Friday, May 30, 2014

Cakes of sock yarn

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Mostly, spinning in May was about 10,000 yards of 5,600 worsted singles and then plying up couple of hanks of  5-ply, and making up 5 hanks...
2 comments:
Thursday, May 29, 2014

Tips again

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For a few months, I have been using commercial stainless steel knitting needles. Mostly they are fast and easy, but some decreases and fanc...
2 comments:
Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Textures

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Today, perhaps the very best place to see contemporary fine hand knitting is at Textures on  Montana Street in Santa Monica, California. ...
12 comments:
Monday, May 19, 2014

Pathological Excellence

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I have been recently accused of a pathological need to be the best.  There were perhaps 20 comments on this. Do you accuse Melody Cameron...
10 comments:

Ribbing

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Socks knit from fine, multi-ply or multi-strand yarns do not need ribbing for stretch. These fabrics have enough stretch in the fabric.  Ho...
2 comments:
Sunday, May 18, 2014

Socks

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I have been knitting a lot of socks recently. I have been knitting the stash of  6-strand cable yarns,  and yes I like it better than mos...
1 comment:

Aprons

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A friend was dying, and tripped backward over a child's toy on the floor and spilled a whole kettle of  boiling dye and wool over herse...
1 comment:
Thursday, May 08, 2014

The History Mash

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I started "mashing" history when I was looking for clues as to how seaman and fishermen on square rigged ships stayed warm.  Aca...
Friday, May 02, 2014

The Arms Race and Edward Longshanks

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When I started spinning, a large number of spinners told me that the spinning wisdom of the ages had been passed to them. They made fun of ...
16 comments:
Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Beginning to End

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Begin with the end in mind. Is a yarn that you might be able to cobble into "some textile" at some point in the future what you...
4 comments:
Tuesday, April 29, 2014

8 hours of spinning

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Yesterday, after lunch (1 pm ) sat down to spin, and at 9 pm, I had the above skein of 400 yards of 5-ply (~6 oz), sport weight yarn. The...
Monday, April 28, 2014

Ply Twist

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To make a long story short, the old Fisherman's Wool was rather tightly spun singles of fine wool, rather loosely plied. When knit, the...
Sunday, April 27, 2014

The Craft is Textiles

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So! the question is, "How good are the textiles that one can produce?" I look to history for clues as to what textiles can be p...
9 comments:
Saturday, April 26, 2014

More Plies

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I was sorting through swatches to take to CNCH, and the effect that gobsmacked me was how much more elastic yarns with many plies are. I ...
Monday, April 21, 2014

More Twist

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Twist is what holds wool fiber together as yarn.   Within limits, more twist results in a more durable yarn. Consider 10-ply Aran weight....
Saturday, April 19, 2014

Twist and Grist

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I have been accused of getting my twist numbers wrong. That is unlikely.  I may have made a typo here or there, but over all, I am the on...
Wednesday, April 16, 2014

The last descent

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Recently, one of my wife's college roommates gave me a big bump of Maine top.   It has  a spin count of around 55, and a nice luster. ...
2 comments:
Tuesday, April 08, 2014

The great disconnect

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The best weavers in history were the professional hand weavers. The best knitters in history were the professional knitters. The best spi...
Wednesday, April 02, 2014

iron spindles

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see ART OF WEAVING f BY HAND AND BY POWER, WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ACCOUNT OF ITS RISE AND PROGRESS IN ANCIENT AND MODERN TIMES. fOR THE USE O...
13 comments:

Experience

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I worked for various Bechtel companies.  Our stock in trade was doing things that had never been done before.  We would build things bigger...
3 comments: