Rooting around at the bottom of the Rabbit Hole

At the end of the last episode, I was left wanting 4-ply, worsted spun, 2,500 ypp gansey yarn.

This morning, I rooted around in the stash for some fine long wool, oiled it, and carded a batt.

I put the 20s whorl on the wheel, and spun a bit, then did a wpi test - it came out to 26 wraps in 1/4 inch packed to refusal - which is ~104 wpi =>a grist of  ~11,000.  then I spent a couple of 90 minutes spinning a thousand yards of  11,000 ypp single winding off on to 4 bobbins.

I put the bobbins on the tension box and plied a few feet, and did a wpi test of the 4-ply - it came up 13 wraps in 1/4 inch or close to  50 wraps /inch => grist of  2,500 for the finished yarn. I plied about 200 yards of the yarn.

By lunch time, I was knitting my handspun replacement for Paton's 4-ply Beehive  on 1.25 mm  DPN.  Actually, the primary difference between it and the other worsted 20s that I have spun to make 6-strand 1650 ypp sock yarn is the fineness of  the wool.

For a "gansey", I think I would use the coarser 55 count wool, rather then the finer 60 count wool. The real question is whether the fabric from a 2,500 ypp yarn is worth the extra knitting effort.  I need to test some swatches.

WPI

As a spinner, I use wraps per inch (wpi) often. If I do a good job of measuring wpi, then the square of wpi is the grist in yards per pound. And the twist factor times times wpi equals required twist in tpi.

It works.  Mostly it is within 10% of the actual grist, and with corrections for fiber and construction, wpi can measure grist to within 2%, which is better than a yarn balance.

To measure wpi so that it indicates grist, you need a wpi gauge, you need to pack to refusal, and you need to practice.  You need to take various kinds of yarns with known grists, and practice doing wpi, until you get the correct grist, time after time.  It is a skill.

So, when a knitter says a yarn is 18 wpi, I figure the grist is 324 ypp (e.g., 18x18) -- that is like rope. Then, she gives the yarn band info of 175 yard per 2 oz. -- or 1,400 yards per pound. That is sock or fingering yarn. When I measure the wpi of that yarn, I get 37 wpi.  That tells me, and other spinners, the grist.

Packing the yarn to refusal gives a definite measure that can be made anywhere by anyone. Packing the yarn loosely so that a 1,400 ypp yarn so that it yields a wpi of 18 is not a repeatable measure of -- anything.  This approach is as much a measure of twist as of grist.  With this approach, high twist yarns will seem to have much lower grist than yarns with the same grist, but less twist - and vice  versa.

If you pack to refusal, then worsted and woolen yarns of the same grist will have the same wpi.  If you use the loose knitter's wpi, then worsted and woolen yarns of the same grist will have very different wpi.  If you pack to refusal then yarns of the same grist but different twist will have the same wpi. If you use the loose knitter's wpi, then yarns that are the same grist, but which have different twist will have different wpi.  This is silly.  What really counts to a knitter is the length and weight of the yarn.  These should be described by the wpi.  Twist of the yarn is less important.

In my world wpi and grist are related thusly:

wpi       grist (ypp)   spin count           notes

 22         484                                        Aran Yarn (traditionally was 10-ply of 10 count singles)
 24                             1
 26         676
 28         840                                        Worsted Yarn (traditionally was 6-ply of 10 count singles)
 30         900
 32         1,000                                     Gansey  Yarn ( 5-ply of 10 count singles)
 33         1,100                                     DK weight yarns
 34         1,120           2                        
 38         1,443                                    Common grist for commercial sock yarns e.g., Wooly West
 40         1,650           3                      My 6-strand sock yarn
 42         1,800                                   Single cut woolen singles         
 44         1935                                    Fingering Yarn
 48         2,303                                   Jumper Weight/ Spindrift weight 2-ply
 53         2,800          5                        
 60         3,600                                    2-cut woolen singles @ 9 tpi
 60         3,733          7                        Traditional 6-ply sock yarn from 40 count singles
 64         4,100                                     Modern lace weight
 75         5,600          10s                    Singles for warp/ 9-10 tpi  & woolen singles for weft @ 12 tpi
 80         6,700          13                      Traditional 3-ply Shetland lace plied up from 40 count singles
 105       11,200        20s                    Worsted singles that I use for my sock yarn @ 14 tpi
 120       14,400                                   8- cut woolen singles / 18 tpi
 130       16,800        30s                     Worsted singles @ 17 tpi
 136       18,000                                   10-cut woolen singles / 20 tpi
 142       20,200                                  2-ply from 80s  
 150       22,400       40s                     Traditional grist for singles used for best sock yarn/ 17 -20 tpi
 182       33,600       60s                     Traditional commercial  "fines" / 22- 24 tpi
 210       44,800       80s                     Traditional best commercial "fines"  /24 - 27 tpi

A defined ratio between wpi and grist make working with yarn easier.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that the textile industry was likely more important to defining various units of measure than the size of the king's foot or finger.
 
Twist per inch numbers reflect the firmer yarns that I am spinning since starting to spin warp. Before, my 40 count singles were only 17 tpi. These higher tpi were allowed by my move  from 25 mm to  ~50 mm flier/bobbin whorls.

And, it is all hand spinning.  Everything above is plus or minus 10%.  I calculate grist by winding hanks of 560 yards and weighing them on a kitchen scale to the nearest gram.  In the past, I used a jeweler's scale to weigh fine spinning.  Now I just weigh fine hanks 4 at a time and calculate the grist on the basis of  grams per 2,240 yards.

ETA - It is worth noting that plying takes up about 10% of the length of  the starting singles.  Thus, if one starts with 5 hanks of 10s, then one gets just over 500 yards of gansey yarn, and the grist of the 5-ply gansey yarn is is a bit more than the 5 times the grist of the singles.  This small change in grist cannot often be measured by wpi.

Raging Ignorance

The great thing about wraps per inch is that the square of WPI (when done well) is grist in yards per pound (ypp). With small corrections, it will also work for cotton, hemp, and silk.


Then the square root of grist (in ypp) is the diameter of the yarn in inches.


This relationship is useful in knitting and weaving because if I know the grist, I know how thick the yarn is.  It is useful in spinning, because if I know how thick the yarn is then I know the grist.  It is an easy calculation.


However, it requires that in measuring WPI, the yarn must be packed to refusal.  Learning to do WPI correctly takes real practice.  It is a "SKILL"!  One starts with yarns of known grist and practices measuring WPI until the WPI is the square root of grist.


Now there are a bunch of knitters that claim wpi should be measured more loosely, then they have a little chart to show them the class thickness of the yarn.  Well, if they measure WPI loosely, then they have lost the relationship with grist. All they have is their silly little chart, and their silly little chart does not help spinners and weavers.  It does not even help serious knitters.


Many, many knitters have put their loosey-goosey approach on their blogs until the first few pages of a search for WPI only brings up that silliness.  Now, the authoritative information is buried. 


Here is a good example where hobby knitters have managed to lose and bury useful, traditional knowledge about textile production.  Isaac Asimov told us at the Institute of Man and Science, "Americans think their ignorance is as good and anyone else's facts!".  Today day I would rephrase that to "Knitters think their ignorance is as good as traditional knowledge"!


My favorite single is 5,600 ypp (10s) or 75 wpi.   I have a little brass gauge that I can set to a gap of 0.25 inches.  I can be spinning, and if when I pack the gauge to refusal, and there are ~19 wraps, then the grist is very close to 5,600 ypp.  It works.  I have done this hundreds of times.  I check grist as I spin, and wind hanks of 560 yards, and the hanks are within 5% of the desired weight. It is faster, easier, and more accurate than a McMorran Yarn Balance!  Sometimes I spin 40s (22,400 ypp), then I know that when packed to refusal and there are ~38 wraps in the 1/4" gauge, and the hank of 560 yards will weigh very close to the desired 11 grams.


I ply the 10s up into 5-ply, and sure enough I get ~30 wraps per inch and I know the grist is very close to 1,000 ypp. It works for  sock yarns, gansey yarns, and Aran years.  However, it only works with a wpi gauge and "PACK TO REFUSAL".  It does not work when you wrap the yarn around a ruler or a dowel.


It is less suitable for "art" yarns, but that is no reason to throw the whole concept away.  Some day, we will want to go back to practical knitting and we will have forgotten the traditional knowledge that make it possible.