My world of knitting yarn

Long wool comes in, and often gets spun  worsted with a firm twist at about 5,600 ypp ( 10s, 11.3 m/g).  Such singles were commonly used for weaving and everybody was accustomed to spinning them. Then, there was loom waste, which could be plied up into various grists of knitting yarn. Standard "10s" were a standard base for knitting yarns.

Then;
(These are not the standard names for these grists)

2-ply is knitting yarn at ~ 2,500 ypp ( 5. m/g) .
3-ply is fingering yarn at ~ 1,700 ypp (3.4 m/g)
4-ply is double knitting yarn at ~ 1260 ypp or ( 2.2 m/g)
5-ply is sport weight at ~1,000 ypp  (e.g., (gansey weight")
6-ply is worsted weight  or triple knitting yarn at ~ 840 ypp  or 1.7 g/m  (heavier than what is normally sold as "Aran" weight yarn.)
8-ply is "8-ply" at ~ 630 ypp or 1.3 m/g
10-ply is Traditional Aran  or 10-ply at ~ 500 ypp or 1 m/gram!

And, I ply heavier yarns as needed. However, my 6-ply yarn is warmer than any commercial knitting yarn on the market today.  That is why I have the kind of lazy kate that I do, and why I learned to use it.   If you want to knit objects as warm or warmer than I do, you will have to spin your own multi-ply yarns.

Medium fine wools 50 -60 count ( 25 micron) are spun worsted, sometimes at 11,200 ypp (25 m/g)

3-ply makes a quicky lace yarn at 3,360 ypp

Then a 6-ply yarn from those singles is the preferred sock yarn at ~ 1,700 ypp or 3.4 m/g


Medium fine wools 40 -60 count ( 25 micron) are spun worsted, sometimes at 30,000 ypp or ~60 m/g
3-ply from this makes a nice lace yarn at ~ 8,000 ypp
6-ply makes a better sock yarn at ~ 4,000 ypp

Fine wools (finer than 60 count) may get spun at their spin count ~ 40,000 ypp or 100 m/g, which can be plied as needed. Or, they may be prepared into woolen spun versions of any of the above.

Note, The post above covers grists that vary by a factor of  8.   In truth, I have no problem spinning thicker yarns, because like a musician, I do my scales on a regular basis and practice spinning different grists of yarn.   On the other hand, I rarely do spin  singles thicker than 1-cut woolen (1,640 ypp).  As 2-ply that yields a yarn about the same grist as my worsted weight, and the worsted weight is much warmer and more durable.  Why waste my knitting time on yarn that produces an inferior product?  I certainly have in the past, and I do not regret any part of it.  However, improvements in my tools and skills over the last few years, allow me to make better yarns at a reasonable investment of resources, so I do.  


Use of AA's spinning oil is highly recommended.I suggest the addition of a few drops of lavender oil.  Also, many olive oils are adulterated with soybean oil.  These will get sticky in storage, and MUST be avoided.  The US and Italy have good, enforced rules on olive oil.  I suggest buying an oil from one of these countries.  You do not need EV or cold pressed. You just need pure olive oil.

Note: After spinning all singles are measured for length, blocked with steam, and weighed.  They may also be dyed. For dying, they must be washed to remove the spinning oil.

All plied yarns must be blocked again.

None of this is any more difficult than turning bobbins from green wood. People tell you it cannot be done, but it is simply a matter of learning the skills and having the tools.

Aaron Knits

First make some nice 14-ply, worsted spun, wool yarn.  It is easy with a tension box type Lazy Kate:

 to get:

Craftsmen need to deeply understand their materials.

 It's grist is about 360 ypp, which means that it is ~ 25% lighter than the Super Bulky LB Wool Ease  (LB WE, 288 ypp). The 14-ply yarn is much denser than the SB LB WE, and thus is easier to knit into very warm fabrics.  Another advantage is that it is more elastic, allowing skin tight garments to move with the body, and still be perfectly comfortable.  In addition, skin tight garments are inherent warmer. Thus, this is an excellent yarn for gear used for extreme conditions. (Sometimes, California has wickedly extreme weather,)

Thus high-ply yarns can be used to knit warmer fabrics that can be thinner and more flattering than objects of similar warmth knit from 2 and 3 ply yarns.  This is a serious advantage for for the fashion conscious in cold climates  Multi-ply yarns are also enormously more durable.  Over the years, not having to reknit/repair objects, saves much knitting,  If your knit objects last more than a few years without repair, then you are not active enough.  I have hand spun, hand knit objects from Nepal that are pristine.  They are pristine, because they are crap! They sit in a drawer. They were made for foreign climbers that only spent a few weeks in Nepal, and then left.  Hand spun, hand knit is NO guarantee of quality or warmth.  My  aunt got a bunch of my early  hand knit objects.   One those hats I know was worn almost every day for 7 years.  When she died, it was almost pristine. She was very frail, and treated it very gently.  I put that much wear on a hat in  one winter of sailing, skiing, and etc, - even when I have Lyme Disease with coinfections.

With such a multi-ply yarn, it is trivial to knit a fabric that is lighter, thinner, more weatherproof, and more durable than what can be knit with from a yarn with only 2 or 3 plies, or from a 5-ply yarn constructed with high ply-twist.

Modern  commercial 1,000 ypp 5-ply and 1,120 ypp 5-ply yarns are designed and spun to produce fabrics that are not weatherproof! "Experienced" knitters recited the myth that commercial 5-ply yarns produced the warmest fabrics to me, and  I believed it -- until I did my own testing. Weatherproof fabrics can be produced from such yarns, but it is a significant effort. I had to learn to knit such fabrics so I could measure the effort.  Those "Experienced" knitters were telling me the harder way to knit such fabrics, not the easy way.

The seed of truth in that myth is that the older multi-ply yarns with less ply twist, were the best path to warm weatherproof fabrics.  Modern 5-ply,  high-ply twist yarns are designed to so that decorative stitches "pop".   Yarns, that can be more easily knit into very warm fabrics can be hand spun using less ply twist.  Experienced knitters had not understood that there was a real difference between high-ply twist and low ply twist yarns.  Lower ply twist gives the yarn more "fill", which is the easy route to warmer fabrics.  Likewise yarns with cable construction tend to be stiff, and difficult to knit into weatherproof fabrics.  Such cables yarns are good for summer socks that must be durable and cool.  Again, knitting cables yarns into weatherproof fabrics can be done using  long gansey needles and a knitting sheath, but it is slow, hard work.   I know this by testing and comparing yarns, and the fabrics knit from them.  The bottom line here is that the best handspun 1,000, ypp 5-ply can produce yarns that knit into warmer fabrics than modern commercial 1,000, ypp 5-ply tend to produce.  And yes, 1,000, ypp 5-ply can produce warmer fabrics than 1,120 ypp, 5-ply,  When both are knit on the same needles, the difference in warmth will be on the order of 25%, but if the finer yarn is knit on finer needles, then the difference is likely only  11%.  (You cannot get there using US3 needles! Alert knitters keep a journal, and know this.)  Using fine needles, hand spun 1,120 ypp, 5-ply with  low ply twist can easily be knit into fabrics that are much warmer than fabrics commonly knit from commercial 1,000 ypp, 5-ply yarns with high ply twist.

Thus, as we consider the warmth of  fabrics knit from the above 360 ypp, 14 ply, it needs to be compared to modern commercial 1,000 ypp, 5-ply, and best handspun 1,000 ypp, 5-ply.  The 360 ypp 14 ply above knits into fabrics that are about 50% warmer than best handspun 1,000 ypp 5-ply spun for warmth, and about 3 times warmer than the fabric produced by knitting 1,000 ypp, 5-ply, (commercial Guernsey yarns)  on the typical modern  2.25 mm (circular) needles.

Fabrics knit from the above 360 ypp, 14 ply are only very slightly warmer than fabrics knit from LB WE, (or MacAusland's heavy 3-ply) but the fabrics knit form 360 ypp, 14 ply, will be much lighter in weight, have much better hand and drape, have more stretch and elasticity, and be more durable.  In total, they are altogether more comfortable to wear in cold conditions.

  Swatch from best 360 ypp, 14 ply worsted spun yarn

knit on US 3 long needles

In short, factors that affect the warmth of knit fabrics include:

• fiber - fine or coarse
• spin - woolen or worsted
• grist of singles
• twist per inch of  singles
• number of plies/ total grist of yarn
• ply twist
• needle size
• how needle is used, e.g., hand held, knitting belt, or knitting sheath
• tension of yarn as it is knit
• stitch used in the knitting

Factors affecting warmth of objects include:

• yarn used
• stitch used
• needle size
• how needle is used
• fit/ wearing ease 
• waist opening 
• size and shape of neck opening
• sleeve construction
• total area of body covered (e.g., a hoodie is warmer than a  sweater and hat, but a sweater, comforter, and balaclava is likely to be warmer still) 

Factors affecting over-all body warmth include:

• weather/ wind, cold, wet, and etc.
• base layers
• over layers
• warmth of knit objects

Much heat is lost through the feet, hands, and head! If your sweater is not keeping you warm, the fast and easy way to knit what will keep you warm is likely to knit socks, gloves, hats (balaclava),   and such. My wife laughs at me because most of my knitting is socks, gloves/mittens, and such. However, having such objects is essential to staying warm and being comfortable in cold, and very cold conditions.  And, gloves/mittens and socks are subject to a lot of wear.  They need to be regularly repaired/replaced.  I expect a sweater to outlast a couple of hats, several pairs of gloves/mittens and many pairs of socks.  

Yes, I spin such yarns, and knit such fabrics right here in Warm Sunny California, because these days, this is where the technical skills are. Remember, the knit objects that protected Shackleton's men on the Antarctic ice were knit in Balmy England, because that is where the technical skills were. When I was a kid, the best technical skills for down clothing were in Boulder, Colorado - a place where Native Americas had wintered, because it had pleasant winter weather.  North Face clothing was founded in San Francisco and grew based on experience gained by going to places with wicked weather.  Patagonia came out of Southern California, by way of experience gained in other places.    Even REI was founded in a place with fabulous year-round weather (Kent, Washington).  And, the great knit objects that allowed British seamen to navigate the cold and stormy Southern Ocean, were knit in tropical Hong Kong circa  1790 1830.

Let's be honest

The great advantages of wool are its warmth when wet, and its resistance to fire.  The warmth when wet made/makes wool ideal for wet climates.

In cold continental climates or polar climates, where the winter temperatures are far below freezing, everything is very, very dry.  At those temperatures, a campfire is little help in staying warm, and there may be little fuel for a fire. In the morning you have the choice of breaking through (feet?) of  ice or melting snow for your morning tea. Water in the desert is easier to come by, you do not have to melt the water bottle to brush your teeth.  Thus, in cold continental climates or polar climates, the virtues of wool are less important.

In those conditions, if you must knit yourself a suit of clothing to stay warm at -10C to -40C, one starts out by knitting a set of drawers (see Weldon 46th series), and a long sleeved undervest (see Welden 12th series).  Knit from worsted spun  5-ply (1,000 ypp, NOT the 1,120 ypp of Wendy's or 1,089 ypp of  Frangipani) at a gauge of  8 spi by 12 rpi, that is ~ 400 hours of knitting.  Then, you will need socks, gloves, hat ( balaclava helmet, or hat and scarf) at the same gauge from the 5-ply.  That is another 110 hours of knitting.   If it must be handspun, that is another 80 hours of spinning.

Over that you need tightly woven wool shirt and tightly woven wool pants. The LL Bean Guide shirt and pants work.  If you need hand spun/hand woven, that is another 80 hours of spinning and 40 hours of weaving plus 40 hours of fabric finishing and tailoring.

Then, one needs over-socks, mittens, over-hat, and an Aran sweater, all  knit from worsted spun 10-ply  500 ypp wool knit on 3.1 mm needles at 5 spi by 8 rpi. This is a softer, but thicker yarn than the 6-stand cable that was previously discussed with patknitter, and it has better fill and knits to a denser fabric. This is another 250 hours of knitting.  Such yarn is not commercially available these days, so there is another 80 hours of spinning.

Thus, labor for a hand made outfit for cold continental  or Arctic climates is about  6 months work (~1,000 hr).  Once made, it can be replaced/ repaired/refurbished as worn by knitting an hour or 2 per day.  I would need a couple hundred hours of knitting to refurbish my all hand knit kit for full on Arctic winter usage. I have the handspun singles on hand, so all I need to do is ply and knit.  I could have all the yarn ready to travel in a few hours, and  it will be 4 months before the Arctic gets really cold, on a sustained basis. There is time.

Dealing with Antarctic cold is whole other program.  Nevertheless, very finely knit objects knit by Burberry (contractors using knitting sheaths) were a part of the outfits used by Shackleton's crew during their year on the Antarctic ice, during which no men were lost. 

Most modern knitters cannot knit 3 major objects plus associated socks, gloves and hat from 1,000 ypp 5-ply at 8spi in 6-months without ruining their wrists. And, that does not even count the Aran weight outer sweater, socks, mittens and hat, which requires even more knitting effort, and more stress on the wrists -- unless you are using a knitting sheath.

On the other hand, you can buy an outfit at LL Bean that will keep you warm in those conditions for $600. That means the functional value of your knitting is $0.60/ hour (less if you pay for yarn), and anything over that is just for pretty, or because the knitter is a good salesperson.  Less attractive, but just as warm outfits can be had from other outlets for less than $250.

The best are Carhartt, add hat, gloves, socks, googles, and you will be far warmer and more comfortable than with anything that can be knit on circular needles.

Fancy outfits from Spyder and others are more than $2,000, good for guys with too much ego.

No list of cold weather clothing would be complete without Patagonia.

At their best, nothing from Carhartt, L.L.  Bean, or Patagonia can match the warmth for weight and ease of movement of  wool, finely knit to fit.  On the other hand, in performance per dollar,  hand knit objects fail miserably.

The value of hand knit sweaters on a cold movie set lies in their fashion value, not their warmth.

Dear John,

The modern hand knitting community is dominated by folks who knit for fun. For many years, the fun knitters have rudely pushing aside the folks that want to knit functional objects. (We will get back to functional!)

Fun knitters do not check their work, so many myths have grown up, and now echo around and around the community, with some leaders saying they are experts and the myths are the truth.
Then, intermediate level knitters repeat what they have been told without checking its truth.

Here are my favorite myths:

1. Myth -hand knitting is warm/ loose is good because air traps heat
1. no! STILL air traps heat -air can easily move through most hand knit objects
2. to trap and keep air still to hold heat, the fibers need to be ~40 microns apart - twice the thickness of a Merino staple.  do the physics - http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/
3. thus, for max warmth, you want the yarn fibers and the yarns to be about 2x the thickness of a merino fiber apart.
4. knitting with circular needles does not pack yarns or fibers that tightly together.
2. Myth- gansey yarn is always warm
1. not if there are gaps between the yarns where air can flow
2. gansey knitting can pack the yarns together to produce a warmer fabric.
3. swaving can pack the yarns together to produce a warmer fabric
4. woolen yarns are often easier to pack together to produce a very warm fabric if you have the leverage - circular needles are no
3. Myth - gansey yarns are more durable
1. most modern commercial gansey yarns are spun from fine fibers that are not particularly durable. woolen spun rug wool may be more durable
4. Myth- nylon makes yarn more durable
1. nylon is slippery and lets wool fibers fall out of the yarn while the long nylon stays
2. yarn makers add nylon because it is cheap
3. super wash is also less durable then untreated wool

Truths to replace the myths

1. Gansey knitting and swaving pack yarns together making a fabric that is much warmer than can be knit with hand held needles.
2. Gansey knitting and swaving can produce fabrics that are much more durable than can be produced from the same yarn with hand held needles.
3. Gansey knitting and swaving can produce fabrics that are much smoother to the skin that the fabrics produced with hand held needles.

Truths for a knitter to live by:

1. Finer is better - finer yarns can be knit tighter with less effort - ultimatly warmth is not about thickness, it is about not having holes in the fabric where air can pass through.  For example go look at the best new technologies at Patagonia, Marmot, and North Face.  Thin, light, and no holes.
2. Finer is better -  yarns with finer plies result in more flexible fabric, with better drape when knit tight.
3. Finer is better - finer needles leave smaller holes in the fabric for the fibers to fill.
4. Finer is better - finer fabrics have more warmth for the weight.

Path to the truth

1. long needles.  12" is good, 14" is better
2. knitting belt. e.g., http://www.journeyman-leather.co.uk/knittingbelt8.html
3. making your own knitting sheath is very much like a Jedi Knight making his own light saber. It is its own path and the process is the end.  I have made thousands of knitting sheaths, but the very best one was made just last month.

Functional.  I knit light weight, warm, and often weatherproof objects.  The first took me hundreds of hours to knit.  I could have worked at minimum wage, saved my money and bought objects of similar weight and warmth faster. If we price my time at my full billing rate, then my knit objects are very expensive and not functional for the price.  However, I have to be somewhere, and I can be knitting. We are going to watch the movie anyway and I can be knitting.  We are going to drive some where, so I let someone else drive and I knit.  I can still talk and navigate, while I knit.  Thus, I can value my knitting time at a very low rate and my objects are very cost effective. They are functional in the extreme.

Mostly I use Grizzly tools.  Needle blanks are made on a carbide grinder and are finished on a Sorby-Pro. Knitting sheath blanks are cut on a band saw.  I use threaded inserts to hold the needle adapters to the body of the knitting sheath. The needle adapters are made on a wood lathe.  The blog is full of pix of various designs.  

However, I have made excellent knitting sheaths with just a hand saw or even just a pocket knife, making the hole by heating steel rod or even a nail in a candle and burning the hole.

No one source says very much about gansey knitting and knitting sheaths.  To the best of my knowledge, this blog is the single largest source on gansey knitting and knitting sheaths.

I am likely to go back into making knitting sheaths fairly soon.

AL

Clewless

One thing that many of my critics miss about me is that I do keep going back and rethinking the obvious.  If I get it wrong the first time, I may get it correct when I return to the topic.

Now, I am back to the nature of warm fabrics.

Let use divide the kingdom of knitting yarns into 1) singles; 2) 2-ply and 3-ply, and 3) 5-ply and  greater.  Note that 4-ply got lost somewhere.

Both Rutt and Alden Amos dismiss 5-ply and greater yarns as over hyped and not worth the effort. Here, I suggest that 5-ply and greater yarns produce a knit fabric with an inherently different structure, that the knitter can sometimes use to their advantage.

Two-ply and 3-ply yarns tend to bed together as they are knit to form a relatively flat fabric.  Any gaps or needle holes allow air (and water) to pass freely through the fabric, carrying heat with them.  If you want a warmer fabric, the yarns have to be packed very closely together, and likely fulled.

Five-ply and greater yarns tend not to bed as freely, and thus each stitch gets "bent" by the stitch above it. This bending adds some twist to one leg of the stitch and removes some twist from the other leg of the stitch, resulting in that characteristic bumps-between-lines pattern that one sees in fabrics knit from hi-ply yarns. Thick singles can act as a hi-ply yarn to give the same appearance, but "out of bias", I do not talk about singles.

Thus, a very warm fabric knit from low-ply yarns will be tighter and firmer than a fabric of the same warmth knit from a hi-ply yarn that tends not to bed.  And, a hi-ply yarn of higher grist can produce a thicker fabric than low-ply yarn of lower grist.  Thus, knit at the same gauge, 5-ply 1,000 ypp yarn (gansey yarn) will produce a warmer fabric than 2-ply 880 ypp yarn (woolen spun, worsted weight yarn).  And we have the reason why I had to knit the 2 and 3-ply MacAusland so tight to make warm fabrics.  If I had been using higher ply yarns, I would not have had to knit so tight.

And knitting is more effort than spinning.  Thus, a bit of extra spinning effort will save a lot of knitting effort.

Now, this is certainly not the whole story, as low ply twist 5-ply yarns can be knit into flat fabrics with great fill, density, and warmth.  Four-ply can be worked double to do the same thing.

The bottom line is that yarns with more plies in them is the easier path toward warmer fabrics.  Conversely, 2-ply yarns are the easier path toward cool fabrics. (I mean really!  You do not want to be seen in church sweating in your new sweater as the minister gets to the Fire, Brimstone, and Wrath of God part of his sermon.)

You want really warm fabrics? Get some of that Alaskan Fisherman 12-ply. (http://thenetloftak.com/collections/all , and scroll down)  Not going to be crabbing on the Bearing Sea, then try Frangipani 5-ply (http://www.guernseywool.co.uk/ )
Christmas is coming.  Get knitting.  Knit for yourself, have a test fitting about the time snow flies, and wear it all winter.

What about sock yarn?  Do you want a flat fabric to fit in your shoe?  Or does one want a 3-dimensional fabric that can provide a lot of cushioning because it is constructed of many, very fine plies? As I look through my socks, all my favorite socks are many, very fine plies, knit on very fine needles.

3-ply again

After much wandering in the land of grist, I have decided that I really like 5,600 ypp singles  as a basis of knitting yarns.

I spin such singles from long wool like Romney, a blend of medium wools that I get from a  commercial vendor, and Anna Harvey's fine Rambouillet or  Royal Fibers CVM.  For knitting, these days, I am spinning everything semi-worsted.  Everything gets spinning oil and several passes through the drum carder.  Sometimes the batts are dized off to form roving and sometimes they are just torn into strips.  Then, they are all spun at 9 tpi.  The slight woolen character of the yarn means that these yarns are softer than worsted yarns of the same grist and twist and firmer than pure woolen yarns.  And the long wool yarns are more worsted in character and firmer than the singles from finer fibers.

I have been blending these singles into yarns of specific use.  Hiking socks are 3-ply all Romney and Cotswold - very durable.  Street socks and are 3-ply - all medium wool - not as firm as hiking socks.   A ply of each gives a mitten yarn that is durable, but which fulls into a soft, dense fabric.  The long wool singles help stabilize the fabric, and the fine wool provides fill. (These are gloves - no shrinking and felting allowed.)

I knit these yarns on needles in the 2 mm range.  Stitch counts run just under 10 spi, so the fabrics are not at all stiff.  In general, the fabrics are very light weight, low bulk, and warmer than commercial 2-ply worsted weight yarns knit at 5 spi.  Thus, I have warmth with less weight or bulk, and with much better drape.

I find these yarn somewhat less splitty and easier/faster to knit than the 6-strand yarns of the same grist that I produced from commercial warp yarn.  Since knitting takes longer than spinning, over all, I  find spinning my own 5,600 singles faster/easier than using the 2-ply, 5,600 ypp warp yarn to cable up this grist of yarn. I also like being able to control the fiber content.

My 3-ply yarns are about the same grist as Shetland 2-ply jumper yarns, that are often knit in the just under 8 spi range.  However, when my 3-ply medium wool yarn is knit at that gauge, the 3-py produces a warmer and actually softer fabric, with a better drape.  In the over all cost of the object from fleece to finished product, the cost of  the extra ply is trivial - on the order of  less than 10%.  In a commercial operation, seeking to control production costs to meet a price point, 10% production costs is a big deal.  For a craftsman seeking to produce a much better product, 10% higher production costs to produce a much higher quality product are a good investment.

Right under my nose

In seeking warmer wool garments, I went to the extremes of modern knitting mythology.  I knit a lot of harsh fabrics where the primary virtue was warmth and durability.  I do not regret this, as those fabrics have kept me warm in real cold, and saved my skin when I fell and skidded down steep rock faces. (Nylon is slippery and it lets one slide faster and faster down the rock or ice, until the nylon wears through and bare skin at high speed hits rock or ice and is turned into hamburger.)

Still most women wrinkle their faces as they touch these fabrics -- for good reason. So the question is: Can one produce such warm fabrics that are soft and friendly?

The answer is yes, and the how was right under our noses all the time. There are actually 3 parts to the how:

1. Use more plies as you construct the yarn.
2. Use reasonable fine wool.
3. Knit reasonably firmly.

Traditional "worsted" weight  knitting yarn was constructed of 6 plies of 5,600 ypp singles. Now, most mill spun yarns of that weight (grist) are only 2-ply. Two-ply yarns are not nearly as warm as yarns constructed from more plies.  This is not my rule, it is Mother Nature's rule; see http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/ for details.  I merely recite it.

Reasonable fine wool keeps the yarn from being too harsh.  I may want "rug wool" between me and the rock, but most do not need that kind of durability.

The finer wool and softer yarns have more fill, so the yarn does not have to be nearly as tightly knit to ensure that air cannot easily advect heat through the gaps between the yarns.

I have been testing some commercial Shetland 2-ply jumper weight yarns that run 1800 ypp.  My 3-ply semi-worsted Rambouillet at 1870 ypp is softer, more durable, and much much warmer when knit at the same gauge on the same needles. It is softer, because it is a softer fiber.  It is more durable because there is more twist holding the yarn together.  And, it is warmer because 3-ply yarn has more "fill" than 2-ply yarn.  If you run your thermostat at 72F, you want the Shetland 2-ply jumper weight yarn.  If you run your thermostat at 62F, then you want the 3-ply semi-worsted fine wool yarn.

If I am knitting a fine Fair Isle object from hand spun, then most of the effort goes into the knitting. With a very fast wheel, spinning the singles for a sweater goes from a couple of days spinning for 2-ply jumper weight to ~4 days of spinning for 3-ply jumper weight.  However, an additional 16 hours of spinning is not a big deal compared to the 100 hours of knitting  - if you  consider that the additional spinning time will make the object much warmer and much more durable.  For 20% more effort, one gets 100% more value. The extra effort in spinning, increases the return on the large knitting effort.

On a commercial basis, doubling the required twist  (more and finer plies) would approximately double the price of the yarn, and most knitters would look at the price and decide that the much less expensive 2-ply was warm enough and durable enough.  Thus, the construction of modern commercial yarns is a function of competition and price point, rather then value considering warmth, softness, and  durability. This trade of price point for warmth and durability is a major reason why modern hand knitting is not as warm as the hand knitting in the old days.

Then when winter comes round, modern knitters decide that they need  something warmer and they turn to exotic, expensive, super fine fibers to make warm fabrics.  The problem is that the last few generations of knitters preferred a lower price point over warmth  and  durability, and the mill responded by making 2-ply yarns that are less expensive, but also not as warm or durable.  Likewise, the commercial mills optimized the 5-ply gansey yarns for stitches that "pop" rather than for warmth. The modern commercial 5-ply gansey yarns are much warmer than 2-ply yarns, but they are not nearly as warm as they could be if they were designed to be warm, rather than decorative.

Now, you can take the same semi-worsted, fine wool singles (5,600 ypp) and ply them up as 5-ply and knit the yarn at the same gauge on the same needles as the Shetland 2-ply jumper weight yarns, and you will have soft, dense fabric that is fully 4 times as warm as the fabric from the Shetland yarn.  The fabric is not stiff, it is not harsh, it is just warm.  I have not really run durability tests on it yet, but with all that twist holding the yarn together, it should be much more durable than the 2-ply.  This is a fabric for when your thermostat is set for 52F,

If you can knit the 2-ply at the gauge on the band then you can also knit the 3-ply at the same gauge with the same needles.  By the time you get to knitting 5-ply at that gauge, you are packing the yarn together and will want the leverage of a knitting sheath or at least a leather knitting pouch.

If your thermostat is set at 42F, then move on to real 6-ply, knit on slightly larger needles (3 mm), and enjoy.

If you want to spin your singles from long wool, spun worsted, then the fabric will have less drape, but will be more durable and it will be lustrous.  A stiffer fabric is a small price to pay for warmth that gleams.  Certainly, you can knit it less firmly, but then the fabric will not be as warm.

I would never have gotten here, if I had not been spinning for weaving, and fallen into the habit of plying- up singles spun for weaving as knitting yarns.  I stared spinning semi-worsted 5,600 ypp singles from carded batts to see how they would work as weft, but once I had a few cakes of such singles sitting there, it was very  little effort to ply it up into knitting yarn.

The Need

I have not been honest.

A major reason reason for pushing the  bounds of hand textile production technology was to provide a "Plan B" as sea level rise from Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) destroys industrial textile production. Thus, I want hand textile production to be fast enough to produce ordinary and functional fiber and textile products at a reasonable economic price.  This includes linen, cotton, nettle, wool, and other fibers.

In 1991, as I realized that the IPCC climate models dramatically understated the potential of sea level rise, I thought the loss of industrial fiber and textile production could be taken up by skills (widely) held by amateurs.  Then, my wife bought me a hand knit fisherman's sweater in Nova Scotia, and I about froze wearing it salmon fishing off the coast of  California. This was a warning that modern hand made textiles are not practical in the functional world.

Above is a swatch of British Breeds gansey yarn knit at a modern gauge.  That is OK, if the Coast Guard has helicopters standing by, and  there is a Weather Service to warn of storms.

Same grist of yarn, same stitch pattern, but constructed on the assumption that there is no Coast Guard or Weather Service.   This is the fabric that was knit from  handspun 5-ply on "knitting pins".  It is just enough tighter to close the little tiny holes in the modern gauge swatch that let the heat leak out.   

Before mill spun, the fishermen on the North Atlantic survived by wearing sweaters hand knit from hand spun that were warmer than anything modern hand knitters and hand spinners typically produce. On the second trip to Nova Scotia, it became clear to me that these traditional textile production skills used to produce warm clothing  had been lost. And worse, the hand spinners and hand knitters did not recognize what had been lost. They were still bragging about how warm their hand-spun and hand knit objects were. I watched historical enactors drop from hypothermia and get hauled away to hospital by ambulance. (The drivers wore store bought.) The site was closed due to cold weather. Battlements that had been guarded day and night, summer and winter, for 300 years were cleared on a fine spring day - due to cold. I was wearing a hand knit gansey as I stood on those battlements watching the whole thing until we were told to leave. (The guards wore store bought.)  I was not cold.  Modern spinners and knitters brag about how warm their handspun/ handknit is because they do not regularly compare the warmth of the objects that they make with the degree of warmth required for humans to stay functional in cold weather.  The truth is that cold people fall down.

I remember when a rock climbing buddy's mother gave him a very fine, hand knit Fair Isle sweater for Christmas.  Then, he had to move at New Year's and he used that new sweater as packing material and discarded it afterwards because, it was "too heavy for the warmth!"  He laughed at me for starting to knit. He kept laughing at me until one year, I gave him a pair of gansey knit ski socks for Christmas.  Six weeks later, he offered me $200 to knit hims a pair of hiking socks.  By then, my handknitting was different from any hand knitting he had ever seen.

We would go snow camping, and take with us a bag full of the best gear from Patagonia and Marmot.
(http://www.patagonia.com/us/home)  and (http://marmot.com/ )
We would compare the performance of my knit wear with the gear from Patagonia and Marmot.  Pretty soon, I stopped bothering with much of the store bought stuff. (Marmot parkas and guide pants are still useful.)

You may not like the way my stuff looks, but if I am going to be in the cold, it is what I want to wear. It is very functional.  However, it is functional because I bother with things like multi-ply yarns, and knitting tightly. I can spin multi-ply yarns and still finish the object because I work fast.  And, spinning is not my life. I need to finish my spinning and do other things.  If I worked slowly, I would not have the objects to wear. Then, I would either have to wear store bought, or freeze.

So, what happens to industrial textile production as sea level rises?  Most of our textile production is near sea level and a small amount of sea level rise ends most textile production. (No more store bought!!)

How fast is sea level likely to rise?  The IPCC models say slowly, but they do not consider ice dynamics.  The IPCC models assume the ice will melt in situ.  Watch Chasing Ice, the sequence starting at minute 64. (or see clip at http://www.businessinsider.com/chasing-ice-glacier-calving-climate-change-2014-10) to see how it is likely to go.  As ice warms, it loses tensile strength, and then under goes a progressive structural collapse.  For example, defrost your freezer - first it drips, then chunks of ice start falling off the racks.  Watch the ice melt off of the roof of a ski lodge - first it drips, then big chunks of ice fall.  A glacier calving into the ocean, drips, then big pieces fall. All of these are examples of ice losing tensile strength as it warms.

Now we know that all of our big ice has the potential for sea water to come in under it.  Antarctica sits on the top of sea mounts.  Greenland has many deep fjords that run under the ice.  Both of these conditions allow the rapid breakup of  ice as seen in the Chasing Ice clip.  Both Antarctica and  Greenland have the potential for the kind of progressive structural collapse on a large scale that is seen in a very small scale in minute 64 of Chasing Ice.

In the last interglacial, we know that sea level rose 40 feet in 500 years, and we cannot be certain that it was a gradual rise.  It may have been a period of punctuated equilibrium where most of the sea level rise occurred in a few brief events. In the last few climate changes, there were several period when hominid populations dropped from 95% to 99% of normal population. This However current climate forcing is 10 times greater than it was then. Thus, a reasonable planning case for sea level rise is meters in decades, and we can expect larger drops in hominid populations.  Such planning is like house insurance.  You many not really expect a house fire (odds are 1 in 100,000), but you have insurance. With AGW, if we have planned for meters/decade, and sea level rise is only meters per century, then we will be OK.  However, if we plan for millimeters per century and sea level comes as meters per decade, then we will not be OK.

A sea level rise of meters in decades is fast enough to incapacitate industrial fiber production (synthetics and cotton) faster than the facilities (and their infrastructure) can be moved.  And, modern hand spinners have lost the skills that spinners used for generations and generations to economically produce the fibers needed to conquer the world.  What are we going to do for clothing?

The needs are food, water, shelter, and clothing. Sure there is a lot of clothing around that can be reused by a smaller population. (I expect a 99.99%  reduction in population.) However, most of that clothing is not well made and will fall apart in a few years.  In the face of the known, and unknown challenges, I do not expect the current generation of hand spinners to have much effect on the future of textiles. Current spinners tend to look to the Victorians, rather than to the older professional spinning traditions.  Current spinners do not tend to make new tools and develop new techniques to ensure a vibrant future in the craft of spinning.  I will tell you this; somebody will need a faster spinning wheel, because more twist makes hand made objects warmer and more durable, and we are going to need warm and durable.

It is called global warming, because of what happens at sea level.  However, the top of the atmosphere actually cools, and cold air tends to sink - so there will be blasts of ice cold air driving big storms.  Global warming does not mean that we will not need very warm woolies.

If you do not have acute symptoms of stress, such as high blood pressure, vomiting, diarrhea, panic, and depression, then you do not understand the acute nature of the AGW situation. It is too late to avoid catastrophic AGW. The best we can do at this stage is plan to adapt to catastrophic AGW.

My cheerful observation is that anyone that can spin wool well, can very quickly learn to spin other fibers well.

If you want cites, Google is your friend.  And, look at the proceedings of the AGU, particularly the posters on GIS.  Stuff about the summer 2012 melt on GIS is just coming out, and folks are just starting to realize how important structure is to ice sheet behavior.  Water increases the load on an ice structure without providing any extra strength.   When one adds load to a structure, without adding strength, eventually the structure collapses.  The days of treating ice sheets as a black box on a film of water are over.