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Friday, October 22, 2010
Why gauge swatching is more important than wraps per inch
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| Determining wraps per inch | |
Have you ever wondered why people worry about wraps per inch (wpi)? Me too. Some people use this method when they have two mystery yarns and they want to see if they're the same size (to use in a striped, gauge-buster vest or something like that). I can see wpi coming in handy in this sort of situation.
And spinners use the method a lot to get an idea of what weight their handspun yarn is, too. In fact, it was in the fall issue of Spin-Off magazine that I came across the article below, which got me thinking abut wraps per inch. I thought you might like to read it, too, so I've included some excerpts here.
The author is Amy Tyler, who was trained as a scientist and spent manyyears teaching research methods and statistics to physical therapy students. Althoughshe now works as a fiber artist, she still finds a systematic approach to comein handy.
What is "Wraps Per Inch"?
by Amy Tyler
I was first introduced to the wraps-per-inch method of measuring of yarn thickness at a workshop in 2003. I loved the workshop, but I was skeptical of this method from the get-go. The instructions for measuring reminded me of Goldilocks and the Three Bears—not too this . . . not too that . . . just right. With just right being in the eye of the beholder.
For example, here are the instructions from the Spring 2008 issue of Spin-Off: "Wrap a length of yarn around your gauge, packing to refusal, to determine the wraps per inch (wpi) of the yarn. Packing to refusal means that you push the strands together to fill the 1-inch groove, being sure not to stretch or smoosh the yarn as you wrap it, as this will distort your result. Strands should not overlap or gap. Then simply count the number of strands in the 1-inch groove to obtain wpi."
How could a measure with such ambiguous instructions be reliable? By reliable, I mean consistent and free from error (the definition common to many research designs and methods).
I recently attended a fiber arts retreat and I had the opportunity to carry out an informal study of the reliability of wraps per inch. I asked some of the fiber folks in attendance to help me and thirteen people agreed.
I gave each person a 3-by-5-inch index card printed with ¼-inch grid marks. I folded each card in thirds to make it a bit more sturdy. I then cut a notch in the card and used a pen to mark off 2 inches of the grid. I gave each person one of these cards. Then I gave the participants some basic instructions for wrapping a yarn around the card to measure wraps per inch. My instructions were essentially, "Wrap the yarn around the card, not too tight, not too loose, with wraps touching but not squished together. Wrap for 1 or 2 inches and then count the wraps in 1 inch."
I also gave each person long strands of yarn, one at a time. First, I handed out strands of Cascade 220. I asked everyone to calculate wraps per inch. When everyone had done so, I asked them to announce the measurement they'd gotten. I repeated this sequence with three more yarns: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, Rowan Magpie Aran, and Schaefer Yarn Anne.
Each person got the same yarn, the same measuring tool, and the same instructions. Yet the resulting measures of wpi varied quite a bit. And in the case of Cascade's 220, no one got the published measurement; all estimates were too high. It seems that measures of the thicker yarns (such as the Magpie Aran and the 220) were more off than those of the thinner yarns. Also, not all people were consistently high or consistently low in their estimates.
I concluded that wraps per inch is not a very reliable measure.
Some spinners may find wraps per inch helpful asan approximate measure, but it shouldn't be used as the only measure of yarnthickness for a spinning project. In the end, it's not the thickness of theyarn per se that's important. It is how the yarn works in the finished product.
For knitting, there is no better way to decide if you've got the rightthickness of yarn than to knit a gauge swatch. With that swatch, you can decidetwo very important things: Does the fabric behave as it should (drape, density,springiness)? And if you're following a pattern, are you getting the number ofstitches per inch and rows per inch that you need?
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Hear, hear on the gauge issue! Yet another reason why knitters should always make a gauge swatch—we need to know what gauge we're getting with our needles and our yarn. That's really the only way to end up with a sweater that actually fits.
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| The Pass-Through Scarf |
I know, some of you have been lucky and have winged it and ended up with a well-fitting sweater, but there are many more of you who have winged it and ended up with a sweater that you had to give away or send to the frog pond, am I right?
I hope this article has shed some light on wraps per inch for you. I know it did for me.
Cheers,
P.S. Be sure and check out Spin-Off magazine for some really great knitting patterns, too, such as the Pass-Through Scarf by Kristi R. Schueler, shown at left. It's super cute.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Robin Christmas tea cozy Knitting pattern
Alegre robin Christmas is no stranger to gloomy winters. He knows how to stay warm and keep the hot tea too. The novelty of tea Cosy holiday robin is quick and easy to do and also adds the joy of Christmas at breakfast, or kitchen table makes for a very unusual gift.
To make Christmas Robin will need tea cosy...
change the size of 5.5 mm, size 5 UK or United States 9 knitting needles,
Tissue double Brown wool, 50 g
50 g red dual Woven wool,
25 g White double Woven wool
And pieces of felt for the eyes and peak.
Divide all the balls of wool in two balls so that the thread can be used in double thickness but tissues as a single strand.
Back
Use double yarn Brown thick cast in 28 points stitches and work 38 rows in meshes straight toroidal (each row point)
Leave the stitches in a spare needle points until later.
The front
With double Brown thick wool, issued on 28 points suture and work 4 rows in the collection of the League.
Broken yarn and change to white (new double thread) work another 4 rows.
Row 9: 6 point knitting stitches with white, red (double thread) join in red to last 6 sutura.Tejer 6 with white points.
Not lead wire, behind the piece, instead use separate wool balls and twist thread together s to change colors to avoid leaving holes.
Row 10: K6 white, red K16, white K6.
Row 11: K4 white, red K20, white K4.
Repeat the last row 21 times more.
Row 33: K5 white, red, white, K8 K2, red K8, white K5.
Repeat this row.
Row 35: White K6, K6, white K4 and K6 red white K6 red.
Repeat this row.
Work two blank rows.
The Top tea Cosy
Using Brown double thread proceed to weave on the front of the cozy tea, then back tea cosy as follows...
Configuration of the top row 1: * K5, K2 tog * repeat to end
Next and each alternate row Knit.
Row 3: * K4, K2 tog * the final repetition.
Row 5: * K3, K2 tog * the final repetition.
Row 7: * K2, K2 tog * repeat to finish.
Row 9: * K1, K2 tog * the final repetition.
Row 11: * K2 tog * the final repetition.
At the end of thread remaining points stitches and the loop of thread thread and develop tightly knit and Finnish outside.
With the front and rear right side together, sewing around 9.5 cm from the finishing point down the side towards the cast in the edge sewing.
At the bottom of each side of seam sewing a 3 inches toward arriba.Los holes are left to the identifier of the tea and spout.
Felt trims two eyes (approximately 4 cm in diameter) and sewing in position.
Cut a long 5 cm black felt and deflects the fabric by half of the long edge and over-sew kite shape this edge with small dots of sutura.Con the seam at the bottom, flatten to form a slender beak puntiagudo.Coser instead.
Now the color of rose robin can maintain its color Rosa lee hot pipes throughout the winter.
This cosy Christmas novelty robin tea fits round 47 cm and up to 17 cm high, a medium-sized tea kettles.
For cosy tea photography visit http://www.santaspostbag.co.uk/christmas-robin-novelty-tea-cosy-homemade-decoration.html S. Roberts http://www.santaspostbag.co.uk writes a popular Christmas full of creative things education resource do during the holiday, including traditional, religious and century XXI.Para activities information about Robin Christmas, visit http://www.santaspostbag.co.uk/christmas-robin.html
July Artist of the Month – Femme Fatale Fibers
July 1st is just around the corner and it’s time for a new Artist of the Month! In July we have the pleasure to have Liz from Femme Fatale Fibers. We were very lucky to be able to work with Liz both as our July Artist of the Month and as our dyer/designer for the June Not-So-Sock Club. We chose her Mata Hari Sock which is a merino/nylon blend. With its nylon content this yarn will be perfect for socks but its softness makes it also totally appropriate for shawls, and baby items. The colorways are mostly variegated but with some semi-solids and would look great in all those projects. You can for now have a peek at the colorways on Flickr but tonight at midnight EST the yarns will be available right here at yarn4socks.
1. What is your name, company name and which city and state are you from?
Liz Abinante, Femme Fatale Fibers, Davis, California
2. How long have you been dying yarn?
About a year professionally, longer for personal use and for close friends.
3. How did you get started?
I wanted a creative outlet that I could interact with more often than knitting. While I adore knitting, I simply don’t have enough hands to work with all of the colors I love on a regular basis. Dyeing was an outlet for my love of color, so I seized the opportunity to test the waters with my friend, Didi Bottini, and her fledging dye company, Little Red Bicycle as well. Dyeing got to be incredibly addicting!
Mad as a Hatter
4. What motivates you?
I am a big, huge nerd. I love school, and I love to read. I spend my time reading science fiction and fantasy novels, and I absolutely love historical literature. When I’m reading I form elaborate pictures of people, places, and events in my mind – which translate to motivation to bring these images to life. Since I was never particularly gifted with illustration, I found ways to make things work with color. Most of my colors are inspired by things that I enjoy, or they’re funny names. Pity for Pluto is one of my favorite funny names, while The Scarlet Letter is my favorite literary color. Carmilla holds a special place in my heart not only because it’s purple, but because it is named after a vampire.
Pity for Pluto
5. What is the favorite product you’ve ever made?
I think my favorite thing I’ve ever made is my Saroyan [Ravelry link]. I wear it a lot, and it’s a versatile color. I like that I can wear it in tons of different ways, and I am always happy to design something with my own yarn.
6. Do you have any advice for other fiber artists?
If you’re going to do fiber arts, put your whole heart in it. Don’t skip steps, don’t half ass it. Do it. You don’t have to be amazing at it, but if you are really trying and really putting all of your effort into it, that will show. It’s more important to be passionate and committed to your product than it is to be perfect. Almost all yarn bleeds or runs a little, and every once in awhile mills produce knots.
Down the Rabbit Hole
7. Are there any designers, fiber artists or any other artist you consider your role model?
I am absolutely in awe of Sarah Dimond, The Plucky Knitter (http://thepluckyknitter.com/). Not only is she an amazingly gifted dyer, but she’s a warm hearted person with kindness that you can feel in every skein. Many dyers can take a page out of her book – not just in terms of dyeing: she carries herself so gracefully, so beautifully. She’s a truly wonderful person. Kristen Hanley Cardozo is one of my favorite designers. I had the privilege of meeting her at Stitches West this year and she’s so chipper! Her designs are elegant without becoming complicated or over done, and she has a very special way about her that brings something new to her designs.
Let them eat Cake
8. Please share with us a zany or interesting thing about you. It does not have to be fiber related.
I wrote my Master’s thesis on vampires. Not Dracula, but the absolutely terrible vampires of Twilight, Sookie Stackhouse, and the realm of paranormal chick lit. I spent over a year of my life pouring over those books and I still love the topic. You know what’s worse? I think I’m going back for another Master’s degree – and I’ll probably write about vampires again.
Thank you Liz!
Darice 1171-58 Set of 4 Round Plastic Knitting Looms
Set includes 4 neon bright round looms (pink: 9-1/2" diameter/41 pegs, orange: 8-1/2" diameter/36 pegs, lime: 6-1/2" diameter/31 pegs, blue: 4-1/2" diameter/24 pegs), yarn needle, loom pick, and easy-to-follow instructions. Packaged in a clear zip-locking plastic bag with handles for easy storage.Price: $19.99
Quilters Survival Kit
GENERAL PENCIL-Both the beginner and pro quilter will want this kit in their quilting project case. Kit contains everything a quilter can use when marking patterns and stencils. This survival kit includes: 1 light grey pastel chalk pencil 1 white pastel chalk pencil 1 yellow quilters pencil 1 silver quilters pencil quality pencil sharpener BM-2 pen style eraser Kiss-off stain remover and sandpaper paddle. Pencils are acid free oil free and made from yield California incense cedar wood. Use these multi-purpose fabric pencils for drawing directly on or for transferring designs to a variety of fabrics.Price: $16.29
An All-American County Fair
A note from Kathleen: Knitter extraordinaire and customer service representative Anna-Liza Armfield and her knitting group recently took the Boulder (Colorado) County Fair by storm, and she's here to tell us about it. Welcome, Anna-Liza!
Adventures at the Fair
by Anna-Liza Armfield
Last year, my friend, Simone, went to the Boulder County Fair, and was disappointed with how few entries there were in the knitting category. She started an understated campaign to get more people to enter. As a result, four of our knitting group, the (Mostly) Harmless Knitters [(M)HKs for short], entered the 2010 Boulder County Fair.
All of us won something.
Marlene (below) won a 3rd place ribbon in items taking more than 45 hours to knit and a 2nd place ribbon in lace knitting. Yes, those items she's pointing at are her prize-winners. (The turquoise-and-brown shawl behind her is my 2nd-place-winning entry, and the green pullover at the top is my 3rd-place winner).
Simone (below) won 3rd place in items taking more than 45 hours to knit with this baby blanket.
Samantha (below) won 2nd place in hats, 1st place in items taking more than 45 hours to knit (the hoodie you see there), and also was awarded the Champion ribbon in knitting for the hoodie. She was also awarded 1st and 2nd place ribbons and the Championship in baking. As a result, the (M)HKs voted her our Domestic Goddess for 2010 ... and, most likely, in perpetuity.
I won 2nd place in lace knitting (tying Marlene) and both 3rd and 1st place in shaped knitting. That last category included socks and a pullover, so I guess "shaped knitting" is a reasonable title. That's me with my first-place socks, below.
The (M)HKs are quite diverse. Samantha is from South Africa, Marlene is from Canada, and Simone is from Australia. Samantha and Marlene had been sworn in as US citizens shortly before the County Fair awards were announced, and Simone was sworn in on Wednesday! I am the only native-born citizen among the four, and my mother is from the Philippines. (Other (M)HKs are native-born citizens, just not in the group that entered the Fair).
After we found out about the awards, Marlene said, "I feel so American!"
(Mostly) Harmless Knitters ROCK! Now, we'll just have to see what we can do next year!
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