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?
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment