Deep Dive

 

Left - Harrisville Tweed (Shetland); Right - GIST Array

While I was in Vancouver, I shopped at Sweet Georgia yarns because I am not familiar with all of their yarns and before I can design projects for the classes I'm doing, I need to know how the yarn will behave.  

It's not always easy to find fine wool yarns that will weave up nicely without too much coddling, so I am very interested to put the GIST yarn Array to the test.  

In the photo, the yellow tweed (yellow with white) weaves up nicely.  It's a yarn that was spun to be wet finished including fulling and while it feels a bit coarse on the cone, it actually turns out well after fulling and a good hard press.  It might feel a bit prickly to someone with sensitive skin, but can be used to make outer garments for cold climates and even a scarf if given a good hard press with a twill weave structure.  Even plain weave finishes up nicely, though, just saying.

But for those with more sensitive skin or who want to make a lighter weight cloth, there are fewer options so I was intrigued with this yarn from GIST labelled a tapestry yarn.

I did a quick snap test of the yarn while there and it seems plenty strong enough but I was also curious to take a closer look with the aid of my digital microscope.

The Shetland is spun 'woolen' fashion - the fibres are carded not combed, the yarn is lofty with lots of air in it and the fibres are disorganized with lots of fibre ends poking out.  

The Array is spun in 'worsted' fashion - the fibres are combed, not carded, they tend to be organized - as in parallel to each other and I think it's fairly clear to see that the yarn looks more compact with fewer stray fibre ends poking out.

That means the Array feels 'nicer' and I think once woven up and given a good hard press as part of the finishing process it will feel quite nice, even next to the skin.

The yarn comes in packages of four tubes (except the grey/black value scale which comes in 5) of a value scale of the hue.  The tubes are one ounce or about 210 yards each.

There are 3360 yards per pound and the size is given as 2/12 *worsted* spun.  (Note the mill puts the ply first as I mentioned in my post about the 2/16 - 16/2 cotton.

Now, why does the mill call this 2/12 not 2/8?  Because wool uses a different base for how many yards per pound than cotton does.  Worsted base is 560 yards per pound for a worsted yarn while woollen uses a different base.

And this is why people get confused.  You have to know the 'key' - the number of yards per pound for the fibre and type of prep and spinning that is being used.  And why the numbers alone don't give the whole story of the yarn.

The yarn count is not indicative - all by itself - of the inherent characteristics of the yarn!  

If you are looking for how many yards per pound in the imperial 'count' system, M. P. Davison has a chart in the front part of her 'green' book.  I'm sure there are others.

More and more, mills are turning to the metric system.  It is less confusing because regardless of the fibre or method of spinning, the measurement is made in terms of meters per kilo (or 100 grams).  It's much more sensible in every meaning of the word.  Certainly far less confusing!

I'm preparing an 'article' for SOS on these things so if you belong to the school, you also get access to various articles written by some of the instructors.  

Also?  If you want to know about this and other 'arcane' things about weaving, my first lecture/seminar, on just these sorts of things, goes live on May 4.  If you want to join, you can sign up for a month, a quarter or a year here and get access to all of the resources available at SOS.  Including moi, where I pop in several times a day in case there are questions.