Knitting with handspun

Since I have just returned from a trip to the local Royal Mail outlet and sent off three packages to their new homes in the States, I thought I'd talk a bit about how to knit with handspun. Or at least, about how I knit with handspun.

As I see it, there are two scenarios: 1) you are trying to recreate a commercial yarn for a particular pattern, or match a handspun yarn you already have to a particular pattern, and 2) you are taking some handspun and knitting it into something on your own, without a pattern (or using a pattern for which gauge is not so critical and you know you have enough yardage). The second situation is easiest, so let's start with that.

The biggest question I come across is what needle size do I use with handspun? My standard way to choose a needle size to start with is to double the yarn and see which hole it fits through on my needle gauge.

If the yarn is really variable, I might do this with several different sections to make sure I pick a needle size that will work for most of the yarn thickness. I tend to knit fairly true to gauge (i.e. with commercial yarn, if I use the suggested needle size, I usually get very close to the gauge given on the label).

If it's going to be an item where gauge is important (like a sweater), I'll knit a swatch. Sometimes I'll knit the swatch, get a gauge number and then rip back the swatch to use the yarn (I did this for the girls' sweaters last summer), but that can lead to disaster if the yarn changes dramatically when it gets washed and blocked. With my own handspun, I've hopefully gotten any shifting around over with when I finish it, but you never know...

If I'm going to knit something like a hat or a scarf, and gauge isn't so important, then I'll just start knitting. If the fabric is coming out fine, then I'm off. If I don't like it, then I'll rip back and adjust needle sizes. Note: this approach only works if you can frog with abandon, and be honest about what you're getting before you get too much time invested in the project.

The tougher scenario is when you're trying to use a handspun yarn to substitute for a commercial yarn for a particular pattern. The key thing to worry about here is grist. Grist is one of those weird spinning terms that can be really confusing - grist is simply a measure of how many yards (or meters) of yarn you have per unit weight (typically expressed in pounds or kilograms). So a skein of Socks that Rock lightweight has 360 yards in 4.48 ounces - that works out to 1286 yards per pound (ypp). Fairly straightforward, right?

But why is grist important for knitting? Grist helps you determine whether or not your handspun will work as a substitute for a particular commercial yarn. For example, Amy King's Tappan Zee pattern was written for handspun and calls for a DK weight yarn. A lot of people on Ravelry have used Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool for this pattern - Silky Wool is about 1745 ypp. If you used a bulky handspun that came in at 500 ypp, you'd end up with a sweater that would fit a yeti. Or be bullet proof, if you tried to get the correct gauge.

Similarly, you could use a DK weight handspun, but it might have a grist of 800 ypp - much denser then the ~1300 ypp called for in the pattern. You could knit the sweater with this yarn, to the correct gauge, but it probably wouldn't make a very nice fabric. It would be too thick, too dense, and not have the light, drapey feel of the less dense yarn.

Other things that come in to play besides grist are the yarn composition. If you're trying to substitute a bouncy merino yarn with a similar weight handspun alpaca yarn for a pair of socks, you're going to be disappointed: fibers like alpaca and silk are very inelastic and have no memory. Those socks will be pooling down around your ankles in no time. Similarly, if you are going for a drapey fabric knit from a commercial yarn containing bamboo, a sproingy handspun Targhee yarn is probably not going to do the trick. Generally speaking, it's best to try and match the fiber contents of your yarns - maybe not down to the exact percentages, but try to get as close as possible.

So choosing a handspun yarn as a commercial substitute can be a bit tricky. My biggest recommendation is swatch, swatch, swatch. And then swatch some more. When I knit my TZ, I still used a needle gauge to check that my yarn would work with the suggested needle size. And then I knit a swatch, and discovered that my yarn was waaaaaay overplied and needed to be fixed. Swatching, while a pain in the ass, can save you hours of frustration and months of hiding projects in the bottom of a bag because something is off.

As for me, I've got one finished batch of yarn, and one in progress that I'm trying to match to commercial yarns. The first one has been sitting in the stash for seven months, marinating, and the other is still in progress. Hopefully when they get knit up, I'll have a couple of successful experiments. And if they're not successful, then it's back to the drawing board. That, for me, is part of the fun of doing all this in the first place!

Goodies

Right, I've culled through the handspun stash to pull out things to send off to Illinois and Texas and DC (but not Maine - sorry Mom!). Here they are all cuddled up with each other.

Aquaphilic is getting some gradient-spun BFL, because Norway is as close to Sweden as I could get. JoAnnaJae is getting some Yarn School Corriedale. Sarah is getting another Yarn School skein, in celebration of when she first started reading the blog - also Corriedale, but dyed by the ever-so-talented Adrian at Hello Yarn, colorway Hooray Sheep! And my poor, neglected mother is getting some not-yet-spun Falkland yarn from a top I won during the Tour de Fleece, from All Spun Up. It will be delivered to her next month when we see them at half-term.

In other news, I've finished the first sock of my club for this month, and have only a few repeats left to go on the sweater - hooray! I'm thinking I'm going to block the sweater pieces before I seam them up, then block again after doing the neck band (although that second block might only be a steaming). It looks a little narrow to me at the moment (as cabled stuff always does), but I'm hoping it will spread out a bit with water and a bit of judicious pinning.

The envelope please

OK folks, here's the results of my little teeny blog contest. I meant to get the girls to help me draw a number, but after an epic teeth brushing-induced meltdown from the eldest, we put them to bed post-haste. So Ironman will have to help me instead.

OK, here we go. Drumroll please....And the winner is....

AQUAPHILIC! Congrats lady - and happy birthday!

But...I feel a bit bad that the other ladies didn't get to win, and aquaphilic knows me in real life, and has already been the beneficiary of some yarny goodies from me. So...seeing as there were only four of you, you all get a prize! Hooray!

Please email me (porpoiseknits@gmail.com) or PM me on Ravelry (porpoise) with your snail mail address, color preferences, yarn weight preferences, and whether or not you'd like handspun. I can't promise to accommodate all those factors, but I'll do my best!

Now let's hope Royal Mail can get their collective heads out of their collective arses and start delivering packages again, m'kay? And thanks for helping to shrink my stash!

Status report

OK, it's January 6th - where do things stand on the January projects?

Item the largest: Falkland spinning. Given the magnitude of this undertaking and the time frame, I've chosen to do a bit of sampling to make sure I get in the same ballpark as the orginal yarn. The sweater was knit in nine natural colors of Shetland 2000, a fingering weight Shetland wool yarn. 190 yds/50 grams, which works out to 1727 ypp. The gauge for the sweater is 32 stitches/32 rows per 4 inches (something has to be wrong with that row gauge, but whatever) on US 4/3.5 mm needles. It has taken me quite a while to figure out how you get 8 sts/inch with fingering weight on US 4 needles, and I've actually given up and moved on.

Sample #1: spun long draw, from top split into four chunks lengthwise, 15:1, plied at same ratio, finished with a soak in Soak and warm water. I knit a swatch with the suggested needle sizes (US 3/3.0 mm and US 4/3.5 mm) and then threw in US 2/2.75 as well. The swatch was then soaked in the same manner as the yarn, and I measured the gauge after it was dry.

Results: 17.5 yds/0.2 oz (7g) = 1326 ypp. Too heavy, although handspun tends to be denser then millspun, so maybe ok. Gauge with US 2/3/4 respectively: 7 sts/10 rows, 6.5 sts/9 rows and 6 sts/9 rows per inch. Hmmm...

Sample #2: spun from the fold, 15:1, short forward draw, drafting against twist. I didn't feel like I was getting very consistent singles with my long draw, so I tried something a bit different. Finsihed yarn as for #1. Swatched with US 1/2.25 mm and US 2/2.75 mm.

Results: 14.2 yds/0.176 oz (5 g), 1291 ypp - not surprisingly, the more worsted style of drafting gave me a denser yarn. Gauges: 7.5 sts/12 rows and 7.5 sts/11 rows respectively, but the swatch is a bit bulletproof. Which led to

Sample #3: spun from the fold on my highest ratio (17:1), but plied at 12:1. Drafting was more of a short forward draw, but I still tried to draft against twist. The singles were definitely finer - closer to 55-60 wpi then the 40 wpi I got with #2. Swatched with US 1 and 2 again.

Results: Wiktory! (I think) 12.75 yds/0.14 oz (4g), 1475 ypp. Gauges: just over 8 sts/6 rows and just under 8 sts/10 rows per inch. The swatch is still fairly soft and bares no resemblance to Kevlar. Or elica82's socks.

One thing I have learned is that this Falkland reacts like a puffball mushroom when it hits water - poooooof! I suspect that my gauge will loosen up a bit with the colorwork, so now I need to come to terms that I may be knitting an entire men's sweater on 2.75 mm needles. Thankfully, the chest size has gone down quite a bit from my first estimate, so I'm not worried about running out of fiber. My problem is going to be running out of time!

Ok, on to other projects:

Smaug socks - 5 repeats and a heel flap done as of 5 January 2011 (Tomorrow Never Dies gave me a good opportunity to get ahead).

And the IM Aran front: five repeats of the main cable done as of last night.

So tonight - throw the kids in bed by 7:30, knit 12 rows of cabled goodness and then spin, spin, spin.

Note: everyone reading who has not posted a comment on my list for 2011 better go do so: otherwise JoAnna will be getting a large package of wooly goodies all by her lonesome! I'm looking at all y'all down there in Houston (or in Switaly as the case may be), you and you in Chicago and you who are related to me (Mom!). It's really easy - just click on the comment button and tell me your goals for 2011, knitting or otherwise.

In over my head

So...it's only the third day of the new year, and I'm thinking I might be in a bit of a pickle. To say the least.

I've got the first socks underway - two thirds of the way down the leg of sock #1. The plan is one repeat (12 rows) or the equivalent (i.e. heel flap/turn) every night. That should get me done by the end of the month, easy, not including knitting on my commute. Sweater #1 (Himself's Christmas present) has sleeves and a back. Front is started, and again - one repeat a night (also 12 rows. Synergy I haz it) should get it done in a couple of weeks. It's a bit of a cheat since it was 75% done before 2011, but it's got cabling on every right side row and 130 stitches. It totally counts.

So everything is going swimmingly until I take stock of the first Really. Huge. Project. That would be number 6 on the Eleven in Twenty Eleven list: the River Run pullover. This is a gorgeous men's sweater - stranded colorwork in nine different natural shades of Shetland wool. Un-freaking-believable. The largest size requires approximately 3400 yds of heavy fingering weight yarn. The grist is 1727 ypp, meaning I'd need 1.97 lbs of yarn. I've been wanting to make this for a long time, but I don't have 2 lbs of Shetland wool in nine shades lying around. What I do have is 2 lbs of white Falkland wool sitting in my lair, and a metric fuckton of dye. So here's my evening schedule for the rest of this month:

1. Knit one repeat/equivalent on socks
2. Knit one repeat on sweater
3. Spin white Falkland until my fingers fall off the bone or I end up face down in a pile of roving, drooling and snoring softly.

At the end of the month, I'll start plying my little brains out, and hope for the best with the dye pots. The original is done in black, white, three shades of grey and four shades of brown. Black, white and grey are all good - I might shift the browns to blues just for mine/the recipient's aesthetic pleasure.

The real pisser of it all is that I've got a deadline for this project: it needs to be done by early March. Seeing as it took me six months to spin my last specific sweater project, I'm not feeling too optimistic. On the other hand, there will only be one plying stage (2-ply vs. 4-ply cabled yarn). I will spin woolen, with a high ratio, in order to bang out as much yardage as possible.  The last time I spun Falkland, I did a pound in approximately 6 days (plying and all). It was a bit thicker, more DK weight then sport/fingering, and I certainly wasn't doing anything else, so I think I could get the yarn spun by the end of January. Right?

Right?

*crickets*

Hmmmm...I'd better get sampling then.