Tools Day: Yarn Record Book

Would you like to keep track of every type of thread and yarn you use? You need something you can refer back to for fiber content, color numbers, sett information, and where you purchased the yarn. I have a simple yarn record system that accomplishes that. Because it is easy to do, I update the records every time I start a new tube of thread or skein of yarn that is not already represented. I call it my Yarn Record Book.

How to Create a Yarn Record Book

1. Gather supplies:

  • Three-ring binder
  • 8 1/2 x 11″ white cardstock
  • Paper cutter or scissors
  • Three-ring hole punch or single-hole punch
  • Small color wheel and other color tools
  • Black fine point Sharpee
  • Pocket pages
  • New spectacular yarn and thread in colors and sizes you have never tried before!

Make a Yarn Record Book Tutorial

2. Cut cardstock. Cut a sheet of white cardstock lengthwise in half.

Making pages for yarn record book.

3. Punch holes. Punch three holes on one long side of the cut cardstock to coincide with three-ring binder, and punch five holes on the opposite side.

Preparing pages for yarn record book. Tutorial.

4. Insert color tools. Place color wheel and other color tools in front inside pocket.

Yarn Record Book Tutorial

Color tools in yarn record book.

5. Add yarn label information. Write information on front of prepared card:

  • Fiber type and size/plies; e.g., Cotton 8/2
  • Brand name
  • Fiber content
  • Where purchased
  • Length and weight

Making Yarn Record Book. How to.

6. Add yarn sample. Cut one meter of the new thread or yarn. (My loom bench, conveniently a meter in width, is my quick measuring guide.) Fold the length in half, in half again, and in half one more time. Push the loop at the fold of the yarn through a hole on the five-hole side of the card and pull the other end of the yarn through. Write the color number above the hole.

Adding yarn to yarn record book.

7. Insert yarn card into notebook. On the back of the card write the date the yarn is added. Include information about how the yarn is to be used, and the intended sett. (Later, if your plans change, or you determine the sett needs adjusting, come back and make notes here to reflect that.) Insert the card in the Yarn Record Book. I arrange fibers in alphabetical order, e.g., alpaca, cotton, linen, wool; and, within each fiber, by size of yarn from finest to coarsest.

Adding project info to yarn record book.

8. Add color cards. Put purchased yarn sample color cards in pocket pages at the end of the notebook.

Yarn samples in yarn record book.

9. Expand. When you accumulate so many types and colors of threads and yarns that your notebook is overflowing, get a bigger notebook!

Yarn Record Book. Karen Isenhower

May you make progress in putting things in order.

Happy Organizing,
Karen

Linen Air Scarves

This linen scarf is for embellishment, not for warmth. Wear it as a summer shawl, and it will make you feel pretty without adding any weight to your shoulders. Making this scarf was like weaving air, and wearing it is like wearing air.

Linen lace weave scarves just off the loom.
Lace weave scarves, woven with 16/1 linen, just off the loom.
Twisting fringe on linen scarves.
Fringe is trimmed, knotted, twisted, and knotted again. Then, after washing by hand in hot water with mild soap, the scarves are hung to dry.

The wrinkly nature of linen gives character to this netting-like lace weave. In The Big Book of Weaving, this draft is written for a project using paper yarn to make room dividers. I didn’t know if it would work to substitute linen for paper yarn… Or, if the fabric off the loom would work as scarves… Result? Two fabulously light linen scarves, wearable even in Houston.

Linen lace weave scarves. Karen Isenhower
Long and lightweight, the airy fabric is suitable to serve as a scarf, shawl, or even a long sash. Being linen, it embellishes a nice dress, or adds style to comfortable blue jeans.
Fringe detail on linen scarves.
Long fringe, twisted in small sections, accentuates the linen character of the scarves.

Concerns that turn into burdens are like scarves that are too heavy for the present season. We keep wearing the scarf, even though it makes us miserable. Our Heavenly Father is a burden lifter who knows our concerns. He bears our burdens. Though he is great and glorious, he lifts the burdens that are on our shoulders and carries them for us. In place of the burdens, we get to wear peace instead. Light and airy, and wearable with everything… peace.

May your burdens become light as air.

With grace,
Karen

Sun Rising

The little village is waking up. Sun rising. This small tapestry is near completion, and I am happy with the things I have learned in the process. Now, I am preparing a cartoon and gathering an array of Fåro wool colors for the next small tapestry. I may be jumping in over my head with this next one, but I will learn new things to practice.

Sun Rising. Small tapestry project on Freja loom.
Little woven village at the start of a new day. Sky is developed with hatching. Small ojos form three birds in the sky. Freja Tapestry Frame.

In my tea and tapestry time (tapestry diary) in the evenings, my intention is to improve my tapestry skills by practicing the little that I know. The concept is to learn by doing. Find what works, and do it more. For example, in the class I recently attended at Weaving Southwest, Teresa Loveless worked with me on the hatching technique. When I came home to this little tapestry village, I wanted to implement that new understanding right away. The sunrise sky, created with hatching, came as a result of Teresa’s coaching and my desire to learn by doing.

Isn’t that how we navigate through life? Take what you know about how to live, and how to please God. And then do it more. Learn by doing. Every new insight builds, not on what we know, but on what we have put into practice.

May you enter a sunrise season of life.

With pleasant anticipation,
Karen