Hilltop Cloud
  • About
    • Dugoed
  • Shop
    • Fibre
    • Tools
    • Handspun Yarn
    • Hand Turned Tools
    • Bags and Needle Cases
  • Fibre Clubs
    • Time Travellers Club
    • Never Ending Gradient Club
    • Non-Wool Club
  • Spinning Hand Dyed Fibre
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Workshops
  • Shows
  • Packaging
  • Fibres
    • Bases
    • Gradient Packs
    • Tussah Silk
    • Ingredients Box
    • Silk Road
    • Nordic
    • Ceilidh
    • Fibre Care
    • Hiraeth
  • Resources
    • Videos
    • Garment Spinning
    • Flyers and Ratios
    • Skein Length
    • Plying Twist
    • Samples
  • About
    • Dugoed
  • Shop
    • Fibre
    • Tools
    • Handspun Yarn
    • Hand Turned Tools
    • Bags and Needle Cases
  • Fibre Clubs
    • Time Travellers Club
    • Never Ending Gradient Club
    • Non-Wool Club
  • Spinning Hand Dyed Fibre
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Workshops
  • Shows
  • Packaging
  • Fibres
    • Bases
    • Gradient Packs
    • Tussah Silk
    • Ingredients Box
    • Silk Road
    • Nordic
    • Ceilidh
    • Fibre Care
    • Hiraeth
  • Resources
    • Videos
    • Garment Spinning
    • Flyers and Ratios
    • Skein Length
    • Plying Twist
    • Samples

Commercial Yarn

17/8/2016

 
This is another part of my Spinning With a Purpose series of posts. Missed the others? You can find them here.

I'm off to Scotland this weekend to run 2 workshops. One is brand new and based around spinning hand dyed fibre, the other is fast becoming my most requested workshop, aimed at getting spinners to really think about the yarn they're producing, and being more confident at matching it to a project.

The other posts have shared the swatches I created as teaching tools, but this time I'm going to show you one of the most useful things I think I hand out to hand spinners. 
Picture
I started getting in to all things yarn related by learning to knit, and because I learned at a time when online shopping, and online knitting communities were just being started I became exposed to a  vast variety of yarn. Probably far more than I would have done without being online. I had a reasonable sized budget for yarn, and used to enjoy spending it! I bought all sorts from many different sources. 
As a result I got educated pretty early on just how varied commercial yarns really are. I also developed a pretty good handle on just how thin or thick different yarn categories are, and how sometimes yarn companies are rubbish at classifying their own yarn. I got confident making yarn substitutions from those listed in the pattern, and that is a really useful tool as a hand spinner, as you're never going to be using the exact yarn the pattern asks for. 
During my workshop I get people to look at the structure of these commercial yarns. We also look at their comparative thicknesses, and discuss how metres per 100g is not always a good indicator of thickness. It's also why doing a straight yarn swap without thinking about what the original yarn called for in the pattern doesn't always work. 

This sample card contains yarn of a full variety of thickness, yarn structures, and fibre compositions. It's a really handy tool to keep around purely as a reminder of how commercial yarns can be so very different. It's also a good control card, if you want to spin the equivalent of a commercial sock yarn you really do need to spin something incredibly fine. 

When I spin for a specific pattern I usually look carefully at the original yarn the pattern was designed to use. If I'm knitting colour work then I know I need a yarn similar to Jamiesons and Smith 2-ply Jumper Weight, if I'm knitting socks then I need to match something like the Knit Picks Hawthorne, or for a truly hard wearing yarn something of a similar construction to the Aracania, or an Opal sock yarn.
So if you have a commercial yarn stash, maybe pull off a few centimetres and start making your own sample card. If you don't, but know you want to spin for a specific pattern, and are really not sure what the original yarn is like it might be worth investing a few pounds in buying just one skein/ball.  Or ask around, why not do a commercial yarn sample swap at your local guild. 
Marielle
17/8/2016 03:20:43 pm

Yes, off course! Thank you for the hint; I'll know what to do over the weekend.


Comments are closed.

    Archives

    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013

    More
     BlogPosts

    Categories

    All
    Advent
    Bees
    Chickens
    Countryside
    Dogs
    FO's
    KitILove
    Non Wool Club
    Rhinebeck
    Shop Talk
    Spinning
    Spinningwithapurpose
    SpoinnersAdvent
    Weaving

    RSS Feed

    follow us in feedly

Hilltop Cloud

Hilltop Cloud- Spin Different 

Beautiful fibre you'll love to work with. 
Established 2011 

VAT Reg- 209 4066 19
Dugoed Bach, Mallwyd, Machynlleth,
​ Powys, SY20 9HR
Subscribe to our 
​Email Newsletter
Weather Underground PWS IMALLWYD2
© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.