Monthly Archives: January 2018

Busy Week!

Knitivity Posted on by

Seems the days are just flying by.   We had a few lovely days with above-average temperatures, and now we’re back down into the 30s overnight, possibly below freezing for a few hours Wednesday morning.   Oh, Brrrr-r-r-r-r-r-r!    Living in a mobile home it is nigh unto impossible to actually get warm, even with the heater going all the time.

But enough of that.   I imagine someone somewhere has it even colder, so I’ll just hush on that for now.  🙂

Meanwhile, lookie all the cool things I dyed for this weekend’s Blog Reader Specials update. (Note: there are three pictures this time, so be sure to scroll down to see them all.)

Up first, I wanted to try some of that New England Wool that my friend sent to me.  Since even the company cannot tell me anything about the fiber content, I’m just going to use what was on the label:  100% New England Wool.   And these are what I’m guessing to be the sport weight version, which I measure out to 270 yards for a 3-ply 4-ounce hank. Because they’ve been on the cone 20-25 years, they appear to be a single, but they are actually 3-ply and soooo soft!   I wanted to see how well these yarns take dye, so I did solid colors — and boy, was I surprised!   They came up such a treat — bold colors!  These are $20.00 apiece.

Then there are a dozen Primo Lace (80/20 Merino/Silk, 1000 yards, $32.00 each); and 18 Phydlbitz Sock (75/25 Superwash Corriedale/Nylon, 430 yards, $27.00).

There’s no way I can process all of these in time to ship on Saturday, and Monday is a postal holiday, so these will be ready to ship on Tuesday.

To claim the ones you want, just send me an email, indicating your selections.  I’ll send you a PayPal invoice; as soon as it is paid, I will prepare your order to ship with the next pass of the mail carrier.  And be sure to check out the previously posted Blog Reader Specials, and combine your requests to save on shipping!

All of the Unclaimd yarns have now been posted to the Blog Reader Specials page – click through  to see which ones remain available at the time of your visit. 

 

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Back to the “Surprise” Yarn

Knitivity Posted on by

A few days ago I wrote about a box of yarn my friend Debbi had sent.   So I took pictures of the labels that were sent, because the code numbers were likely significant.   Notice the labels don’t even have a Web address or URL?    😀

I was hoping to learn both the actual fiber content, as well as the types/size of the yarns, including yardage estimates.

Kate Salomon from Green Mountain Spinnery was kind enough to respond:

Ray, I am sorry to tell you that the production sheets that we have on file only go back as far as dyelots in the 5000 range so I don’t have details to share with you on the yarns you’ve requested other than that they would have been made in the early 1990s as best as we can guess.  You may want to try to knit some up which should allow you to get a gauge which may allow you to assess yardage per pound as well.

Thus, all I know is that these yarns could be 20-25 years old.   While GMS does currently have yarns listed as “New England wool”, and lists several lovely breeds that are currently being blended sourced from around New England and North America, it would be dishonest and unethical to make a claim about specific fiber content for these yarns that I have.

What I can do (and have now done) is to take a cone of each type of yarn, measure it out on the skein winder, weigh it, and do the math – yardage divided by weight times 4.0 ounces.   I still need to pull individual 4 ounce hanks to verify, but what I have tentatively determined is that I have a 3-ply sport wt (or DK wt) at 270 yards for 4 ounces, and a 2 ply fingering at 390 yards for 4 ounces.  Once I get consistent 4-ounce hanks, I’ll have a better idea of the actual yardage available.

Unfortunately, the Craft Yarn Council system of yarn standards is set up differently so it is hard for me to figure it out precisely to fit into their system.    Their system seems to figure recommended stitches per inch, and a recommended hook or needle to achieve that recommended gauge.   They don’t even list recommend “wraps-per-inch” which is another way of determine what size yarn you’re working with.   BUT….. Ravelry does have a wraps-per-inch system of classification, so I may just use this for classifying these yarns.  🙂   But then I need to determine wpi for straight off the cone, or after processing and dyeing, as I suspect these yarns will swell.    🙁

Ravelry Standard Yarn Weights

Name Ply (UK, NZ, AU) Wraps per inch Knit gauge (4 in / 10 cm) Crochet gauge Yarnstandards.com
Thread 0 : Lace
Cobweb 1 ply 0 : Lace
Lace 2 ply 32-34 stitches 0 : Lace
Light Fingering 3 ply 32 stitches 0 : Lace
Fingering 4 ply 14 wpi 28 stitches 1 : Super Fine
Sport 5 ply 12 wpi 24-26 stitches 2 : Fine
DK 8 ply 11 wpi 22 stitches 3 : Light
Worsted 10 ply 9 wpi 20 stitches 4 : Medium
Aran 10 ply 8 wpi 18 stitches 4 : Medium
Bulky 12 ply 7 wpi 14-15 stitches 5 : Bulky
Super Bulky 5-6 wpi 7-12 stitches 6 : Super Bulky
Jumbo 0-4 wpi 0-6 stitches 7 : Jumbo
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