgotten about?  Discarded immediately with an embarrassed shrug?  I can't help wondering!  

Every now and then someone will send me a picture to share what they've done, though, and I can't exaggerate what a thrill that is. 

A year or two ago I was contacted by Mark Sloniker, an artist on Etsy, with a request for some supercoil yarn.  I love to make supercoil, although it's time-consuming.  It involves spinning a long, thin single, then plying it with another single or "core thread" by wrapping it pretty much at 90 degrees so as to encase the other single (like a core) with a long coil of yarn.  I discussed this process more, with illustrations, previously in my blog.

Example of supercoil yarn: I love the look and feel of these!

Mark had a particular project in mind -- a tree stump -- and asked for specific colours.  After getting his approval on the dye job I did on the wool -

Merino commercial top hand-painted with acid dyes

As the fibres are drafted apart for spinning, the colours fade and blend

I spun the yarn -

This totalled about 56 yards of supercoil yarn

Not long ago I heard back from Mark, who not only finished his truly gorgeous tree stump - as you can see below - 

You can read about how Mark made this fabulous piece on his blog

but used it as part of a set for illustrations to a children's book he has written, called Search for the Sugar Puff Hollow, available in his Etsy shop. 

 A pic from Mark's blog about the book -
love the critters, and hey, there's my yarn in the background!

There are tons of behind-the-scene photos of the making of this beautiful book on Mark's blog HERE.

So a totally exciting story of some yarn that has gone on to make me proud! I'm humbled by his amazing creativity.

In the meantime, I keep spinning...

I always try to keep a few skeins of supercoil in my Etsy shop...