Knitting is hard work, use good yarn to make the product worthwhile

Somebody said “Shetland wool”, and the first thing I thought of was jumper yarn as in: (https://www.thewoollythistle.com/collections/2-ply-jumper-weight-light-fingering/products/jamieson-smith-2-ply-jumper-weight-yarn-cones).  This turns out to be about the grist of yarn called for in Gladys Thompson’s patterns for Sheringham & Norfolk ganseys.  She lists Paton’s 4-ply Beehive fingering in the pattern, but the grist is about the same as the above.  The 4-ply Beehive is a little rounder, firmer yarn than the 2-ply jumper yarn, so the 2-ply Jumper has more fill and is warmer than the (no longer available) Beehive (unless the 4-ply is more tightly knit).  The 4-ply allows the pattern to pop and is usually cooler to wear. (These days, the only way have a yarn like the old Beehive is to spin it yourself or have it custom spun.)

Either way. I knit such yarns for such fabrics on ~1.65 mm, long needles. I use pointed needles for patterns full of cables (or lace) and blunt needles for plainer knitting.  Gauge is ~ 12 spi by ~20 rpi.  The pointy needles are 14” long, work well with either a knitting belt or a knitting sheath, the blunt needles are 18” long and long want a knitting sheath.  However, this is not really about needles or knitting sheaths, this is about yarn.

This is not an “I am so smart rant”!  It is a “knitting is hard work, and therefore it deserves good yarn rant”. I repeat, this is a “knitting is more work than spinning, so knitting deserves good yarn!" rant.  

Spinning yarn for a fine jumper (sweater) takes about 20 hours for jumper weight or 40 hours for a 4-ply like Beehive at ~ 2,500 ypp (same weight yarn, but the 2 yarns have different virtues.  Knitting is the issue; a slow knitter like myself takes 250 to 300 hours to knit such an object. I am well aware that a good commercial knitter can knit that many stitches in a week. However, the objects knit by the commercial knitter will not be as warm or as durable as what I knit. I do not even bother with any stitch pattern with the 2-ply jumper yarn – the patterns are hardly visible and do not have much effect on performance/wear ability.  With a tight, worsted spun 4-ply, and high ply twist (very durable) something like a “plough and furrow” pattern adds to the stretch of the fabric, thereby making the garment more comfortable and more durable. And, with that firm, round (4-ply) yarn, the stitches in the pattern really pop, making the pattern clearly visible. Also, for weaving, I usually have kilos of handspun 5,600 and 11,200 ypp singles, so if I get inspired, I can ply-up handspun yarn for such a jumper very quickly.  But, those are weaving singles, and they have a lot more twist than most singles used for knitting yarns – even sock yarns.  Those high twist singles need more ply twist than softer spun singles and do result in harsher knit fabrics. On the other hand, fabrics from high twist yarns last much longer. Twist holds yarns together, and (within reason) more twist means more durable.  Most modern commercial yarns for recreational knitters are spun and plied very softly – this results in a very soft fabric, but also a fragile fabric. If I am going to put in the time and effort to knit a fine object, I want it to last.

In fact, I am likely to knit something myself, precisely because I want the object to last – e.g., I only want to carry one pair of socks, and I want them to endure the entire hike, or I only want to take one sweater, and I want it to endure a voyage across the Pacific.  (Iron men in wooden boats need firm fabrics to buff off the rust and all that.)

My point is that there is much more to yarn than some scale from 0 (lace) to 6 (bulky). 

We were talking about Shetland Jumper yarn, and I love Shetland wool.  I think it is a great compromise. It is fine enough to be very warm for its weight, it takes dye well, it has significant luster, spun woolen it is soft, and spun worsted it has a nice silky feel. On the other hand, Merino and Rambouillet can be softer and warmer for the weight. Rommey and Cotswold can have more luster, a more silken feel to the worsted threads, and take dye better, and be more durable.  Shetland wool was used for Hillary’s ascent of Everest because it was an excellent compromise between warmth and durability.  These are properties you may not need, but they are worth knowing about as you select a yarn, because knitting is a lot of work, and you should select the correct yarn spun from the correct fiber. These days climbers on Everest do not use wool except for frame knit Merino sock liners and Merino long underwear.  When we were there, they used local, loosely spun and loosely knit socks, which were very harsh, (and not very warm).

However, what fiber would I choose for a “jumper” to wear sailing on – San Francisco Bay?  I chose Romney. It is strong, very lustrous, easy to spin worsted, and easy to knit into a weatherproof garment that will withstand heavy use for years and still look good. Certainly, Shetland would work, but Romney is a better compromise for the use.  What fiber did I choose for a fisherman’s sweater for my wife? Rambouillet – it is soft, and my wife is very gentile to her clothes, and she does not go out on boats much. 

Wool fibers have 2 ends; the butt and the tip. In the old days, worsted spinners, were careful to feed wool fibers into the spinning draft butt-end first. This gave worsted thread a very smooth surface, very uniform diameter, and exceptional luster. With mechanical wool processing starting circa 1850, endwise orientation became random. It was still called "worsted" but it was a different kind of thread.  It had much less luster, and it lost a good bit of its silken feel. This was most important for the weaving of very fine twills, that can be tailored into garments that make royalty seem radiant.  A long time ago, I did some experiments on orientation of fibers in worsted spun threads and decided that worsted threads with random end orientation was actually stronger under wet conditions. I talked this over with some spinners that I trusted, and since then threads that I expect to get wet are spun like commercial worsted yarns with random fiber end orientation. If I am thinking about something like lace that really needs maximum luster, I do make sure that all the yarns are spun butt-end first. 

In the evening, my wife and I often watch the news and a DVD. I often knit as we watch.  If I do the tricky parts in the morning’s light, I can have a fine (12 spi by 20 rpi) sweater in 3 months of watching TV, and my only cost is a half a kilo of fiber and some time spinning. (I can spin 5,600 ypp singles in front of the TV, but not 11,200  ypp.) Sure, I can (and do) buy frame knit Merino sweaters for $50 from Costco, but my hand spun/ hand knit sweater will last 20 times as long, and the sweaters I knit, do not mind being washed in water. (An advantage in a time of global warming when one expects snow and gets mud.) While the commercial Merino jumpers are softer, my worsted spun fabrics have a smoother, more silken feel, and the worsted spun yarns are more lustrous. In 4-ply, with a pattern, they are even rather dressy. Also, the knitting helps me remember what Rachel Maddow said. Knitting is like taking notes or doodling.

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! 

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.

WPI

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

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

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

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

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

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

In my world wpi and grist are related thusly:

wpi       grist (ypp)   spin count           notes

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

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

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

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

Center pull balls

I love center pull balls. One of my favorite knitting yarns comes in skeins, so I bought a jumbo cake winder. I love it for knitting yarn, right down to lace weight.

However, last year I was thinking about thinner yarn, and a very experienced textile person said," Try winding it into CPB."  Wrong!! Very fine yarn does not like center pull balls. Wind fine yarn on cones, bobbins, prins, or Styrofoam balls.

I had some luck winding blocked worsted warp singles into center pull balls.

However, unblocked woolen singles are another story.  Trying to store unblocked woolen singles in center pull balls is a path to heartbreak.  Wind woolen singles on cones, bobbins, reels, as hanks, or on prins.

 Anything but center pull cakes.

The truth of the matter is that a spinner producing hand spun warp to go on a sectional beam needs more bobbins.  I do not care how many bobbins you have, you are going to need more.

ETA

I started making bobbin blanks, and then I though about historic spinning and weaving sites.  Did I see bobbins?  No!  Why not??!!

What does one see?

Pirns!!

What is a prin? A recyclable cone core? A cone core that fits in a shuttle?

It takes me 1/6 the time to make a pirn as to make a bobbin.  The pirn will not hold as much as a bobbin of the same size, but there is not THAT much difference.

The logical thing is to spin weft, and wind it off onto the pirn that goes into the shuttle. When I spin warp, I wind off onto a pirn used as a cone core.  Will it work?

The clever readers are already saying, "That fool, pirns supply no drag for plying! And, any yarn that slips off the end can produce a tangle more heart wrenching than watching a shed full of bobbins go up in flames."

Yes, and yes.

There are many good reasons to wash and block yarn right after spinning.  Perhaps there is no alternative.  It maybe that I must wash and block the yarn immediately after spinning.

Those center pull cakes are a mess.

Oh, and by the way, the AVL pirns for their  flyshuttles just hold one of AA' s # 1 bobbin's full of yarn.  What a coincidence!  No, they are both traditional sized.  Spinners have been spinning for weavers for a long time.