Beginning spinners make it their goal to produce fine, even, predictable yarns which make for lovely knitting, crocheting or weaving. Many spinners talk about the calming, meditative effects of their craft, and while there is lots of opportunity for creativity with color and texture, certain spinners take it to another level completely by incorporating found objects, hand felted elements, beads, charms and anything else they dream up. Witness the work of Yarn Punk: Spring Eternal and Gnome Yarn below

Vitreous Humor by Insubordiknit:

Stoneleafmoon offers a tutorial on making your own creative batts for this type of spinning (drum carder required):

And Pluckyfluff offers her yarns for sale, has written a book on creative spinning, and teaches workshops on extreme spinning (spinning wheel and basic spinning abilities required): Lost in Adorable below:

On her very inspirational blog, she has come up with themed challenges (the latest one was “sniff and spin”) to involve other spinners; quite fascinating to compare the various interpretations.

The Yarn Museum is a great place for inspiration as well…now, what does one make to do justice to these unique yarns?

I am over the moon giddy in love with my new Herringbone Mittens. The pattern is from the delightful Elliphantom and these puppies are pure genius! I’ve never encountered this thumb construction before, but I have to tell you that these are the comfiest and most natural fitting mittens I’ve ever made. Anny purls

splityarn a quick Alpaca Neckwarmer. I think this one took longer to block than it did to knit. Speedy! Pattern: Yarn Abuse’s Cashmere Neckwarmer
Yarn: One skein of Elsebeth Lavold Chunky AL. 50% Alpaca, 50% Wool

dogged knits these slippers are a repeat of my Log Cabin Socks, knit slightly larger and lightly fulled (via a wash cycle–a dangerous little game to play, but it worked out) into slipper density. Pattern: Log Cabin Socks from Handknit Holidays. Mods: Knit the larger size, but using the length directions for the smaller size; added Fibertrends slipper soles using orange pearl cotton and blanket stitch.

knitting iris “Button Up Socks: Just for the fun of it!”,designed by a “local” woman was given to me by a friend for my birthday and turned out to be as the name indicated, a fun knit.

tres chic veronique Pattern: Ruffled Jacket (#44), by James Coviello, from the Fall 2007 Vogue Knitting magazine - with lots of mods - corrections for chart for back has been posted on ravelry.

rachel liufer - original pattern - robin’s egg blue hat