Spinning

To be perfectly honest, I don't know how many people actually check out this blog.  I am hoping I can educate a few people who don't know anything about spinning but like to knit, just how long it takes a "person" to spin yarn.  This lovely chain of roving (fancy word for processed wool) was sold as 6.5oz or 184g of Blue Faced Leicester.

From this I separate it into smaller stripes of wool.  This made it a bit easier to spin by 'fluffing' up the fibres that may have matted together in the process of shipping, dyeing and general storage.

Now I am a pretty prolific spinner(according to all my crafty aquaintances).  I spun this fibre over about 10 days I think, in sections of about 2+ hours at a time per day.  I spun it pretty fine as I planned to make a 3 ply yarn.  This means that there are 3 threads in the final yarn.

If you haven't already done the math, that is at least 20hrs of spinning put into 6.5 oz (180g)..  The thickness of this stage is about a piece of sewing cotton thick.  Then I employed a technique called Navajo or Chain Plying to spin into the final yarn.  For those with no clue at all, the first spin is done clockwise then 1, 2, 3 or more strands are plyed Anti clockwise.

Today I finished off the fibre photographed above and spent about 5 hours Navajo plying the final yarn.  Then I wound it onto a skeiner and counted how many rounds I did so I can have a approximate meterage.

Whenever you process wool in any way, you lose weight for some reason.  Whether that be moisture loss, dirt loss, or knot loss, you never end up with what you started with.  I ended up with 177g of yarn, 424 metres.  Plenty enough to knit a hat and a cowl or two pairs of socks, the second pair would probably be shorter.  Or a hat with either socks or mitts. 

In conclusion, for 177g of 20wpi(wraps per inch, it is a gauge most knitters who spin use to estimate the size needles etc to use on handspun, this yarn would be about an average 4ply in the store), I spun in excess of 26 hours.

When you can buy cheap Chinese, machine spun yarn for about $3 per 50g, it doesn't make buying hand spun for $20+ per 100g very attractive.

On the other hand, my hand spun yarn is unique, one of a kind and well made.  Not to mention I have fibres that are exotic and can't be found, even cheap, from China.

If you knit and would like to get some handspun, don't be so shocked at the price.  A LOT, of work has been put into that yarn and it is naturally infused with love.  We love to spin, it is our chosen craft obsession.  And if you want something bigger like a jumper out of your knit, you could use our unique yarn as a focal part of a garment made mostly of the cheaper store bought stuff.