Space Cadet

No sooner do I define and bound my world, than I spin off, and abandon it.

Pawing through the stash, I found a bin of worsted singles in the 2,500 to 3,000 ypp range left over from first learning to use DRS.  So, I wondered?

What would happen if I plied them up 10-ply?  The result is a finished 10- yarn in the 250 to 280 ypp range  (0.5 m/g).   On 3.5 mm needles and a (knitting sheath), it knits up at ~ 5 spi by ~ 7 rpi.

Over time, this fabric is warmer than what can be produced from any commercial yarn that I am aware of; and,  is much more durable than any commercial yarn of  similar grist.  The comparable yarn is my 14-ply worsted spun based on 5,600 ypp singles, which is far more durable.

However, at 5 tpi the singles are only half the work to spin as the 10s, and the knitting is only a third the work of 500 ypp 10-ply.  Thus, at this time this yarn/fabric offers much more warmth for less resources and budget than any other yarn/ fabric that I have ever tested.  In terms of more warmth , it far, far out-classes commercial 5-ply, 1,000 ypp  "gansey" yarn.   This is not really a problem, the objects that I have knit from commercial 5-ply "gansey" yarn are well suited to the climate of the greater SF Bay Area.   I need something for expeditions in to colder climates.  At this point, I have to move AA's dismissal of high-ply yarns from a gloss to an error.

Yarns like the MacAusland heavy 3-ply may approach this yarn in initial warmth, but this yarn/fabric far out-classes them for durability, and long-term warmth.  Since spinning is faster than knitting, objects made from this yarn are less expensive than just using MacAusland, and reknitting over a period of years.  Some of my MacAusland sweaters are long past "Used, but good!"

This is a craftsman's compromise between "budget" and "durability" 

made possible by a depth of resources (tools and skills.)

In the the past I have certainly praised commercial 5-ply gansey yarn and MacAusland's for their warmth, however, that was in the galaxy of commercial yarns on the retail market.  Now, we have escaped into the universe of possible yarns.  Here the commercial yarns make a poor showing, most  modern hand spun are pale imitations of the commercial yarns.

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Weatherproof gansey fabric

Many typical modern gansey knitters using US 1 or 2.25 mm needles get a gauge of 32 sp4i by 36 rp4i yielding 1152 stitches per 16 square inches  or 72 stitches per square inch. see for example http://www.guernseywool.co.uk/Get_Knitting.html

Using a knitting sheath and 2.38 mm needles with a commercial gansey yarn such as Frangipani, I get 28 sp4i by 46 rp4i  yielding 1288 stitches per 16 square inches, or about 80 stitches per square inch. Thus, using a 5% larger needle, I get an 11% more stitches per square inch. The bottom line is that using a knitting sheath allows the production of denser (more weatherproof) fabrics, even with larger needles.

80 stitches per square inch is about the gauge that Gorden gets using commercial gansey yarn on 2.25 mm needles, so this is indeed the ball park for modern gansey fabrics.

And using a knitting sheath allows using smaller needles. The needles laying across the panels were used to knit that panel. 

Here is a graduated swatch.  The panel below the line of purls was knit with 2.38 mm needles at ~7 spi and ~11 rpi making it a bit tighter and denser fabric than fabric knit at the conventional 72 stitches/ square inch gansey gauge.

The middle panel was knit on 2 mm needles at ~ 96 stitches per square inch.

The upper panel was knit/swaved on 1.75 mm needles to produce 119 stitches per square inch. That is a fabric that is ~ 60% denser than the gauge recommended by  Frangipani, and almost 50 % denser than the fabrics generally produced by Gorden. Denser fabric means that the holes are smaller and the fabric is warmer and more weatherproof.   Some people just cannot seem to understand that their 80 stitches per square inch is NOT tight enough to make a weatherproof gansey, and they have steadfastly refused to try knitting tighter.

I do not care how they knit, However, they should not attribute the performance of their knitting to a good "gansey knit". "Gansey knit" has described a  style of knitting that produces very fine fabrics since Sir Walter  Raleigh sent a present of knit hose to a princess in Poland.  Folks who do not use long needles and knitting sheaths should not speculate from ignorance about the performance of such knitting.  With a knitting sheath and long steel needles, they too can knit just as tight as generations of knitters knitting for fishermen, sailors, and royalty knit. 

Of the 3 panels, only the top panel is really weatherproof, (or rather would be if I oil it.).

The top panel feels thinner between the fingers.  And on land, where there is less wind, or where one can always put on a "wind breaker" the bottom panel is warmer.  However, if you are working in the wind, and your wind breaker is out of reach, then the top panel is more weatherproof and much warmer.

The bottom line is that if you want to use circular needles to knit a weatherproof gansey from commercial gansey yarn, you will likely have to use 1.5 mm needles. To repeat myself, knitting a weatherproof sweater from modern commercial gansey yarn is a lot of work.

This is a two panel swatch knit from commercial 6-strand cabled yarn.  The bottom panel was knit with US 3 / 3.25 mm needles for a gauge of  45 stitches per square inch.  The upper panel was swaved on 2.38 mm pricks to 60 stitches per square inch, and is weatherproof. It is denser than the top panel in the gansey yarn swatch above.  If I  just say that it was knit at 6.5 spi, then everyone and their cousin will say that they can knit such fabric with US3 needles. They do that by knitting more loosely, so every stitch is so long that it leaves a hole though the fabric where cold can enter and heat can exit.  See for example  http://gansey.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-case-of-brandy.html.  However, they cannot match both stitch AND row gauges. The top half of the swatch is still only about 6.5 spi, but it is almost 60 stitchs per square inch or about 30% denser and warmer.  I can tell you for sure that you want to produce fabric that dense on US3 needles, then you will need to work with Aran weight yarns.  Knitting Aran weight yarn to a weatherproof density is ferocious work.

 I showed in lower panel above that it is possible for me to knit 7 spi from 6-strand yarn on US3 needles, but that fabric is only half as dense as the fabric swaved from the same yarn on US 1 needles.  As a rule of thumb, a fabric that is half as dense is half as warm.

Getting to swaving

Some seem to feel that what I do is either an arrogant lie or an accident.

No it a matter of taking some clue out of history and working on it until I come up with something useful.

Perhaps the Holy Grail was "swaving".  (After," How did the old fishermen on the banks stay warm?)  My grandmother told stories of very fine, hand knit, camel, ladies gloves.  And. we had limited information on the Terrible Knitters of the Dales swaving fine gloves.  The hints were tantalizing, but,  "What was the truth?" What was the technique?

Clearly the needle rotated in the knitting sheath.  This makes swaving dramatically different from any other modern hand knitting technique. Lever knitting was based on needle pitch / yaw motions. In contrast, swaving was based on  needle rotation.

So I bent some DPNs and tried it. The fabric was wonderful, but the process was so high effort that a 2" by 2" swatch knit in an evening would leave my hands stiff and sore for days.  For several years, I could not find a needle configuration that reduced the effort. I could produce wonderful fabric, but the effort was impossible.  I came to believe that swaving was inherently, a high effort activity, and that the high effort required was why it disappeared.  I was wrong.

Then, I saw a glover's needle in a museum collection that was obviously used for swaving and I made a set of replicas.  They worked - for glove fingers. All of a sudden, swaving (glove fingers) was an easy and low effort way to knit. Scaling that needle/sheath geometry to longer needles suitable for socks and glove cuffs and palms was matter of many generations of needles over a period of 3 years. So, when I say that I can "swave" it is not the result of  one trial or a few trials, it is the result of many trials, and taking many little baggies of swatches to many guild show and tells.

 Everyone is so accustomed to knitting being a pitch/yaw motion, that their eyes are fooled, and nobody sees the rotation of the needle in  swaving.  No wonder Rutt did not see it. It is an optical illusion, and I must apologize to Rutt.

 Here is a pictorial history of the tools I have tried and abandoned, to the tools that I currently use:

Note that the needles that work well have their bend about 2" from the end of the needle.

The needles that I currently use are about as blunt as possible. This goes against current thinking that one needs sharp needles to knit fast. Needles that work very well have just enough bend to fit snugly in 3/4" pipe, regardless of the length of the needle.  Needles that work best are less then 8" long.  My glove needles are 4" long with the bend in the middle.  Thus, the glover's needles have a sharper bend.

Today, swaving is my preferred way to knit. It produces a very nice fabric (with ridges when knitting back and forth). It is very fast.  It is very easy on the hands  It is very low effort.  The needles are compact and blunt (read as "safe in a knitting bag").  The bent needles (pricks) tend not to leave ladders, even in sock fingers.  And, it is very easy to  knit firm (weatherproof)  fabrics from even very fine yarns. Thus, the technique is ideal for gloves and socks. Today, I have, and use swaving needles down to 1.2 mm.

In contrast, gansey knitting with long straight needles and a knitting sheath is a fast and easy way to knit large objects such as sweaters.  Gansey knitting is for objects involving cabling, bobbles, and lace. Gansey needles  are long, and sharp enough to slide right through most knitting bags and poke holes in anything that might be precious or valuable.  On the other hand, when you must knit a very warm sweater, very fast, gansey needles with a knitting sheath are tool of choice.  And one can knit back and forth without ridges.  :  )

A sock and glove kit that is going to a friend next week. 

(I am moving from storing needles in irrigation pipe to storing needles in acrylic tubing.)