Tag: Tencel

Tencel top fiber page

On By CarynIn Craft
Photo description: scrap book page with a Tencel Top card from Hearthside Fibers upper left, single spun and chain plied samples upper right, unspun fiber middle left, plain weave swatch middle right, stockinette knit swatch lower left, and crocheted lace round lower right

The next completed fiber study page is for Tencel. Tencel is made from wood pulp and the combed fiber is shiny and silky looking, but it is not easy to draft consistently. I want to like it because it is made from waste product, but it fought me when I was spinning. Maybe it would be better if it were blended with something. Blending fibers is another whole rabbit hole.

Despite the difficulties spinning, my swatches are more rectangular and less skewed than with other fibers. I block most of my swatches, but the Tencel really benefitted from being wet and reshaped.

Woven Tencel

On By CarynIn Craft

I was only able to get three swatches from my Tencel sample, knitted, crocheted, and woven. I wove this swatch on a Clover mini loom, with the warp doubled. To finish it I ran the warp back up through the weft passes. I like the edge the method makes, but I don’t like how wonky this piece came out.

Photo description: plain weave swatch made on a Clover mini loom with three ply hand spun Tencel yarn
Photo description: same woven swatch after blocking, but still wonky

I’m going to blame the spin on this one.

P.S. Sorry if you received this post twice by email. I usually schedule my posts about three days out, and I hit the wrong button, tried to retract it, and put it on the proper schedule. I wasn’t fast enough and the email went out. It bothered me to have this series of posts out of order, so I fixed it for the blog, but those emails may have a duplicate or not resend. Ah, technology.

Crocheted Tencel

On By CarynIn Craft

I did my go-to coaster crochet pattern for the Tencel swatch using a F hook. The crochet handles the unevenness of the yarn much better than knitting.

Photo description: crocheted coaster made from three ply hand spun Tencel yarn and a F (3.75mm) ergonomic hook by Clover
Photo description: crocheted coaster after blocking

The openness of the lace stitch also is complementary to the uneven yarn. I think if I had done an even crochet stitch, such as a single crochet every row, it wouldn’t have looked as nice. That is a good thing to know: lace or sculptural crochet is a good choice for imperfect yarn.

Knitted Tencel

On By CarynIn Craft

I knit my hand spun Tencel yarn with size 4 Prym needles. I like to do a stockinette stitch with garter stitch border to help it lay flat since stockinette alone likes to curl.

Photo description: knit swatch of Tencel with the knitting needle because sometimes I forget which size I used
Photo description: same swatch after blocking which only improved the shape slightly

My knitting tension is even, the wonkiness of this swatch comes from the uneven spin of the yarn. Tencel was a tricky fiber for me to spin. It is shiny and lustrous, but likes to clump and doesn’t draft evenly. The finished swatch is soft and has a lovely sheen, but I’m distracted by the strange pooling of uneven yarn.

Tencel Top

On By CarynIn Craft

My chain plied Tencel yarn sat on my niddy noddy for (ah hm) awhile. I am deliberately not counting the number of in progress projects I have right now. I finally rolled it up into a center pull ball, and it is very shiny, but more uneven than my usual spins. I think I have said it before, but Tencel will not be on my spin-again list.

Photo description: three-ply Tencel yarn wound nostepinne style on a rolled piece of card stock, black dog in the background staring up, her very own ball not pictured