Tag: spinning

Calculating yardage

On By CarynIn Craft

I’ve wound my handspun 3-ply Jacob’s wool yarn into center pull balls. But how much do I really have?

Photo description: two cakes of yarn and two center pull balls of yarn in different shades

Hand woven magazine published an article about yarn balances. I followed their instructions to make a balance and used acrylic yarn of a known weight per yard.

Photo description: yarn balance with known acrylic yarn on the left and unknown yarn on the right

Because of my scientific background, I have to do my math by using the factor-label method (here is an explanatory video). I know that the yarn on the left is 142 grams per 241 meters, so my 120 cm weighs 0.071g, a weight I would not be able to measure with a kitchen scale. My hand-spun yarn that balances measures 97 cm. I now have the weight per length and can calculate yardage. (Oh yes, I completely mix my metric and standard measurements, but as long as all the labels cancel properly, we’re golden.)

Photo description: scratch pad with hand written yarn math for all four shades of yarn

To see how accurate the calculations are, I measured the lightest ball of yarn by laying out a yard with tape on a counter. I measured 29 yards. I put a section of the yarn on the balance, did my calculations and predicted 33 yards. This is a 12% difference in weight, which I find an acceptable margin for error. When planning a pattern, you should have at least 10% more yarn than what is called for. In the case of my hand spun yarn, I will pick a pattern that needs at least 12% less than 530 yards I have.

Photo description: silver ball of yarn with scrap paper hand written math

This was an interesting exercise, and confirmed what I felt when looking at the yarn: it isn’t enough to make a vest. It may be enough the make a hat or two.

Finishing Jacob’s wool

On By CarynIn Craft

I transferred all my three-ply hand spun Jacob’s sheep yarn to my PVC niddy noddy.

Photo description: four shades of three-ply yarn on a very full PVC niddy noddy

I like the PVC niddy noddy because I can rinse the hanks while still on the niddy noddy. I usually let them dry there too, but I put too much yarn on and the noddy niddy came apart when I twisted it to dry, so I had to hang the hanks instead.

Photo description: large hank of hand spun yarn hanging on a circular drying rack

I am pleased that the yarn is well balanced. There are no kinks or twists, it is all laying nice and straight.

Photo description: closeup of hanks of all four shades after drying

Plying Jacob’s wool

On By CarynIn Craft

All the singles I spun with my Jacob’s wool from Sweetgrass farms had sat on their bobbins for a few days, so it was time to ply! I put a makeshift brake on the bobbins on their stands on the wheel. I used a cotton string and applied enough tension so that the bobbins will turn, but not spin freely. This saves me from future tangles.

Photo description: three bobbins full of spun singles on an Ashford Traveller spinning wheel
Photo description: jumbo Ashford bobbin full of three-ply Jacob’s wool yarn
Photo description: left over dark and silver marled yarn with the middle bobbin empty
Photo description: three-ply yarn made with two dark singles and one silver single
Photo description: left over yarn from round two of plying
Photo description: four bobbins of three-plied Jacob’s wool yarn in four colors

I used the silver single spun with the remaining two bobbins of dark colored singles, then when the dark ran out, chain plied the silver. I ended up with two jumbo bobbins full of three-ply yarn, and two regular bobbins half-full of yarn.

I need my bobbins free, so this yarn doesn’t get to let time set the twist. Next up is the niddy noddy.

Alpaca hanks

On By CarynIn Craft

My parents-in-law recently took a trip to South America and brought me back three hanks of beautifully spun and dyed alpaca yarn. I immediately set to opening up the hank to put on my yarn swift and use my ball winder to make a center pull ball, which is easier to use for knitting and crochet. I was met with resistance.

Photo description: beautiful teal twisted hank of alpaca yarn in a familiar twist and tuck storage configuration
Photo description: gray-blue hank of yarn opened up from the storage twist with familiar strands of yarn tying the loops of the skein together at the ends

The hanks looked like what I was familiar with buying in the States, a large circle of wrapped yarn, twisted and tucked end in end for storage, but when I opened up the skein I did not find a continuous circle and it dawned on me that the wrap was different. I employed the arm power of my eldest to investigate.

Photo description: olive green alpaca yarn held on two arms showing figure 8 wrapping

The hanks were not wrapped in a loop, but instead used a figure 8 style wrap. Easy enough to handle with an extra pair of arms, but definitely not compatible with my yarn swift. My eldest obliged me by holding the yarn while I wound onto a wool winder.

Photo description: Wool winder mounted on the back of a chair (I’ve never tried this before, and it actually worked very well)

Once I figured out how the hanks were wrapped, I was impressed with the way the figure 8 kept the strands in decent order. I am a firm believer that there are many ways, and I love finding out about other methods.

My mother-in-law also brought me a spindle; the spin on it is beautiful and it also is slightly different than what I’ve seen.

Photo description: working spindle with bottom whorl. The shaft is square below the whorl but rounded and long above the shaft. The shaft shines where it has been rubbed smooth by fingers turning the spindle.

P.S. Sometimes I get my terminology swapped. The original post used the word “skein” in place of “hank”. I think I have fixed all instances.