Hemp Review Part I

Initial observations about the hemp yarn:

The yarn is equivalent to a 2/16's linen with about 2400 yards per pound and about a 2/8 cotton grist - slightly finer to my eye but since it is stiffer than cotton I used 24 epi for a twill sampler.

Comparing it to the 2/16 linen I have on hand, the hemp is hairier and more pliable.  I assume the hemp fibre is shorter than the linen used in the linen yarn.  It feels 'softer' than the linen, especially after weaving.  I was actually expecting the yarn to produce quite a dense stiff fabric and even before wet finishing it feels quite nice.  Certainly appropriate for towels and other household textiles (placemats, runners, etc.)  It would probably weave up nicely for curtains.

The yarn is only available in natural so any colour will have to come from whatever crosses it.  In this instance I used the yarn for warp and as many different types/kinds of weft I had available.  In order:

2/8 cotton (green - lower right)
2/16 hemp
7's cotton/hemp (very dusty!)
12 Bambu (brown)
7 Bambu (teal)
cotton boucle
cotton slub
rayon/linen
cottolin
singles linen (20/s? looks too fine for 12's)

There is a fair amount of twist in the yarn and because it is so hairy I would not recommend trying to beam a warp of this yarn front to back.  Back to front for a short warp worked okay but needed some coaxing.  If I decide to put this yarn into production, it will go onto the AVL sectionally and as such, I don't expect any problems with it.

I will also use the 2/16's hemp as weft on a striped cotton warp for towels.  I think that will also work quite nicely.  I am not so enamoured of the singles cotton/hemp because it casts off so much dust although I think the resulting cloth will be quite nice.  I will probably try using that on a 2/20 mercerized cotton and see how it looks.

Further update after wet finishing.

Doug has gone up to the annex to repair Puff and I hope to get up there with a huge pile of wet finishing in the next day or two.  The towels for the Handwoven article have to be done as well as the hemp sampler and the place mats I used to kick start myself back to work before Christmas.  There are also some scarves but not enough for a load in the washing machine so those will wait until I have more to go in the machine.  No rush for the scarves - those are for next fall's inventory.  The towels I need now so I can finish the article and get everything into the mail.

No More Messing About

As suspected, both the yarn orders had gotten caught up in the Christmas mail volumes and today I received not just the first notification of arrival but the last notice!  Anyway, no matter, both orders are here and now I really feel the pressure to tackle the rest of the job list.

The hemp yarn is actually what I hoped, not what I expected.  Obviously I made a crucial math error somewhere when I was converting metric count to imperial.

The singles is about a 2/16 grist by looking at it and the 2 ply is about a 2/10 size - somewhat smaller than a 2/8 but bigger than a 2/16.  I'll drag my scale out and weigh out a gram and see how many meters are in it and then re-calculate.

Either way, both will work for my intended purpose.  Now I just need timed to wind and weave off a sample warp.

In the meantime progress is being made on the southern tour.  Two boxes of yarn were mailed for NC and TN this morning.  I also stopped in to the travel agent - the mall wasn't horrible at 10 am so I was grateful.  The travel agent is working on the best routing/price she can find and will issue the tickets Thursday.  Then I can put the final touches on my end and let all the organizers know my eta(s).

Today I'm working on the Memphis workshop.  I had to re-tool a couple of the warps because I was out of the specified yarns and had to make substitutions, but I think I'm about ready (now that lunch is over) to fire up the photocopy machine and start getting the handouts and yarn packages ready.

Today is a lovely day - a little overcast but the sun is trying to shine.  It's cold but not terrible - and we will have a white Christmas.

Time to get back into the studio and put the finishing touches on this one so I can begin the next.