Weatherproof fabrics from woolen and worsted yarns

Woolen yarns have good fill, but low density.   Worsted yarns have higher density, but less fill.  Thus, knitting weatherproof fabrics from the different kinds of yarn present opposite challenges.

The woolen yarns must be knit so finely and firmly that the yarn fibers are compressed together. And, the worsted yarns must be knit so finely firmly that the yarns in the fabric lay smoothly along one another with no gaps where the needles were used to form the loops.  How can this be done?  With levers!

Knitting needles are levers used to move loops of yarn. With hand held needles, the leverage is about 1:3 and the effort comes from the small muscles of the hand. Using hand held needles to apply the force required to firmly compress the yarn so that it produces weatherproof fabric can be accomplished for a few stitches.  As I started this adventure, I certainly knit a great many 2" by 2" swatches that were weatherproof - but each swatch was a great effort. It was not a practical way to knit weatherproof objects.

At the end of knitting hundreds of swatches, I was absolutely convinced that weatherproof fabrics were possible, but that they could not be reasonably knit with hand held needles.  Thus, my adventure with long DPN leading to knitting sheaths.  By circa 2003, I was well aware of the limits of knitting with hand held needles.  At that point, I had worn out several sets of  high quality, size US1, circular needles. This included 2 sets of Addi Turbos. I knit samples, measured, logged the results, and did the math.

I tried long needles, and  that only resulted in holes in my wife's new leather couch.  I asked around  about knitting sheaths, and was told a lot of what turned out to be nonsense. I was told they were not really useful and that they were too hard to make - the old knitters knitting seaman's and cabman's clothing did not have the technology to make knitting sheaths.  I was told many things about knitting sheaths that were FALSE!  Knitters believed myths about knitting sheaths and made up things to support their belief in the myth that knitting sheaths were bad. This tsunami of  lies destroyed my confidence knitters knowledge of  knitting technology.

First, only Bronze Age technologies are necessary to make a very useful and helpful knitting sheath.  All that is needed, is a scrap of wood, a knife, a nail, and a candle. Second, knitting sheaths allow knitting much tighter with much less effort.  Third knitting sheaths transfer the effort from the small muscles and tendons of the hand and wrist to the large, powerful muscles of the shoulder and upper arm.  Knitting sheaths allow knitting fabrics that are much tighter than what can be produced with hand held needles.

With a knitting sheath and long needles, it is fast and easy to knit woolen yarns so finely that the yarn fiber are compressed together.  With a knitting sheath and long needles it is fast and easy to knit worsted yarns so tightly that the yarns lay smooth along-side each other.

If  weatherproof fabrics are knit using hand held needles, there will be a strong tendency to increase the tension of the yarn between stitches.  This leads to stiff and board like fabrics that are unpleasant. While the stitches must be formed around fine needles, the tension of the yarn should be just snug enough that the yarn wraps smoothly round the needles.  While I knit weatherproof fabrics with a knitting sheath, the yarn flows smoothly and easily though my right hand.  I make sure that yarn streams out of its cake freely and easily so there is not much tension in the yarn as it flows through my hand.  I do not knit "tightly", I use fine needles to knit finely. I have come to this by knitting many different yarns on many different needles.

By using finer needles, I can produce fabrics with better drape and than if I had knit the same yarn to the same spi/rpi using a larger needle with tighter yarn tension. Finer fabrics are not about knitting tighter, they are about knitting finer.  On the other hand, if  I swave (curved needle rotating in a knitting sheath) a firm fabric, one may be able to knit the same gauge with hand held needles of the same size by doing a few stitches at a time, and resting.  However,  it is not possible to knit the same fabric on needles that are 2 US sizes larger.  Swaving easily produces fabrics that are denser than can be routinely knit on hand held needles of the same size.  Swaving easily produces fabric faster than can be done with nal binding, which will also produce weatherproof fabrics.

Swaving and using long DPN with a knitting sheath produce similar amounts of leverage for the knitter, and hence can produce similar fabrics on the same sized needles with the same yarn.  However, swaving is more convenient for small objects such as gloves, mittens, and socks, and the long needles are more convenient for larger objects such as sweaters, dresses, pants, and shawls.  See for example Weldon's Practical Knitter.  Many of  those patterns are traditional, and  had long produced been produced using a knitting sheath.  See Mary Thomas's Knitting Book, Chapter on Knitting Implements, Ancient and Modern)  However, using hand held needles per Weldon's First series, those patterns were not practical.  Many of the patterns in Weldon's knit at the stated gauge, with the stated yarn and hand held needles would cause carpel tunnel syndrome.  Likewise we know from the finess of the knitting that most of the objects in photographs in Gladys Thompson were knit using long needles and a knitting sheath.  Mary Wright did knit an authentic replica of a Cornish gansey on circular needles, and then she had wrist surgery for CTS.  A while back 6 knitters had an authentic  gansey knit along.  Afterward,  5 of the knitters had wrist surgery, while the knitter using a knitting sheath knit another gansey, and matching hat, socks, mittens, and scarf.  That is all 6 of the knitters that I know that knit ganseys at a weatherproof gauge on circular needles needed wrist surgery afterward.  This is why most modern knitting is at a less than weatherproof gauge.

Just as in the Brexit vote where 52% of the population could not discriminate between good economic truths, and a false marketing slogan, I find that many (most??)  knitters disregard objective evidence in favor of old myths about knitting sheaths.  I worked on Limits to Growth (Meadows, 1972), so I have problems with economics that assumes growth, but much of economics is measuring, recording, and doing math. Economists get a lot of stuff correct.  To ignore the collective wisdom of economics on Brexit was foolish in the extreme.  The Brexit vote challenges economic's  assumption that people act to enhance their own economic self interest. Today, it is clear that sometimes people act on myth -- even when more rational actions would be more to their advantage.

If I needed to produce a weatherproof fabric from that 6-ply worsted spun yarn, I would drop down to  2 mm spring steel needles.  With 2 mm needles, I can easily and rapidly produce weatherproof fabrics from that yarn either by using long needles with a knitting sheath or swaving.  It is worth noting, that my  2 mm stainless steel needles are not stiff enough to produce a weatherproof  fabric from this yarn.

Yarn Craft Council

http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/ is a marketing organization to sell yarn.

They set standards that help their members sell yarn craft products, and ensure the maximum profit on those products. They are good at marketing.  They know how to tell you myths you believe. They teach you myths that are impervious to facts. I do weatherproof knitting, but many knitters prefer factproof knitting.

Twist in yarn is very expensive to insert. Energy to insert twist is the largest single cost of a yarn mill.  Low twist yarns are therefore cheaper to produce, and more profitable.

Low twist yarns are less durable, so objects knit from low twist yarns do not last as long, and must be replaced.  Thus, selling low twist yarns can help the mills sell more yarn.  Since the yarns are less durable, the mills add nylon to sock yarns.  Nylon is cheaper than wool, so the mills save productions cost.  However, the nylon appears to improve the durability of yarn, so the mill can charge a premium for adding nylon. In truth, the nylon fibers are slippery and allow the wool to slip out of the yarn under abrasion, leaving the nylon and making it appear that nylon improves durability.  It is brilliant marketing.

When I spin hoisery singles from long wool (22,400 ypp, 17 tpi), and ply them up into a 9-ply sock yarn, the resulting yarn is held together by some 170 tpi, and is very durable.   The 6-ply,  1, 640 ypp sock yarn that I make is held together by almost 90 tpi and is more durable than the commercial sock yarn, but does not endure like a true hoisery yarn.The  3-ply 1,640 ypp  commercial sock yarns (that are 25% nylon) held together by something less than 36 tpi, and tend to go thread bare.

However, hoisery yarn requires 170 total twists per inch.  A pair of socks for me takes ~1,000 yd (~ 200 gm) of yarn.  That will take the most of 4 days of spinning.  Ouch! I can spin 5-ply for a sweater in less than half that time. This is an all wool yarn that knits up into socks that endure.  In a LYS, such yarn would present sticker shock, and not sell -- because we have become accustomed to cheap socks that wear out quickly.  As long as we buy into their  "wear out quickly" concept of socks, the mills can sell a lot of  high-profit yarn.

Still, even the large effort to make good sock yarn is much less than the effort to knit another pair of socks.  That is the incremental effort to re-knit socks is much more than the additional cost of more durable yarn.  Or, over a period of years, it is less effort to just knit good socks or sweaters or . . . ..  And, this is the reason for worsted spun 5-ply.  Knit it once, and you are done for a long time.

Note that the YCC members do not make/sell the kind of multi-ply yarns commonly used to knit durable fabrics. Their goal is to sell you more yarn, not to sell you excellent yarn. 

And, fabrics that are firmly knit tend to be more durable. 

To promote the myth that all yarns wear out quickly, the Yarn Craft Council suggested yarn band content does not include information that helps estimate durability.  Durability indicators would include how much twist is in the singles or the fineness of the wool. Instead YCC suggests (in other materials) that fine wool (often Merino) is the best for all skin contact fabrics, including socks. I know that is a myth that most of my readers have accepted, will retain, no matter how many facts I lob at them.  However, look at how many fine lace objects were knit from Shetland lace yarns for ladies and even infants.  These objects were silken to the touch.  

The truth is that well graded, well combed, worsted spun yarns are smooth and comfortable against the skin. Suffolk is perhaps my favorite fleece for hoisery singles.  And, finer knitting can make the fabric much smoother, more silken.  I would describe some very finely knit  fabrics as "slick".  

These days, I knit 840 ypp 6-ply boot sock yarn on 2 mm needles. I knit 1,640 ypp, 6-ply sock yarn on 1.5 mm needles.  I am swatching the current generation of hand spun hoisery yarns on needles in the range of 1 to 1.3 mm looking for the fabric I like; something slick! 

Brexit

Proves that myth is impervious to facts.

See

George Lakoff, "Retaking Political Discourse"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UseIJAIxR-4

and

Nigel Farage today admitted it was a “mistake” for the Leave campaign to pledge that the weekly £350 million saving in EU contributions could be spent on the NHS.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/nigel-farage-good-morning-britain-eu-referendum-brexit-350-nhs_uk_576d0aa3e4b08d2c5638fc17?sv5nrk9

It was not true, they knew it, but still they used it, and they won!

Good marketing is more powerful than facts.

Why don't I just leave Ravelry?

Because there is a stream of new folk coming into Ravelry, and Mother Nature does not post there.  Somebody needs to make sure that there is some echo of the truth in Ravelry for new seekers to find.

Truths:

• Yarn matters!  Regardless of what patknitter asserts, both grist and yarn structure matter to the quality and ease of knitting a fabric.  Yarn density affects the drap and hand of the fabric. 
• Knitting affects the warmth, durability, drape, hand.  Using finer needles can cause knit wool fabrics to be "smooth" and even "slick", without being stiff and losing drape. Most people do not see such fabrics these days because few knitters do fine knitting. And hand is something that needs to be felt. Seeing a picture or looking through glass is not the same.
• Wool yarn can be spun so there are only 20 staples in the cross section.  This can be down with a supported spindle, or a Scotch Tension wheel or a DRS controlled double drive wheel. Working with fine wool the grist of a single can be on the close order of 100 m/gram (45,000 ypp). The fine long wools such as Shetland yield  yarns  of ~ 30,000 ypp ( 70 m/gram). As 3-ply, these were the base for the great Peacock lace yarns of the Victoriana.  Long wools spun at 17 tpi (22,400 ypp, 50 m/gram) were the base for the great hosiery yarns.
• Yarns can be hand spun at a reasonable pace.  With a good wheel 45,000 ypp singles can be hand spun at more than 100 yards per hour.  Singles with a grist of 5,600 ypp which make an excellent base for ordinary knitting yarns can be spun at more than 500 yards per hour.  It is very reasonable to spin enough worsted spun, 5-ply sport weight yarn for a sweater in a day and a half.  Enough 2-ply yarn for a sweater can be spun in a morning.
• Knitting yarns with several plies are warmer, more durable, and produce fabrics with better drape and hand. Fabrics knit from multi-ply yarns can yield astonishing warmth with minimal bulk.  (e.g., figure flattering)  Finely knit, these yarns produce figure flattering fabrics.
• Knitting sheaths are the knitting tool of choice to produce fine fabrics at a reasonable rate.  Knitting sheaths are the tool of  choice for knitting very fine fabrics (couture) , or fabrics which must be very warm ( objects for cabmen or seamen) or very durable (socks and objects for men working in an industrial environment) are best knit with a knitting sheath.
• Knitting sheaths have a wide variety of form factors and  support several very different knitting techniques.  These techniques produce fabrics that cannot be practically knit with circular needles or handheld DPN
• Knitting belts are an excellent tool to produce fine, soft fabrics that do not need the higher density  that can be delivered by a knitting sheath.  Knitting belts are the tool of choice for decorative Fair Isle objects.

All of the above are easily demonstrated to anybody with an open mind. These are not subtle effects that require statistics to tease out. These are bold effects.  When seen in person, they are as startling as getting hit in the face by a large, live salmon.  

Fine hand spinning and knitting are traditional skills that we should preserve for the future.  Certainly the concept of DRS spinning is in Alden Amos, but a more practical and concrete example does not hurt.

Traditional use of knitting sheaths by full professional knitters is in the literature. I merely point out what a diverse, powerful, and practical set of technologies they are.

Mother Nature always has the last word.

The Path to the Truth.

Run a test.
Measure.
Record.
Do tests for significance.

Repeat until required significance is achieved.  For something like hand spinning or hand knitting, 30 trials is likely enough. All that is required is:

Really!
 A digital tachometer for various measures of revolutions per minute.
A stop watch and calculators (cell phone).
Needle gauge.
Rulers/ tape measure
Dividers to transfer measurements.
Vernier calipers for measuring small objects.
Scale to measure mass

The tape measure is used calibrate the skeiner, so I have accurate lengths of yarn.
mass divided by length is = grist; minimum weight measured by this scale is 0.5 gram, so samples need to be 10 grams or larger to get 5% accuracy. Mostly I work with 10s (560 yd/ 45 grams), so this is not a problem. If spinning 80s, then yes, I need to spin at least 1,000 yards to get a good grist measure.  (When I was considering entering Longest Thread, I also had a jeweler's scale. )

I have measured the grist of many commercial yarns, and am very confident of my measures of grist.

I have measured the grist of many yarns by measuring wraps per inch  (when packed to refusal)  and compared that measure of grist to the grist calculated by length divided by mass.  There is good correspondence, which gives me confidence in both methods.

I  use DRS to insert a known amount of twist into my hand spun singles.  Twist strongly affects grist, thus controlling the twist, allows me to produce 10 consecutive  hanks of the same kind single that vary in weight by no more than plus or minus 5%.  The grist of all of my hanks gets measured, both singles and plied or cabled yarns.  It has been years since I produced a hank that was as much as 10% off the desired grist for that hank.  And, even then light singles would be plied with heavy singles to produce finished  5-ply yarns within 5% of the desired 1,000 ypp.

The beeline to truth is  measuring, logging, and doing statistics. Statistics tells us that measuring 30 samples is about where good confidence begins.  Spin 30 hanks (16,800 yards) and measure the weight of each hank. If all are within 5% of the mean, then for a hand spinner, you have very good control over the process.

The path to the truth is to measure 30 samples.  If you are knitting, take 30 distinct measures of spi and rpi for that combination of yarn, needles, stitch and technique. I want density for needles and yarn with  hand held needles, gansey needles/ sheath, and swaving, so I  knit and measure a lot of swatches.  For example, I have knit more than 30 pounds of MacAusland yarns, and I know the gauge and needles for every object.  For years, I knit/swaved the medium weight on 2.38 mm needles.  Then my skill improved and now I knit it on 2 mm. On the other hand, my Rose Garden Sweater was knit from MacAusland 3-ply heavy on 3.17 mm needles, and it was perfectly weatherproof for the first few years of its life.  And, I know the difference between fabrics knit on US 3 and US2 or US1 needles, because I measure such things.  What some would call "paralysis by analysis, I call, " Giving Mother Nature the last word." The rest of that yarn package went to socks and mittens for folks at  the north end of the Endless Mountains.  Some had diabetes and tended toward cold feet.

The truth always comes to those that measure, measure, measure, and then do the math.

In the old days, spinners got paid by the yard.  They knew how much yarn they spun. They got charged for the wool.  They knew the grist of everything they spun.  They measured and did their bookkeeping like any business. Spinners that did not do their bookkeeping are the foolish ones.

Knitting techniques

I went through the full circle of  popular knitting techniques before I moved onto knitting sheaths.

The last was continental.  There was an online knitting group, and I asked how could I knit faster.  They told me, learn to knit continental style with yarn in your left hand.  I tried it, found it to be a bit faster, and did continental knitting with circular needles for about 4  or 5 years.  During that period, I attempted to knit the patterns in Gladys Thompson, and did not have much success, particularly with the Norfolk patterns at 12 spi and 20 rpi.

I reread EZ's note for American knitters, and tried long needles.  Long needles by themselves were no help.

However, long needles with a knitting belt were much better!  This was the first clue that the experienced knitters were not telling all. Even short DPN with a leather knitting belt were much better.   EZ was writing from second hand accounts and not from experience. Shame on her.

That led me to begin exploring knitting sheaths. Knitting sheaths turned out to not all be the same.  Different knitting sheath designs support widely different  knitting techniques.  Some depend on the stiffness of the knitting needle, some depend on the spring of the knitting needle, and some depend on the curvature of the knitting needle.  These techniques are more differentiated than say continental and Portuguese.  And, knitting sheaths allow knitting fabrics that cannot be knit  by either continental or Portuguese knitting techniques.

For the first few years of  using knitting sheaths, I would test and compare production times and quality of objects and swatches produced by continental or the various knitting sheath techniques I was developing. Without fail, the knitting sheath was faster, and produced better quality.  It also allowed me to knit fabrics that I simply could not knit with hand held needles (either continental or Portuguese.  

By the time this blog started, I had 55 gallon drum liners full of  swatches knit to compare knitting techniques and the comparative density of the produced fabrics.  I knew that I liked the fabrics that I could produce with a knitting sheath better than the fabrics that I could produce with hand held needles. I experimented with "crease knitting", "pit knitting", tucking needles in pockets or waist bands or belts, and found that a knitting sheath designed and made for a particular knitting technique/ type of needle (stiff, spring, bent) was well worth the effort.

Fabric density was routinely tested by using a calibrated mechanical blower to blow air through a standardized 2" by  2" swatch and measuring the pressure differential created by the air passing through the swatch.  These measurements were cross checked by wearing objects knit of  tested fabrics skiing, sailing, snow camping, fishing, and particularly walking in the rain. I would put on one sweater, and put 2 or 3 more sweaters in my backpack, and go walking in the rain.  Then, every 15 minutes, I would change sweaters and  record results and conditions in my little moleskin notebook.  With 15# of sand in the backpack, I could multitask sweater testing and fitness training.  Or, I could take my knitting and sit in the rain and wind on top of Acalanes Ridge, changing my sweater every 15 minutes and noting which sweaters kept me warm and which did not.  I drove my ski buddies crazy by insisting that we ski runs over and over, with me changing my sweater for each run.  I drove my wife crazy, inner tubing on the ice cold Big Sur River, and changing my sweater after every decent. (First day. After that, I wore only the Filey. Other sweaters that I had with me were painfully cold.)

It was clear that I liked sports wear knit from 840 to 1,000 ypp yarns  knit on long 2.4 mmm spring steel needles using a good knitting sheath. The yarns are firmly spun, multi-ply yarns, and are often of coarse/ rug wool.  (In part because the rug wool is durable, and it stops slides when I fall on on icy steeps.)  The right needle was fixed into knitting sheath fixed over the knitters right butoock, and flexed forward under the knitter right armpit, so the knitting can rest their right forearm on the needle.  The left needle is in near vertical orientation  The right needle was flexed/ pressed,  downward into the stitch using the right hand palm driven by upper arm muscles as the right arm rests on the needle.  While the right hand was pushed forward, looping yarn over the working needle.   Then, the right side  muscles relaxed as the left hand moves the left needle diagonally up and to the left.  The spring of the working needle finishes the stitch, which is pulled off the left needle by the tension of the fabric. Note that this process will result in wear on the right shirt sleeve cuff.  All of my rugby and sweat shirts show such wear.

In the period from ~2008 to 2014, I moved from knitting socks on 6" stiff needles and goose wing knitting sheaths that pivot on the  point of my hip, or Dutch style knitting sticks with the working needle pushed into the stitch with the palm and pushed out of the stitch with the thumb or ball of the right hand to using 9" spring steel needles that had much the same action as the longer needles I was using for sports wear. 

In this period I also worked on the technique of swaving.  (Curved needles rotate in the knitting sheath.) The working needle is rotated into the working stitch by a short, symmetric push by both hands, the yarn is looped over the working needle, and the needle rotated out of the stitch as the hands return to start position, with the tension of the fabric pulling the stitch off the left needle. While the full mass of both arms move, the motion is very small and can be very fast.  The working needle is completely stabilized by the knitting sheath, and the left needle is stabilized by being in the same stitch as the working needle.  

Circa 2014, I began to get comfortable with finer singles and yarns plied up from finer singles.  This precipitated a slide toward much finer yarns and much finer needles.  

Swaving is ideal for fine and very fine yarns.  It is wicked fast. I accept that the old stories of knitters knitting at 200 stitches per minute was for swaving.  Moving swaving to finer yarn was just a matter of making finer needles.

The needle motions for finer yarns could be smaller, so I no longer needed the 18" "gansey" needles.  Today, I ;use 18" needles for 840-1000 ypp yarns, and  14" and 12" needles for finer yarns.  With the finer yarns, I blunt the tips so the needle motion can be even smaller.  Finer yarns need a lot more stitches per square inch, so knitting motions need to be as small as possible so they can be as fast as possible to achieve some real production in a reasonable time.  The finer needles are no longer strong enough to support my right arm.  

On the other hand the spring constant of the finer needles is less, so less effort is required to flex the needles, and the finer yarns require less effort to move.  Thus, the working needle motion is diagonally downward and to the left, driven by upper arm muscles with working needle contact by my right palm. To release the working needle, the left needle is lifted up and to the left, with fabric tension advancing the stitches.

Anyway, I had given up handheld needles/continental knitting circa 2006, and I was not sure I remembered how to do it, but no, when I tried it last night,  there it was, in all of its simple elegance. On the other hand, it is slow and a lot of work for a little bit of knitting.   With what I know today, yes I could figure out ways for me to knit continental faster than I do today. However, the physics handheld needles will never be as fast as a knitting sheath.  Not even close.  

So she says, "You (Aaron) are fooling your self."  I think we should get together and have a little face to face knit-a-long.

Knitting techniques

I went through the full circle of  popular knitting techniques before I moved onto knitting sheaths.

The last was continental.  There was an online knitting group, and I asked how could I knit faster.  They told me, learn to knit continental style with yarn in your left hand.  I tried it, found it to be a bit faster, and did continental knitting with circular needles for about 4  or 5 years.  During that period, I attempted to knit the patterns in Gladys Thompson, and did not have much success, particularly with the Norfolk patterns at 12 spi and 20 rpi.

I reread EZ's note for American knitters, and tried long needles.  Long needles by themselves were no help.

However, long needles with a knitting belt were much better!  This was the first clue that the experienced knitters were not telling all. Even short DPN with a leather knitting belt were much better.   EZ was writing from second hand accounts and not from experience. Shame on her.

That led me to begin exploring knitting sheaths. Knitting sheaths turned out to not all be the same.  Different knitting sheath designs support widely different  knitting techniques.  Some depend on the stiffness of the knitting needle, some depend on the spring of the knitting needle, and some depend on the curvature of the knitting needle.  These techniques are more differentiated than say continental and Portuguese.  And, knitting sheaths allow knitting fabrics that cannot be knit  by either continental or Portuguese knitting techniques.

For the first few years of  using knitting sheaths, I would test and compare production times and quality of objects and swatches produced by continental or the various knitting sheath techniques I was developing. Without fail, the knitting sheath was faster, and produced better quality.  It also allowed me to knit fabrics that I simply could not knit with hand held needles (either continental or Portuguese.  

By the time this blog started, I had 55 gallon drum liners full of  swatches knit to compare knitting techniques and the comparative density of the produced fabrics.  I knew that I liked the fabrics that I could produce with a knitting sheath better than the fabrics that I could produce with hand held needles. I experimented with "crease knitting", "pit knitting", tucking needles in pockets or waist bands or belts, and found that a knitting sheath designed and made for a particular knitting technique/ type of needle (stiff, spring, bent) was well worth the effort.

Fabric density was routinely tested by using a calibrated mechanical blower to blow air through a standardized 2" by  2" swatch and measuring the pressure differential created by the air passing through the swatch.  These measurements were cross checked by wearing objects knit of  tested fabrics skiing, sailing, snow camping, fishing, and particularly walking in the rain. I would put on one sweater, and put 2 or 3 more sweaters in my backpack, and go walking in the rain.  Then, every 15 minutes, I would change sweaters and  record results and conditions in my little moleskin notebook.  With 15# of sand in the backpack, I could multitask sweater testing and fitness training.  Or, I could take my knitting and sit in the rain and wind on top of Acalanes Ridge, changing my sweater every 15 minutes and noting which sweaters kept me warm and which did not.  I drove my ski buddies crazy by insisting that we ski runs over and over, with me changing my sweater for each run.  I drove my wife crazy, inner tubing on the ice cold Big Sur River, and changing my sweater after every decent. (First day. After that, I wore only the Filey. Other sweaters that I had with me were painfully cold.)

It was clear that I liked sports wear knit from 840 to 1,00 ypp yarns  knit on long 2.4 mmm spring steel needles using a good knitting sheath. The yarns are firmly spun, multi-ply yarns, and are often of coarse/ rug wool.  (In part because the rug wool is durable, and it stops slides when I fall on on icy steeps.)  The right needle was fixed into knitting sheath fixed over the knitters right butoock, and flexed forward under the knitter right armpit, so the knitting can rest their right forearm on the needle.  The left needle is in near vertical orientation  The right needle was flexed/ pressed,  downward into the stitch using the right hand palm driven by upper arm muscles as the right arm rests on the needle.  While the right hand was pushed forward, looping yarn over the working needle.   Then, the right side  muscles relaxed as the left hand moves the left needle diagonally up and to the left.  The spring of the working needle finishes the stitch, which is pulled off the left needle by the tension of the fabric. Note that this process will result in wear on the right shirt sleeve cuff.  All of my rugby and sweat shirts show such wear.

In the period from ~2008 to 2014, I moved from knitting socks on 6" stiff needles and goose wing knitting sheaths that pivot on the  point of my hip, or Dutch style knitting sticks with the working needle pushed into the stitch with the palm and pushed out of the stitch with the thumb or ball of the right hand to using 9" spring steel needles that had much the same action as the longer needles I was using for sports wear. 

In this period I also worked on the technique of swaving.  (Curved needles rotate in the knitting sheath.) The working needle is rotated into the working stitch by a short, symmetric push by both hands, the yarn is looped over the working needle, and the needle rotated out of the stitch as the hands return to start position, with the tension of the fabric pulling the stitch off the left needle. While the full mass of both arms move, the motion is very small and can be very fast.  The working needle is completely stabilized by the knitting sheath, and the left needle is stabilized by being in the same stitch as the working needle.  

Circa 2014, I began to get comfortable with finer singles and yarns plied up from finer singles.  This precipitated a slide toward much finer yarns and much finer needles.  

Swaving is ideal for fine and very fine yarns.  It is wicked fast. I accept that the old stories of knitters knitting at 200 stitches per minute was for swaving.  Moving swaving to finer yarn was just a matter of making finer needles.

The needle motions for finer yarns could be smaller, so I no longer needed the 18" "gansey" needles.  Today, I ;use 18" needles for 840-1000 ypp yarns and  14" and 12" needles for finer yarns.  With the finer yarns, I blunt the tips so the needle motion can be even smaller.  Finer yarns need a lot more stitches per square inch, so knitting motions need to be as small as possible so they can be as fast as possible to achieve some real production in a reasonable time.  The finer needles are no longer strong enough to support my right arm.  

On the other hand the spring constant of the finer needles is less, so less effort is required to flex the needles, and the finer yarns require less effort to move.  Thus, the working needle motion is diagonally downward and to the left, driven by upper arm muscles with needle contact by my palm. To release the working needle, the left needle is lifted up and to the left, with fabric tension advancing the stitches.

Anyway, I had given up handheld needles/continental knitting circa 2006, and I was not sure I remembered how to do it, but no, when I tried it last night,  there it was, in all of its simple elegance. On the other hand, it is slow and a lot of work for a little bit of knitting.   With what I know today, yes I could figure out ways for me to knit continental faster than I do today. However, the physics ( see for example, http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/) tells me that without a doubt, handheld needles will never be as fast as a knitting sheath.  Not even close.  

So she says, "You (Aaron) are fooling your self."  I think we should get together and have a little face to face knit-a-long.

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. 

US3 Needles

1. Back in the summer of 2013, patknitter was saying that she could replicate my fabrics, using US3 needles. On July 28, 2013, I posted that I would buy her a case of brandy if she could actually do that. see http://gansey.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-case-of-brandy.html
2. 
   
3. At that point, I had been working on how to hand-knit warmer fabrics for 14 years.  I understood all of the approaches.  I knew what needles produced which fabrics, and which fabrics could be produced with what needles.  I had done my homework.  I had knit 50 gallon  drums full of gauge swatches, most of which are still in my office.
4. 
   
5. She never sent me proof of meeting the challange, and more recently she has been claiming  on Ravelry that she did meet the challange, but that I did not pay off. This was, and is deceitful, underhanded, and libel. The moderators of Ravelry: Guernseys - Ganseys - Knit Frocks group  have allowed this. 
6. 
   
7. Her solution was to use a thinner yarn.  The thinner yarn made it a different fabric. The different yarn construction that she used was another degree of difference. There is simply no way that the fabric which she claims is the same as the pictured  fabric, is similar to the fabric pictured in the case of brandy post, and again below. Her claim has no merit.
8. 
   
9. Moreover, attempting to knit the defined yarn on US3 needles at 5.5 spi produces a stiff board like fabric that is unlike the fabric pictured.  The pictured fabric has decent hand and drape. Been there, done that, enough to know what works, and what does not work.  patknitter is simply ignorant of how to knit either fine or dense fabrics of high quality and good wearability.
10. 
    
11. 
12. 6-strand, cabled (wool sock yarn) knit (by me) at 8 spi on US3 needles
13. This time the yarn grist is 1680 ypp rather than 
14. the 850 ypp of the challange fabric.
15. ~8 spi and 10 rpi
16. 
    
17. 
    
18. 
    
19. 
20.  challange fabric knit from brandy post
21. 6-strand cabled 850 ypp wool yarn
22. ~ 6 spi and 11 rpi
23. yarn grist matters in knitting
24. 
    
25. Of course, I knew that finer yarns could be knit at 6 spi (or 8 spi) on US3 needles.  That is why I was careful to say the challange was to replicate the fabric, and not the stitches per inch, as she claims. The fabric of the challange cannot be knit on US3 needles, even when the yarn is stretched to its breaking point. That is determined by the physics of wool.
26. 
    
27. A case of good brandy is thousands of dollars. I did not underestimate patknitter. I expected the required effort to be more than the tasks of Hercules - more like the labor of  Sisyphus.  However, with the tide of group sentiment running against me, I relented and offered to send patknitter enough of the right yarn to make her demonstration, in case her stash was not up to the task. However, I do feel that anyone that brags about being a "gansey knitter" should have a variety of multi-ply and multi-strand cabled yarns on hand.  In fact, the bully gansey knitter should have gauge swatches of such yarns ready at hand - all labeled with the type of  yarn and the needles used.
28. 
    
29. It is shameful that Ravelry: Guernseys - Ganseys - Knit Frocks group (http://www.ravelry.com/groups/guernseys-ganseys-knit-frocks---fishermens-sweaters)
30. has supported her wrongful claims and dishonesty.
31. 
    
32. This kind of thing is why I have basically stopped using Ravelry.
33. 
    
34. I find that groups like  Guernseys - Ganseys - Knit Frocks group  are full of misinformation like patknitter's claim that fine, dense fabrics can be knit on US3 needles by just knitting tighter, and keeping the yarn at a higher tension. In the past, on this blog, I have mentioned other Ravelry groups commonly posting misinformation,  but sometimes I took that as misdirection to preserve a competitive advantage. Now, I have to say that misinformation on Ravelry is simply endemic. Lies that I heard as I began knitting run rife.  It took me years to track down or discover better approaches. 
35. 
    
36. Now, the lies get group approval and better technical approaches get group disapproval.  These days textile craftsmanship on Ravelry is discouraged in favor of mediocrity.  Easy is prefered to excellent. Fast is prefered to durable. Everything is focused on "hobby grade". There is no disciplined pursuit of excellence.
37. 
    
38. Problems with patknitter's assertions include;
39. First, wool yarn is simply not that elastic. A stitch formed by wrapping yarn around a 3.25 mm needle will always be larger than a stitch formed by wrapping yarn around 2.4 mm needle.  The yarn will break before the 7.5 mm of yarn measured for a stitch by a 2.4 mm needle, can be stretched to the 10.2 mm required to go around a 3.25 mm needle.
40. 
    
41. Second, fabric knit with tightly held yarn tends to be stiff, board like, and have poor hand and drape. Fabric knit to the same spi/rpi by using smaller needles, with less yarn tension tends to have better hand and drape.  Finer needles tend to produce fabrics that are more comfortable to wear.  That  is because the yarn loosely knit on the finer needles is not under tension, so the fabric is relaxed and feels more pleasant.
42. 
    
43. The bottom line is that the way to knit fine fabrics (Arans, Guernseys and Ganseys included) is to use the correct sized needles and  knit with just enough tension in the yarn to ensure that wrapping the yarn around the needle produces a uniform stitch.
44. 
    
45. This is an important issue, both as a matter of  quality of knitting and the ergonomics of knitting.  However, patknitter gets many "agree"s and "love"s for her assertions that reduce the quality of knitting, and increase the chance of injury while knitting. She is a populist leader, and a bully.  She is not a proponet of excellence in knitting.  In the early days of Ravelry, there were many proponents of excellence on Ravelry. I do not see them posting on Ravelry any more.  I  suspect that like me, they have gotten tired of the tone of many groups on Ravelry.  A tone that emphasizes personality over technical merit.
46. 
    
47. Knitters that accept what patknitter says as true cannot become excellent knitters. I do not care how well any particular knitter can knit, but I am pointing out that patknitter and others like her form a significant social barrier to technical excellence in textiles.  I think expert knitters and spinners should make a point of removing technical and social barriers to better knitting.  
48. 
    
49. I am not interested in environments where mediocrity is king.  I do not participate in  groups that tolerate deceit. I do not like people that engage in libel.
50. 
    

Inflation

Traditional "5-ply gansey yarn" had a grist of  1,000 yards per pound.  And a "hank" of gansey yarn was 8 ounces and 500 yards.

This worked because the traditional singles hank was 560 yards, and the ply-twist to form the yarn took up ~10%, so a hank of worsted spun knitting yarn was ~510 yards.  And, the traditional wools were lustrous long wool. Objects knit from them had a different appearance than objects knit from modern, commercial yarns spun from finer wools.

These days I note that a favorite commercial 5-ply gansey yarn is about 1,200 yards per pound, so it is thinner; -- more the grist of  traditional 4-ply worsted spun yarns.   Wendy's is now ~ 1,115 ypp. Penzance is now about the only traditional grist 5-ply Guernsey yarn at  996 yards per pound. At the same price as other favorite purveyors,  http://www.knitwitspenzance.co.uk/index.php delivers 20% more wool per cone.


However, the modern, thin 5-ply gansey yarn has more twist, so it is not well suited to being used double as some of the Gladys Thompson patterns use 4-ply yarn.  If you want to work with doubled 4-ply, try the Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool.  That combination has tremendous fill and makes a very good Aran weight fabric.

If knit to the traditional patterns, the fabric from modern thin 5-ply gansey yarn will be softer, and much less "weatherproof."   For most modern uses, not a bad thing.  However, the softer material will cause stitch patterns to be NOT as clearly defined and the fabrics will not provide as much padding if a seaman gets tossed about.  The Penzance will give a thicker, warmer fabric with clearer stitch patterns.

I have nothing against the thinner 5-ply, but I knit it on 2 mm needles.

It takes just under 900 yards of  yarn to knit a gansey, that is  ~5,000 yards of singles;  That is about 9 hanks, plus 900 yards of  plying.  That is about 12 hours of reasonably paced spinning.  At 35$/hour, that is more than $400 worth of spinning labor, plus $15 worth of wool, plus labor to clean and prep the wool.  Hand spun from long wool, the yarn costs on the order of $500.  $71.80 plus shipping seems pretty reasonable for  a couple cones of commercial 5-ply gansey yarn - either the thick or the thin versions.  On the other hand, if you must have the authentic fabric, then today, it will be hand spun.

The Truth

Feynman was famous for getting to the truth.  Like Feynman, I find that many "experts" get wound up in refinements that lead them into error.  Often these refinements are from problems with defining or bounding the system under study.

In modern hand spinning and knitting, the problem is often a failure to take enough measurements to establish a baseline. The result is pile of myth and misconceptions that constitute a set of lies. People accept the lies, and pass them around until the lies become accepted as the truth.  And, nobody stops to check the math.  I am tired of those lies.  I campaign for truth and accuracy in hand made textiles.  

I measure, and check all the math.  I get different answers from what circulate in craft circles.  I get the truth. However, everyone is so mired in the lies that few believe me.  That is not my problem.  My problem is to find the truth in a sea of mud.

The system is wool yarn.  I know the diameter of the wool staples. I can easily count the number of wool staples in the yarn's cross section.  I know the old "Spin Count" system - a  professional truth that is beyond doubt. I have a accurate gram scale and an accurate skeiner.  I know my grist as calculated from length and weight is the same as calculated by Spin Count. I have these measurements in dated contemporaneous log books that would be accepted as evidence by either US or English libel courts.  And, I can always take my wheel into court and spin a sample.  The grists that I spin are beyond dispute.

I have good clocks.  I measure how long it takes for me to spin a batch of yarn. I log my rate of spinning in contemporaneous log books that would be accepted as evidence by either US or English libel courts.  And, I can always take my wheel into court and spin a sample.  My rate of spinning is beyond dispute.

Ask a modern spinner how fine a particular single is and the term "fine as frog hair", may be invoked. That implies that the yarn is as fine as can be practically hand spun, which is generally a lie. It it the lie of diminished expectations.  Generally, singles described as "fine as frog hair" have a grist of less than 25,000 ypp. Even Alden Amos never got around to spinning much finer than 25,000 ypp.  However, traditionally professional hand spun singles were classed as "fine" only for grists of  33,600 ypp and higher.   Today, most modern hand spinners have never "seen" hand spun yarns finer than 25,000 ypp.  Oh, they walked past such yarns in the Louvre, Victoria and Albert,  St-Janshospitaal, Getty, and etc, but they never really saw the yarns as a standard for modern hand spinning.  Modern spinners assume that we can no longer spin that fine. That is very wrong.  It is "foolish".

I know the grists of the yarns that I knit with, and I know the diameter of the needles that  I use to knit. The combination of yarn grists and needle sizes that I use were common among fine expert knitters at one time. Now people look at these stitch gauges and do not believe them.  These combinations of yarn grists and needle sizes were used because they produce lovely fabrics.  Fabrics that were/are warm and durable. Fabrics that had/have wonderful drape and hand. These fine fabrics are not commonly hand knit these days.  Most modern knitters tend to knit looser. Modern knitters tend not to use knitting belts and knitting sheaths, which makes finer knitting easier and faster, much faster!  

One of the lies that I really hate is that one can knit very fine fabrics on big (US2) needles, just by knitting tighter.  No!, not even if you are  knitting so tight that the yarn is breaking in your hands.  And, fabrics knit with highly tensioned yarns do not have the nice hand and drape of fabrics knit at the same number of stitches per inch, but achieved by knitting more loosely with smaller needles.  

I really do not care how you spin or knit.  I do care that the crafts of fine hand spinning and fine hand knitting are preserved.  I care that someone does fine hand spinning and fine hand knitting.  I teach how wonderful yarns can be spun. I know that it is more effort than many amateurs are willing to expend.  That is not my problem.  My problem is to elucidate the tools, methods, and materials that allow the reasonable production of fine yarns and fine fabrics.

I have gone where most modern spinners have not. Even spinners like Alden Amos did not explore the speed of DRS to allow spinning finer singles. I had to balance  precariously on his shoulders to look beyond what AA did. And, he was a giant among spinners.  I have made a lot of mistakes, but as I go forward I find better solutions, and I report them. Whenever I find a different way, I test the new way against the best way that I knew previously, and then use whichever way proves better. Details matter. Often, one approach is better for a particular application, while another approach is better for other applications.  Likewise, one approach will be worse for a particular application. There is no best way, there are only better ways to do particular applications.  And, there is always a better way for every application. 

The problem is always finding the most appropriate way for this application with the budget, scope, and schedule available.

The truths:

• Higher grist singles are worth the effort, because finer singles lead to fabrics with nicer hand and drape. (Go into your "Needless Markup Department Store" and look at the grist of the yarns in the fabrics with nicer hand and nicer drape.)
• High grist singles are much easier to spin with higher speed flyer/bobbin assemblies. Higher speed (RPM) is most easily achieved with double drive set so there is little slip in the system.  Therefore, to achieve higher speed, differential rotation speed control must be built into the system or the single will simply break off.  
• DRS controlled flyer/bobbin systems will run 2 or 3 times faster than bobbin lead systems, flyer lead systems, or double drive systems that allow slippage. These days, RPM is easily measured with a digital tachometer or strobe system.  These are now available and inexpensive. There is no excuse for not understanding this issue.  As an old bicycle racer, my normal cadence is ~90, which yields ~3,200 RPM with the the AA #1 /flyer/bobbin assembly, and ~ 3,600 RPM with the AA #0 /flyer/bobbin assembly. None of Alden Amos' treadle wheels were every designed to go that fast.  Alden never expected me to run those flyer/bobbin assemblies faster than 2,000 RPM.  SG's wheels do not go that fast.
• To run at speeds of more than 3,000 RPM, wheels must be double treadle to spread the stress of the power delivery through the full rotation of the wheel. Drive belts must be designed to deliver more power, and if cotton or linen, must have belt dressing. And, belt dressing will build up on the flyer/bobbin assembly whorls.  Whorls should be board cut, despite the fact that the end grain accumulates belt dressing. Belt dressing accumulating in the whorls changes the DRS!  Drive belts must be dressed and whorls cleaned on a regular basis. Oiling is critical. Service the wheel every time you take a "bio-break".
• With a DRS controlled wheel, wool can be spun at its spin count. (http://store.msuextension.org/publications/AgandNaturalResources/MT198380AG.pdf )
• Fine wool can be easily spun at 10 or 20 or 30 hanks of 560 yards per pound rather quickly.   Almost any wool can be spun at 10 hanks per pound (5,600 ypp, 12.3 m/gram, e.g., 9 twists /inch) at about a hank per hour.  Fine wool can be spun into 45,000 ypp (~100 m/gm) singles at a rate of about a hank per day. Ten grams of 2-ply, 20,000 ypp yarn takes 3 long days to prepare. A hank of 80s single weighs just under 5.7 grams.  I call them "little shits" because of the difficulty I had in managing the first few hanks that I made.  Henry Clemes is developing a reel that makes managing such singles easier. 
• Fine singles need to be blocked.
• Quality of singles is highly dependent on quality of fiber preparation. 
• A good spinner can keep 2 or 3 good knitters busy.
• A good weaver can keep 2 or 3 good spinners busy.

• Finely knit fabrics, knit using fine yarns and fine needles have superior hand and drape. Such fabrics can be cool or very warm. 
•  Finely knit fabrics have superior durability. If you want socks that last, choose yarns with more plies or strands and finer needles. The finer spinning will affect the time to produce much less than the extra knitting effort resulting from using finer yarns.
• If you want warmer or more weatherproof fabrics, finer needles are the best path.
• Knitting belts are a great general purpose tool.  Knitting belts are to knitters, what pliers are to mechanics.
• Knitting sheaths are more specialized tools which allow knitting things that cannot be practically knit using circular needles or even DPN with a knitting belt. Knitting sheaths are to a knitter what a rachet and socket set, and an air impact wrench, and an electric impact driver are to a mechanic.  

The bottom line is that you may not understand how the Hutchinson 3G access technology in your cell phone works, but that does not mean that somebody at the phone company has fooled himself.  The fact that the technology works is proof that nobody was fooled.  DRS spinning technology has functioned perfectly for centuries. It works.  Knitting sheaths have functioned perfectly for centuries.  It works.  It is simply a matter that you may not have been paying close attention to each of these technologies.   

Comprehensive revision

I have Lyme Disease.  It crept up on me, starting circa 2005, and I did not realize how very disabled I was.

It dramatically affected my strength, endurance, vision, balance, and coordination.

Thus, circa 2011, as I set out to discover just how fast a professional hand spinner could spin in the era 1550 to 1750, I was significantly disabled.

 Now! after more than a year of intensive antibiotic treatment, I am better.   I am not well yet, but I am better. Today, I have more strength, endurance, and coordination than I had in 2011 and a great deal more than I had in say 2014.  Thus, today I do spin spin faster. Therefore, all of the timed spinning in previous posts is conservative.

One could expect a healthy, professional hand spinner with moderately good equipment to spin faster.

My current considered judgment is:

•  That a DRS controlled flyer/bobbin assembly with an accelerator wheel operated by a professional hand spinner should be able to produce 560 yards of worsted spun 5,600 ypp commercial grade warp yarn (10s) per hour, even if the spinner has substantial health issues.  Woolen spun yarns of about the same twist ( 9 TPI) can be spun faster. 
• That a a DRS controlled flyer/bobbin assembly with an accelerator wheel operated by a competent hand spinner can spin woolen or worsted yarns with ~ 20 wool staples in cross-section at a good commercial pace. Romney is easy to spin at more than 20,000 yards per pound, Shetland can be spun at more than 30,000 ypp, and  fine wools such as Merino or Rambouillet can be spun at more than 40,000 ypp.  Fine worsted singles can be reasonably spun at rates of more than 3 yards per minute. Thus, 20,000 ypp 2-ply worsted yarn can be prepared at an over-all rate of 60 yards per minute.
•  20,000 ypp 2-ply is finer than any American entry in the last longest thread competition.  A reasonable time budget to spin, and ply, 10 grams of 20,000 ypp 2-ply using  a DRS controlled flyer/bobbin assembly with an accelerator wheel is on the close order of  25 hours.
• Wool yarns of less than 20 fibers are either fragile or require excessive twist resulting in a unpleasant yarn. I stopped producing wool singles finer than ~ 50,000 ypp.  My goal is to spin better yarns, not finer yarns.

I thought that I needed to make a new spinning bobbin for the Aldan Amos #0 flyer that I was using for fine singles. Along the way, I was going to photograph and describe the DRS spinning bobbin production process. With my revived coordination, I find that a new bobbin is not necessary, so I am just going to post pictures of the spinning bobbins that currently fit the AA flyers.

The AA #0 flyer/bobbin as delivered :

 Single on bobbin is the test single spun by SG.

  AA bobbin detail (ends bored out, brass flange bearings inserted, wood rings glued in to cover brass bearings)

Detail of AA whorl

Flyer with the (2d generation) DRS bobbin/whorl by me:

Bobbin and whorl of  tropical hardwood with Delrin bearings (thanks to Henry Clemes).  The wood was a scrap picked up inexpensively at a Rockler promotion.

Flyer/bobbin disassembled

Ends of bobbin bored out to receive bearings

AA #1 Flyer bobbin with 3d generation - DRS bobbin and whorls

These 11 whorl diameters provide ability to spin woolen and worsted singles from ~3,000 ypp to more than 45,000 ypp. Note the difference between whorl diameters is small.

Bearings for this flyer/bobbin assembly are replacement bearings for skate boards.  Bearing wise, this is over kill as differential rotation is only ~50 rpm.  However, the center of the bearing fits AA's flyer shaft, and this saves me some effort. The skate board bearings are much better than what my local hardware store sells, and much cheaper than what the local bearing specialist charges.

Detail of borings to receive bearings

Detail of bobbin shaft inserted into board cut bobbin end/whorl

All in all, not particularly pretty, but wickedly effective. The oak in the #1 bobbin is recycled from our kitchen remodel. Since then, I have moved to turning ALL whorls from maple to get a more even texture around the whorl, and avoid belt dressing build up at the cross grain.

Storage bobbins to fit 0.25" spindle:

 Front,  Right to Left; board cut redwood ends on redwood barrel, 2x redwood turned from solid blank, blank

Back, Right to Left;  reels for blocking singles, 2x board cut maple ends/whorl on maple barrel, blank for maple barrel. 

Turning tools:

For 5,600 ypp singles, and 50 mm whorls, required accuracy of whorl diameter is about 0.5 mm.

For 40,000 ypp singles, required accuracy of whorl diameter is higher.  Thus, turn a little larger than needed and sand down to final required diameter.  (If your tools are really sharp, no sanding is required for appearance.)

Use HSS tools and keep them very sharp.  A good procedure is to grind to shape, and then hone.  For honing, I use 400 grit emery belts on the Sorby Pro, or a diamond hone.  Do not try to burnish HSS turning tools.

My OLD Bedan  is carbon steel, and it can be BURNISHED and is sometimes used to clean up where the ends meet the barrel. (But was not used on the current generation of spinning bobbins  : )

Burnished tool steel is sharp, but does not hold an edge 

as well as honed HSS.  

If you use a good hone, and get the angles correct, then HSS is as sharp as the very best burnished tool steel edge, but a HSS edge lasts 10 times longer.  Finishing whorls, I figure the edge on my HSS tools lasts 10 minutes, thus a burnished tool steel edge lasts for ~ one cut.  Turning redwood bobbins from solid blanks, I can do a dozen bobbins in a hour without honing the HSS skew chisel I use.  Using tool steel tools, I have to stop and sharpen frequently, and only get half as many bobbins made in an hour.