Saturday, June 19, 2021

Lifelines

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 I certainly used them when I started knitting ganseys.  Now, I knit finer, more intricate objects, always from wool yarns, and I do not use...
Tuesday, June 15, 2021

How fast can a hand spinner spin - part 2

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 Twist allows short fibers to become yarn or thread. Twist organizes "fibers" and holds them together. Thin yarns and thread need ...
Sunday, June 13, 2021

How fast can a hand spinner spin?

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This is a question that has several answers. For woolen, even a simple drop spindle will insert twist faster than most treadle spinning whee...

Learning to knit again

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 The fastest that I have ever knit a good weatherproof gansey is about 2-weeks. Two hundred years ago, a good professional knitter could kni...
2 comments:
Friday, June 11, 2021

Polished wool

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 A textile professional that frequently makes reproductions of old textiles for museums was asked to make reproductions of knit hats from th...
Friday, June 04, 2021

Needles and knitting sheaths for sock yarn

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 I have knit dozens of pairs of socks from "sock yarn" on 6" - sock needles.  I wore out Addi Turbos knitting socks. I broke ...
Wednesday, May 19, 2021

Sock yarn is not like gansey yarn!

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 Alden told me to over spin singles and under ply. For gansey yarn that worked brilliantly. The firm singles endured, and the yarn spread in...
Sunday, May 16, 2021

How big should a knitting sheath be?

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 As I began this exploration, I read a lot of discussion about the size of knitting sheaths in collections. Now I know those folk did not kn...
Monday, April 26, 2021

Handspun Sock Yarn

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 I returned to knitting in 1999. I started working on how to hand knit objects well suited to keeping fisherman warm on a square-rigged ship...
Friday, April 16, 2021

Lazy Kate

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 Nothing is more indicative of the loss of traditional technologies for  hand spinning is the loss of  using a "tension box" to co...
1 comment:
Thursday, April 15, 2021

A Troll

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 I have been declared "a troll" on Ravelry. That says more about their culture than my nature. They do not like people that read a...
Thursday, April 08, 2021

Gansey Yarn

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 Gansey Yarn is one of the glories of knitting. When knit on thin steel needles, supported in a knitting sheath, it results in a fabric that...
2 comments:
Tuesday, April 06, 2021

Spin Tec

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 I spin because I want yarns that I cannot buy commercially.    The best of the British 5-ply worsted spun yarns are no longer produced. The...
3 comments:
Saturday, April 03, 2021

DRS Overview

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  I started into differential rotation speed (DRS) spinning with the simple goal of using 2 drive bands to get the flyer/bobbin assembly to ...
Wednesday, March 31, 2021

DRS v. single drive

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I started spinning because I wanted good “gansey yarn”. Sweater yarn spun from long staple, lustrous wool, with 5 worsted spun plies, with a...
Tuesday, March 30, 2021

DRS v. Scotch Tension

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  Are there really threads that cannot be spun with Scotch tension, but can be spun with DRS? I have been challenged for my statements tha...
Monday, March 29, 2021

Revisited Heiz 57 at spin count

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  Here is a pix of this fiber at spin count and 2x spin count (twice spin count grist). With only 10 fibers in cross section of singe, t...
Sunday, March 28, 2021

Heinz 57 at its spin count

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  Once again, I come to the conclusion, that good yarn is the result the practice of good spinning craft. Ok, I can spin the Heinz 57 at 3...
Saturday, March 27, 2021

seeking very fine singles for socks and hose

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  Within the last couple of weeks, I have spun 3 different fibers in the range of 25,000 to 35,000 ypp. This fiber is different; it does not...