Ravelry

At one point, my grandfather was a carpenter for the Union Pacific Railroad in Oklahoma. They built whole towns of  buildings using wood and nails. 

Now the quiz:

Which tool in the picture below is the correct tool for driving nails into wood?

Both the hammer and the pliers are applications of  levers

Of course it is the hammer!; because it provides the useful leverage for the job.  It allows professional grade nail driving. 

Which tool below it the correct tool for knitting "gansey" yarn into weatherproof objects?

Shown above are 3mm circular needles and 2 mm DPN with 

a good knitting sheath

The DPN with knitting sheath provides much more leverage putting much less stress on the hands and the circular needles are just too big. And, those big needles leave big needle holes in the fabric; you are never going to get to "weatherproof" leaving such big holes in the fabric.  Use 2mm circs, and there still is too much stress on the hands.

What tools are needed  for the knit objects that  GT calls "ganseys" knit from 2,700 ypp yarns at 12 spi and 20 rpi?

A good knitting sheath with 1.3 mm needles.  It makes a lovely soft, warm, durable fabric that I also use for gloves and socks,  as in this very well tested (worn) sock knit from 6-ply, 1680 ypp wool yarn, knit at 12 spi and 16 rpi:

This is actually a heavier yarn than the old  Patons Beehive,

 thus this is a denser fabric - more like the Dunraven.

You are not going to get there with circular needles!  I know, I tried very hard for years. and years.  My grandfather could not have built cities of wood by pounding in all of those nails with a pair of pliers (although he always carried a pair of pliers in his pocket.)  No, he used the right tool - he used a hammer to drive those nails home.  Likewise, to knit the kind of fabrics that I like, I have to use DPN and a knitting sheath.


Raverly's take on tools;

Some groups have been taken over by populist bullies (e.g., boss cows) that tell us that  3.25 mm needles will produce the same fabrics as 2.4 mm needles. (If we slice that salami, they imply that any fabric can be knit on any sized needle.) Then, they get agrees and loves on such nonsense. Some, or even most, groups on Ravelry have become a popularity contest among folks with limited technical skill, that negates Ravelry's ability to be a clearinghouse of useful textile knowledge and skills. There is more speculation from ignorance than knowledge from actual compartive testing of  tools, materials, and techniques.  People who say this technique is better, are considered to "discriminate" against the folks who use that technique.  

Some will call this "sour grapes" on my part.  Not at all.   I make my rounds of the textile crafts world, and see what suits my needs.  I adopt any tool or technique that is better than what I have.

One thing that I see is that the boss cows at Ravelry spend so much time protecting their turf, and keeping the herd in line  that they have no time to improve their spinning and knitting.

I see the folks who told me ten years ago that it was not possible to hand spin 5-ply -gansey yarn, still spin as they did 10 years ago.  It took me months and months to spin that first kilo of 5-ply gansey yarn.  Since then, I have learned skills and made tools that allow me to hand spin the worsted spun 5-ply yarn for a good gansey or Guernsey in about 12 hours. I did not learn those new skills on Ravelry.  What I heard on Ravelry, was "Cannot be done."

I do not care how experienced spinners spin!

 I do care about what options they offer to beginning spinners.  Beginning spinners need to know that there are ways to spin fast. Beginning spinners need to know that there are ways to spin fine, both woolen and worsted.

Many folks that disparage my knitting sheaths, still knit the way they did when I started using knitting sheaths.

I do not care how anybody knits.  

I do care when experienced knitters make an effort to hide or wrongly  depreciate other knitting techniques. Beginning knitters need to know that there are ways of knitting warmer objects.  Beginning knitters need to know that there are ways to knit more durable objects.

Current tools and skills allow me to knit fabrics that cannot be hand knit without a knitting sheath - not even with a leather knitting belt - which is a wonderfully powerful tool.  The power of a knitting sheath is infinite. It allows me to hand knit fabrics that cannot be reasonably knit with any other knitting technique.  It transforms the impossible into  the possible. Beginning knitters and spinners need to know what is possible, so they can choose their tools, and what skills to learn.

On Ravelry, advanced spinning and knitting techniques are hidden behind what is popular. 

Gansey Nation is proud to knit commercial 1,200 ypp, 5-ply "gansey yarn" on 2.25 mm circular needles at 9 spi and 11 rpi, (99 stitches per inch^2) working half an hour per day 
 ( see http://www.ganseys.com/knitting-ganseys/preparation/stitch-gauges-and-sizing/ ). He does not think that ganseys can be knit "weatherproof''.    This is  the conventional wisdom among folks that never learned to use a knitting sheath, and which specifically includes Bishop Rutt.  It is the doctrine, and cannon, on Ravelry. They believe.  They are a community of Believers.   They are not a comunity of  testers looking for the best way to make textiles.

In contrast, I knit such yarns at 120 and 140 stitches per inch^2 respectively.  I got there by testing, testing, testing! These fabrics are absolutely weatherproof, but Gansey Nation/ Ravelry consider these impossible fabrics.   Impossible - because they never bothered to learn to use a knitting sheath. I agree, using circular needles, such fabrics are not practical to knit.  Gansey Nation considers the very concept of  a weatherproof gansey to be a myth.   This is well accepted at Ravelry.  I see it as simply a failure to learn the required knitting technique. Ravelry is not not a comunity of  testers looking for the best way to make textiles. Rather it is a community of Believers that  proselytize. 

However, if they had some intellectual curiosity, they would have done some testing.  Testing would have told them that the fast way to knit a weatherproof seaman's sweater is to use MacAusland 3-ply (or similar) yarns  ( http://www.macauslandswoollenmills.com/), and long 3 mm DPNs with a knitting sheath. HELL YES!, I knit  weatherproof seaman's sweaters from Patons Classic Wool Yarn!!  At 108 stitches per inch^2 it is as much knitting effort as knitting worsted 5-ply, and it is not as durable, so I would rather put the effort into more durable objects knit from worsted 5-ply.  Still, sometimes I need to prove the concept.

Paton Classic Wool

knit at 9 spi by 12 rpi

Weatherproof! (when oiled)

  And skin soft.

This is a nice fabric to live in when it is cold!.

(No, it cannot be knit with circular needles.) 

The truth is that it is more difficult to knit a weatherproof object from high-twist, worsted spun, 5-ply than from a woolen yarn. Woolen yarn can be a 40 hour path to a seaman's sweater that is weatherproof! It is a lot of work, but it is fast. By the modern knitting terminology, it is not a "gansey" but it is a seaman's sweater that is functional, very functional.  Ravelry has forgotten about functional!   Such a sweater at its best, will not be as warm (for it's weight) or as durable as one knit from high twist worsted yarn.  In the long run (years), a series of the more difficult to knit worsted sweaters takes less wool and less total knitting time than a series of  woolen spun sweaters. It was the dual virtues of great warmth from light weight and durability that made the British seaman's sweater, the Masterpiece of Hand Knitting.

I have never gotten good advice on Ravelry on how to knit really functional objects.  I have never seen anyone else post really good advice on how to knit warm objects.  The standard Ravelry advice is to knit loosely to produce "air space" as an insulator.  Nobody seems to like it when I point out that the right sized air space for warmth is 40 microns - twice the thickness of a Merino staple.  The other side of that 40 micron air space is that the fabric is very durable, by being firmly knit, and not bulky considering its great warmth. Great warmth with minimum bulk and weight is a great attribute in a textile for some uses.

I have never seen good advice on Ravelry on knitting durable objects - notably socks. My 3 principles are; 1) knit to fit (e.g., no stress points), 2) knit firmly, and 3) use worsted spun wool yarns with many fine plies. These points work, but they do not generate many "agree"s on Ravelry, quite the opposite

Many of the "experts" on Ravelry have or had close ties to the modern commercial yarn industry, e.g., they own or work for LYS.  They recommend what is commercially available.  LYS sell what is popular - not what produces great fabrics.  Yarns that produce great fabrics tend to have higher production costs and hence higher price points.  Go down to the designer botiques at a Needless Markup Department Store, and see which of the great fashion designers are using yarns like the yarns you can get at your local yarn store. Last dozen times I looked - zero.  Even the yarns used to make the knit goods at Textures in Santa Monica are not available at LYS.  I would not depend on Ravelry for a understanding of the universe of yarn. When was the last time you saw the 6-strand worsted that I like in the Ravelry database?  When was the last time you saw a 6-strand all wool, 1,680 ypp sock yarn (as above) in the  Ravelry database ? 

 Ravelry is a terrible place to be a beginning spinner or knitter because it tends to hide the paths to excellent textiles. Ravelry is dominated by "pretty textiles". However, "pretty" changes with fashion. Good textiles are both attractive and functional.  Excellent textiles, are very functional, very durable, very attractive, and have a timeless style and beauty that is immune to fashion.  I like excellent textiles. 

Board like? !

The classic mill spun gansey yarn has several virtues.  It can be knit fairly loosely, (not too warm) and still have the stitch work that  Pops! Or, it can be knit firmly to produce firm padding to protect the wearer in a hazardous environment (e.g.,  booms and spars being swung into sailors as the sail boat rolls).  

The disadvantages of  mill spun gansey yarn is that when it is knit tight enough to be be weatherproof, it lacks drape and becomes stiff like a board .   If you need warm suit of armor, it is a good fabric, if you do not need armor, then other fabrics may be better.

I was very proud when, I first thought I could spin a good approximation of the mill spun gansey yarn.   As I knit fabrics for different purposes, I understand that the mill spun gansey yarn is NOT likely not the best yarn for many for many purposes. And I found that I could spin a world of yarns, that mills could not spin, and some of those yarns have real virtues.

One thing  I found, is that some of the yarns that do not look so nice in the skein, produce wonderful fabrics. The proof is always in the final fabric. (And the proof of the fabric is in the wearing!) Firm multi-plies with soft ply twist can produce weatherproof fabrics with a nice hand and great elasticity. Wearing such fabrics is like having a second skin. 

I discovered thick an thin singles by mistake. I had a big bump of commercial fiber with a lanolin based spinning oil that started getting oxidized and sticky on one side of the bump, but I spun it, as it was, anyway. The single looked like crap, but the 5-ply knit up into a rather wonderful fabric.  It is not in the books,  It is the kind of thing that is only discovered by trying a lot of stuff that does not work, but keeping one's eyes open for stuff that does work.  It was something that snuck up on me - the early singles from that bump were properly uniform, then I left the bump sitting for a few months, and when I came back, it spun as thick and thin. As 5-ply, the yarn still looked like crap, but it knit up into a fabric that I like a lot. Now, I have found other ways to produce a thick and single without trying to age a bump of  commercial fiber. 

The thins give the fabric hand, and the thicks tend to full and bond the yarn together. However, the net effect is different from simply plying singles of different grist and twist together.  Over all, the yarn is much softer than the mill spun gansey yarn, so stitches do not pop, and it is more difficult to knit into firm padding (e.g., boards).  On the other hand,  it is much easier to knit into a very warm, very elastic fabric that is as comfortable as a second skin.  The thins give it luster and durability, the thicks give softness.  The fabric has almost the feel of a fabric knit from woolen spun.

I have a kilo of 5-ply sport weight from such thick and thin singles, in a bin, ready to be knit on #0 needles. Also in the bin are a pile of swatches of various fabrics knit from the yarn,   Twist in the singles varies from about 7 to 9 tpi, but it is 5-ply and it averages out into very competent singles. All singles are continuously tested for competence (tensile strength)  as they are plied.  Ply twist is much less than standard, so the yarn is soft and stitches do not pop as much as with mill spun, but on the other hand, the plies spread to fill gaps and needle holes resulting in a fabric that is warmer any you can get from mill spun gansey yarn, and the fabric has a reasonable drape. The yarn is aggressively washed and steam blocked prior to going into the knitting bin.

All in all, it is a reminder to respect the materials and the process, and not to get caught up in imitating mill spun.  Handspun can have intrinsic virtues that are not in mill spun.  We CAN make yarns that mills cannot.  And, some of those yarns are very, very nice, not because they are different, but because they have virtues. We have forgotten some of these virtues because mills cannot produce such yarns.   Wassit was hand spun 5-ply.  This last bin of hand spun 5-ply gives me new respect for what 5-ply hand spun can be.  

I like the hand.  I like the fill.  I like the warmth.  I like the stretch and elasticity. I like the durability. I have been spinning it from 60 count long wool with good luster. Soon, I will be back to spinning Rambouillet from Ann Harvey up in Calpine.  Then, fabric from fine wool has less durability and luster and is much softer. And, of course the  Rambouillet is white, not ecru.  Still the drape, fill, warmth, stretch and elasticity are all there.

All in all, I figure about 6 hours for a hank of worsted sport weight, 5-ply.  Worsted 2-ply at that grist has a poor drape, so a 2-ply would have to be woolen spun. It takes me about 3 hours to spin 560 yards of 2-ply sport weight, woolen spun yarn.  So the worsted 5-ply takes about twice as long as woolen 2-ply.  That is, I can spin the 5-ply worsted  for a sweater in 24 hours and the 2-ply woolen in only 12 hours.  However, I am going to spend some 90 hours knitting a fine sweater.  That 90 hours makes it worthwhile to invest the extra 12 hours for the extra drape, fill, warmth, stretch, and elasticity of 5-ply.  If I do not want the warmth, then I go up a couple of needle sizes and I have a faster knit sweater that still has drape, stretch, and elasticity.

Wassit was popular and inexpensive. It was popular because it was good stuff.  It was inexpensive because a lot of it was produced.  I stared looking at 5-ply because it was warm and durable for fisherman's sweaters. I keep looking at it because I like the "hand" of the fabric.

Strategies for low grist woolens

In the past, I spun low grist woolens only in sample quantities to demonstrate that I could do it. Now, I find myself spinning pounds of such yarns.

Bobbins fill so fast that there is no time to think through issues.

Suddenly!,  the appeal of the big bobbins in most modern spinning wheels shines like a beacon.

However, while the ratio changes, the rate limiting step does not.  Spinning takes most of the time and effort. Wind-off is relatively fast.  For the loom, I am using J&J No Tangles as my carding oil, so there is less need to wash after spinning, and wind-off can be direct to the ball winder.  A larger flyer/bobbin assembly would slow the spinning process more than it speeds up the wind off process.   Thus, a larger /slower  flyer/bobbin assembly would slow my over-all production of yarn, regardless of the subjunctive feeling that I need a bigger bobbin.  I must steel myself, and impose rational thought over emotion.

That said, I do ply knitting yarns on lager flyer/bobbin assemblies so that I can make 500 yard hanks without knots.  Here, I put up with slower plying because for for knitting, I like half-pound cakes of knot free yarn.

On the other hand warp thread requires lengths only a little more than the length of the weaving project , and my fly-shuttle bobbin are limited to ~1 oz per winding.  Here, I want speed more than I want for knot free, 500 yard hanks.