Swatch knit from handspun 6-ply ~1,700 ypp sock yarn

 

4" by 4" swatch of latest sock yarn. One of the most elastic yarns I have ever spun and one of the most elastic fabrics I have ever knit. It is so elastic, I did not think it would be weatherproof. It is.  It is also very lustrous.  This swatch has been seriously abused, but never, blocked.

The swatch weighs 11 grams indicating an ounce of the yarn knit on 1.5 mm needles will produce 48 square inches of fabric, That makes it real easy, a gram of yarn knits into 10 cm^2 of fabric.  A weatherproof sweater that can weigh 900 grams.!?

900 grams is at the high end of the weight range for my ganseys knit from 5-py/1,000 ypp yarn. Does that mean a sweater knit from 6-ply/1,700 ypp yarn will be as warm as my best ganseys?  I could sit here and drag up good physics arguments either way. This calls for data not in my CRC Handbook.  I have to stop and measure.

I have good socks knit from hand spun 5-ply/1000 ypp yarn. I will knit a sock from the fine sock yarn. Then I will put a gansey sock on one foot, a fine sock on the other, and put both into a tub of ice water. The first sock/foot team to get cold loses.

Why does it matter? The ganseys knit from thicker yarn were much cheaper. However, seamen were often limited to a duffle bag 8" in diameter and 24" long. A gansey that was as warm, but with less volume would have been precious. 

Can such "sock yarn" be spun and plied with a drop spindle/distaff technology?  

New Draperies

 Consider the explosion of exports of English worsted textiles in the 16th and 17th century, the so called "New Draperies". It has been explained in various ways. see for example:   https://doi.org/10.2307/2594119 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2594119)  .

I  say that there was a long tradition of English production of worsted textiles using spindle and distaff technology. Then, various driven spindles were introduced, making woolen the cheaper and thus the more favored fabric until production of worsted textiles expands in the 16th century. 

I blandly assert that DRS technology crossed from France to England in the late15th century, (e.g., surge of emigration by textile workers in the Low Countries toward the end of the 100-year likely with War.)  It would have taken  a while for wheel makers to get good at making DRS wheels and large numbers of English spinners to learn how to use the wheels. There were also delays in English social, political, and economic forces aligning to encourage spinning worsted for export. And it took a while to convert overseas markets for woolen fabrics to the new products. 

In the 17th century, England became a great exporter of worsted textiles.  Then, in 1764, the Spinning Jenny was invented, and Paton and Baldwin were early adopters. 

For a knitter seeking to knit good stuff, their catalogue of vintage yarns are worth exploring and recreating.  The Brits were good knitters, and we can learn from them!